Best video capture device for VHS to DVD

[mpoll]

As a newbie to video capture, could someone please suggest my best option for caturing my old analog VHS tapes to DVD. I am not really interested in editing and have no current digital capture requirements.

My system is a Dell Inspiron 5150 notebook, Pentium 4 w/HT 3.2GHz running Windows XP, 512MB SDRAM, 60MB Hard Drive, Internal 4x DVD+RW with Sonic MyDVD. It has USB2 connectors and a IEEE 1394 Firewire connector. The video card is a 64MB DDRnVidia GeForce FX Go5200.

I want to avoid having to add any internal hardware. Should I use an external USB2 video capture device? Which model would be best for my needs, taking into account price and ease of installation and use?

Could I instead get an external Firewire video capture device? Is this truly "external", ie no additional card required? How does external USB stack up against external Firewire?

Or should I just wait until I eventually get a DVD recorder? Will this do the job with similar quality.

Thanks

[presto]

I'm very happy with my Dazzle Digital Video Creator 150 (cost around $150). I have found that it captures old VHS tapes that my ATI card could not capture (due to weak sync signal, I believe).

I also tried the Dazzle 80 and found it was a great improvement over my ATI card but there were still a few VHS tapes that it could not capture so I returned it and tried the 150.

[lordsmurf]

ATI All In Wonder cards and Hauppauge 250/350 cards ....
and then LSI-chipped or Zoran-chipped DVD recorders ...
are best quality options for converting video.

Also a few pro cards from Matrox and Canopus (not ADVC).

[FulciLives]

The Canopus ADVC-100 would work. It is an external device that hooks up to the computer via the FIREWIRE port.

It is truely external. Perfect for a notebook computer.

However ... it converts analog VIDEO to DV format video. This can be BAD for a notebook because of the file size. A single hour of DV is approximately 13GB ... 2 hours would be about 26GB ... etc.

So that might end up maxing out your 60GB HDD.

I'm not sure of the best way "around" that other than making room on your HDD.

You might try an external USB 2.0 HDD but that might put too much strain on things ... FIREWIRE capture to USB 2.0 HDD ... but I think other people have had that work and your computer is plenty fast with plenty of RAM eventhough it is a notebook. So chances are that would work.

The other option if HDD space is tight ... some people report that they can use Mainconcept MPEG encoder to capture direct to MPEG from the DV as it streams in from the Canopus ADVC-100 ... so the Canopus ADVC-100 sends DV video to the computer which then converts it to MPEG and saves it as MPEG ... in short you get MUCH lower file sizes. At the highest MPEG bitrate for the DVD format a single hour of MPEG-2 DVD spec would be about 4.3GB give or take.

Please note that MOST people who have tried USB capture devices end up being unhappy with them. However some do report success ...

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[presto]

Lordsmurf,
Have you had good experience capturing OLD vhs tapes with ATI cards? I've posted my problem and solution (Dazzle 150) on several threads that you have been on and I get the impression you don't see it the way I do.

I love my ATI card but NOT for captureing OLD vhs tapes. Three different computers and 4 different VCRS and ATI AIW Radeon and ATI AIW Radeon 7500 could never capture these problem tapes. Dazzle 150 and the problem DOES NOT EXIST.

I'm not saying ATI cards can't capture any OLD vhs tapes. It works on some and not on others. The problem is the one out of four that have this problem can never be captured by the ATI card but can always (so far) be captured by the Dazzle 150.

[presto]

As a newbie to video capture, could someone please suggest my best option for caturing my old analog VHS tapes to DVD. I am not really interested in editing and have no current digital capture requirements.

You will be THRILLED with the Dazzle 150. If you don't want to spend that much go with the Dazzle 80. Don't go with ATI for OLD vhs tapes. I don't care what any one says. I do this all the time. I have dozens and dozens of OLD vhs tapes that I am in the process of transfering to DVD.

