backing up VHS to DVD

[Delerious]

I have a lot of VHS tapes I've bought over the years. Some of them are
starting to go bad and I'd like to start putting them onto DVD (I paid over $100 for a lot of them). I have an older system, AMD 1800+ , Geforce3 video, 512MB Ram, 200GB hard drive. No firewire, 1 (maybe 2) free pci slots

I'm looking for suggestions on what way I should go to get the best "bang
for the buck". Maybe a Canopus ADVC-100 or an ATI AIW card. Would I need a TBC for both of those or only if I copy homemade VHS's? Will I have problems with Macrovision?

J

[Will Hay]

I'm about to buy the ADVC-100, after a year with (a wonderful) ATI card.
The ADVC-100 has an option to remove macrovision and (on this site) is generally regarded as the best option.
No, you won't need to worry about TBC.
Take a look at the top of the 'capture' forum, ADVC-100 is dominating at the minute.
Will

[andkiich]

In addition to Will's advice, you might also want to look at the stand alone DVD recorders.

[stevedore]

I'm going through thte same process right now. I settled on the ADVC-100 after trying the Datavideo DAC-100. Looking back, the DAC-100 probably would have done the job just as well though.

In my case, I found that I needed a TBC, both for some of my commercial tapes as well as some of my home-recorded tapes. However, some tapes captured with no problem without the TBC, so you'd probably do best to try first without one & see how it goes. My VCRs aren't the best; I expect that had something to do with my troubles.

Spend a lot of time reading these forums, there's lots of good information & helpful people here.

Steve.

[huntr]

Using standalone DVD recorder will save you lots of headache! I have over 300 VHS tapes and I have no single problem with the quality! I love that machine!

[qpskfec]

If you have lots of tapes and don't need to do much editing, the stand alone recorder is the way to go. I've done about 100 tapes this way.

[Delerious]

If you have lots of tapes and don't need to do much editing, the stand alone recorder is the way to go. I've done about 100 tapes this way.

I was also thinking about buying something like the Panasonic E80, recording to DVD-RAM and reading it into my computer for editing (for home
recordings). The stand alone will cost about $200 more than going with the
ADVC and firewire card, but might involve less headaches. How does the quality of a standalone compare to capture cards? I was doing some house cleaning the other day and found a lot of my tapes - at least 300 or so, forgot
I had so many.

Thanks,
Jerry

[bujer121]

The E-80 is a nice machine but you DO lose some quality IMO when using the stand-alones. I've had an E-30 for a while and I love it, but I can attest that the quality does drop some at SP mode. If you use the FR mode (an hour and a half or less) or XP mode, it is better but still not as good as going straight to your computer HD. If adding a slight amount of pixelization to your picture isn't a big deal, and you're not into editting with the original picture by adjusting sound, video and adding menus, then I would go with the Stand-alone.

The Panasonic stand-alones don't allow you to set your own chapter points, unless that's changed with the E-100.

[qpskfec]

I don't have a capture card, so I can't do a comparison of quality. I can say that in the 2hr recording mode, the quality is good enough for me.

My next choice after stand alone would be a dv camcorder with pass through for capture. This means minimal screwing around with drivers/settings, etc. I'd rather pay a little more to get a camcorder, since I can always use it elsewhere. You will have to put up with encoding times from avi to dvd compliant mpeg. This could be a big factor if you have lots of tapes.

Recording onto RAM or +-RW and then editing the vro/vob is easy to do if you have an mpeg editor like mpeg2vcr. (free trial www.womble.com) This is my preferred method if editng on the PC is needed.

My stand alone is +RW, so what I'd do for simple editing is erase all chapter marks, then insert new chapters where I want. Then I can put the dvd in the PC and rip with DVDecrypter and select only the chapters I want.

