capturing vhs pal as digital and then burning to dvd

[devdev]

Hi - im a newbie and i want to capture vhs pal and then burn to dvd presumably as mpeg 2

Q1: I'm assuming this since I was told by someone that the resulting quality would be better if captured as digital! - Is this true and if so what's the best bit of external/internal hardware that I could purchase to do the job? My budget is circa £150.

Q2: I've already paid some else to do a real time vhs to mpeg conversion and whilst the picture quality isnt so bad, the resulting edges are a little bit 'frayed'. Whilst this doesn't show on my tv because of its 'mask', it does on my pc. He said that this was normal and 'due to the edges of the vhs tape not passing flatly over the head' Is this normal and would it be the best way to go about converting vhs for use on my laptop for powerpoint projections thereafter?

Thanks to anyone that's interested in advance!

[Tommyknocker]

Hi - im a newbie and i want to capture vhs pal and then burn to dvd presumably as mpeg 2

Q1: I'm assuming this since I was told by someone that the resulting quality would be better if captured as digital! - Is this true and if so what's the best bit of external/internal hardware that I could purchase to do the job? My budget is circa £150.

Certain hardware encoders and fire wire card can capture PAL VHS and convert to DV and transfer to your computer. However, unless DV is an absolute must in your project, a simple capture card ($50.00) and a freeware program like Virtual Dub mod with a decent DivX codec (free) can work as well.

Q2: I've already paid some else to do a real time vhs to mpeg conversion and whilst the picture quality isnt so bad, the resulting edges are a little bit 'frayed'. Whilst this doesn't show on my tv because of its 'mask', it does on my pc. He said that this was normal and 'due to the edges of the vhs tape not passing flatly over the head' Is this normal and would it be the best way to go about converting vhs for use on my laptop for powerpoint projections thereafter?

Thanks to anyone that's interested in advance!

Yes, it's normal and it is called overscan. You do not have to put up with it though. TMPGEnc Plus can crop the the edges off your video (Clip Frame function) and save it as a MPEG file, suitable for PowerPoint presentations.[/quote]