Buy the Dazzle from a big chain like Best Buy and if you are not delighted they will take it back. I bought the Dazzle 80, returned it, bought the Dazzle 150, returned it, bought the Pinnacle USB, returned it, and ended up with the Dazzle 150. All in the span of two days. Best Buy hardly blinked.

In case any one thinks I took advantage of Best Buy I was completely honest with them about what problems I was having with each. I only returned the Dazzle 150 after learning that it came with Studio 8 instead of 9 and I knew I would end up paying to upgrade. Unfortunately the Pinnacle USB box which comes with 9 froze when trying to capture these "problem" tapes.

[lordsmurf]

@presto
Since I got a DVD recorder, the ONLY thing I use my ATI AIW card for is older tapes. If the source is perfect, my APEX will be fine. But any imperfections, or even bad degradations, and I use the ATI AIW card.

I'm not sure what the issue is you face.

I have a TBC and good VCR with good wiring. So it should be getting a cleaner signal than raw VHS. Whatever the hardware cannot wipe out, is where the software comes in. Either VideoSoap on MPEG capture, or AVI capture with processing in another encoder/editor.

[FulciLives]

I have a TBC and good VCR with good wiring.

I know you are the ATI expert here LordSmurf and I admit that I have never had an ATI AIW or VIVO card but having said that I have read MANY threads regarding people having issues with the ATI and MACROVISION even with videotapes that simply cannot have MACROVISION.

What I gather from all the posts I've read is that the ATI capture cards need a good or at least decent quality signal to work properly as it were.

YOU have a stand alone TBC and a high end VCR with yet another TBC built-in.

So in short that very well could be why you have great experiences with ATI whereas some other people do not ... especially in regards to "old" video tapes since, afterall, so very few people have a TBC unless they REALLY get into this hobbey AND have the money for one.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[The_Doman]

Indeed you cannot really compare a capture card with or without a TBC.
A TBC makes an ENORMOUS difference in capture quality.
Without a TBC you will always have instabilities in the picture caused by the mechanics of the VCR.
I am using my D8 camera DV passthrough which functions also as a TBC, works fantastic.

[victor010170]

mpoll

Do you happen to have digital camcorder with pass-through function? The reason I am asking because if you do, that 's all you need as far as hardware. Let me know.

[lordsmurf]

Well, I still experience top-quality results with a SHARP VHS VCR ... no TBC ... nothing more than Monster Cables making that hookup special. That's plugged into the 2nd ATI AIW card I have that gets dusted off every few months.

Apparently YMMV, and the Theatre 200 boards may have gotten more aggressive than the Theatre 100 boards in terms of seeking out MV and imperfect signals.

[Manokat]

As a newbie to video capture, could someone please suggest my best option for caturing my old analog VHS tapes to DVD. I am not really interested in editing and have no current digital capture requirements.

My system is a Dell Inspiron 5150 notebook, Pentium 4 w/HT 3.2GHz running Windows XP, 512MB SDRAM, 60MB Hard Drive, Internal 4x DVD+RW with Sonic MyDVD. It has USB2 connectors and a IEEE 1394 Firewire connector. The video card is a 64MB DDRnVidia GeForce FX Go5200.

I want to avoid having to add any internal hardware. Should I use an external USB2 video capture device? Which model would be best for my needs, taking into account price and ease of installation and use?

Could I instead get an external Firewire video capture device? Is this truly "external", ie no additional card required? How does external USB stack up against external Firewire?

Or should I just wait until I eventually get a DVD recorder? Will this do the job with similar quality.

Thanks

I use Plextor ConvertX M402U USB 2.0 with my Toshiba 2.4 laptop. With slower speed and size of notebook hard disk, you would be better of getting something that takes less cpu cycles and less hard drive space.
IEEE 1394 or DV capture is just not practical for a notebook (space wise), unless you capture straight to mpeg2.

If you want something with a tuner then the Hauppauge family USB products.

[ajc53]

You want to convert old VHS and prefer an external device?