[djtrixx]

I had the same situation for all of my music videos (VHS & Laserdisc) that I used for DJing. I broke down and spent the $799 at newegg and got the Pinnacle pro-one capture card. Comes bundled with Premeire & impression DVD pro, and there is nothing I can't do with the system. It laughs at all macrovision as well. The rest of my system is comparable to yours, and I can capture 4 hours at a clip, and have never dropped a single frame. Plus, (again, this depends on what you want to do with it) I can add audio & video tracks for whatever I need with no headaches. I have used 3 different ATI cards, and 1 Matrox, and they don't even come close to what this baby will do.

[Bob W]

My experience has been that nothing I did with a capture card was ever going to be as good as the quality I get all the time with my Panasonic E50 recorder. Also The recorder does it in real time. I would never even consider going back to capturing as a way to get my VHS collection to DVDR.

[verchad]

I have used an ati vivo, a firewire card for my sony digital-8 camcorder, and my panasonic dmr-hs2 ( also using the sony digital-8 ) to make dvds. My personal opinion is that I'll take the trade off of not being able to customize my dvd setup for easily recording with the panasonic. I record all home movies from my digital-8 to the panny with the firewire input at xp / 1hr per dvd speed. My regular movies I generally backup at fr speed. Results are fine for me.
If you do get a set top recorder. Study up on it to see how good of a job it does for the time base correction. The panasonics are good. I have read that some others are not that good.

[pokemondvd]

Im overwhelmed with this stuff!

I want to get into it like Delerious (first post).

But I dont know what route should I take:

1- standalone recorder
2-capture card ( possibly ADVC-100)
3-dv camcorder ( save up and buy)

I have about 30- 40 VHS tapes and I will like to back up to DVD
without headaches.

But I also would like to edit/author my own DVDs from my VHS tapes.
Also if Im Recording onto RAM or +-RW and then editing the vro/vob can
I still edit with Premiere and/or Ulead software?
What do you guys recommend?

[birdygal]

If you could use a new camera go the DV camera route with analog to digital pass through. I have a Sony and I love it. I spent less money on that new camera than the 3 pieces of crap I tried previously to turn my 400 VHS into DVD which was an ADS USB instant DVD, Pinacle Studio Capture Card and a Canopus
ADV1394. All of these cards may be great for some people but just watch your output on a HD TV and the Sony Captures were the closest to the original VHS which still looks crappy on HD TV to real DVD but is viewable.
For the extra $ you spend You get what you pay for. After watching the home movies my old Vhs camera made and compare them to the new home movies I make with a DV camera. I just wish DV was out 15 yrs ago when I took all those movies of my kids

[pokemondvd]

What is the analog to digital pass through?

[verchad]

Some camcorders allow you to input your analog video signal and pass the signal through as a digital signal to your set top dvd-r or pc.

[pokemondvd]

cool.

What camcorder do you people have or recommend with the "passthrough" feature?

I was looking at the Sony DCR-TRV22
It said it had "Analog-to-Digital Conversion with Pass-Through"


also what format does it output to the pc?

AVI?

[birdygal]

I have the sony 22 and I love it. Outputs to avi use via firewire or usb though I have only used the firewire, IMO it outputs same quality as VHS,

[birdygal]

I meant to same same quality VHS in same quality out, I haven't had dropped frames with it as I did with the Canopus 1394 card

[Hazza]

I must agree with birdygale here.

I also have the TRV22 and bought it basically just to do analogue->digital conversions (with the added benifit of having a DV video camera) since the ADVC-100 etc were going to be half the price of the camcorder.

I did get a ADVC-100 on trial though to check the quality vs my camcorder and I still recommend going for the ADVC if you have no need/use for the camcorder. The results were almost identical. The ADVC was just slightly sharper but darker but for most purposes they are both excellent.

Another great benefit is the captures through firewire are DV AVI and perfect for editing without quality loss and encoding to DVD. I have performed 3 hour + captures without a hint of dropped frames or lost audio sync. Both these solutions will also strip out any macrovision on the source.

If you won't need to edit any of your VHS footage then the standalone DVD recorders would be a good choice.

Hazza.