GET A CANOPUS ADVC - 100 and you will not be disappointed, just read the reviews on this site.

For recording TV broadcast, I do not know the best external device.

But if you willing to get an internal card: for recording TV broadcast consider an ATI AIW, but for the old VHS tapes a good TBC or a VCR with TBC (starting at $300) is an ABSOLUTE MUST. I repeat an ABSOLUTE MUST.

A TBC will be a benefit for any device you use but for the CANOPUS ADVC - 100 it is not critical like it is with the ATI AIW

Again before buying anything spend plenty of time reading reviews and comments on this site.

[macleod]

I have capped with the ati tv wonder, which is probably not in the league of the cards that lordsmurf and others use in the ATI line, however, I can tell you that my caps of everything from great home video tape and tape that has sat at the bottom of the mississippi river have all looked awesome with my E30 panny. You can get them on ebay in the $2-$300 range. Got mine and I never cap with anything but the panasonic. You'll never look back. It has a built in TBC that does a great job on video. I have a (I believe) a JVC S-VHS record on S video import to the panny. My family and clients that I convert home movies for love the quality.

[petar]

mpoll,
Even though it's a notebook, you hardware is powerfull enough so, if you're on a short budget, you can get an external USB2 ordinary capture card and make your PC do all the work.
If don't mind spending a bit more you can get a converter which can be DV or MPEG. The advantage being it does the work instead of your PC so (in theory) no tricky settings, sync problems, etc - you just need to "pick up" the video via firewire or USB2 from the converter. But you get converters and converters. Some are crap, some are very good. A digital camcorder falls into the "converter" category too.
By getting the video first on your PC you can make some editing and cool menus for your final DVD. If you're not bothered about this, get a DVD recorder and don't bother with your PC.

[presto]

Fucillives pointed out that some devices convert the video to DV which can take up a lot of room on a hard drive. The Dazzle 150 converts the signal to mpg2 so your computer doesn't have to and to save hard drive space.

[J3M]

I have an ATI AIW 9600 Pro. I would not recommend it for OLD VHS sources. I also get the macrovision effect that many others here report. My SVHS or commercial tapes cap just fine, but any older tapes or tapes recorded in EP are crap. This is using a JVC 3900U SVHS machine with a SIMA GoDVD. So I would take the advice of getting a Dazzle 150 or whatever was recommended above if your main source is going to be old tapes.

I know LordSmurf is the resident ATI guy, and I've used his site many, many times for advice, but too many people are having problems capping old tapes using ATI cards. I'm not knocking ATI cards, as they do an excellent job capping everything else. Seeing that you have a notebook though, the ATI option probably doesn't affect you anyway.

[snafu099]

For ease of installation and use, an external usb HARDWARE encoder would be ideal. I had no problem captureing direct to external hdd and burning from same to external dvd r/w drive (usb2 + good hdd)

I use the ADS InstantDvd-2, but would also recommend the + DV device if you expect to add digital in the future.
http://www.adstech.com

There are other devices/manufactures that should also do well, even a software encoder should work for YOU, given the power of the system.

[tjborwn101]

I would also recommend the products from ADSTech.

I bought their cheap $99.00 DVDXpress USB device (A/V "in" only) - Since I was burning to DVD I didn't care about Video Out. If you do look at the other ADS products. (Try Circuit City)

I was converting a lot of kiddie movies to DVD. Make sure you encode at 4000 bit rate at the bare minimum. And for 100% compatibility use PCM audio vs MPEGL2.

http://www.adstech.com

TJ

[BSR]

And for 100% compatibility use PCM audio vs MPEGL2.

I thought AC3 is also 100% compatible.

And it could save you a ton of space for either more video per DVD or higher bitrate on your video.
I've been using ffmpegGUI to convert WAV to AC3 and it's worked on all the players I tried it on.(this isn't a huge number though, like 10 or so.)

[FulciLives]

And for 100% compatibility use PCM audio vs MPEGL2.

I thought AC3 is also 100% compatible.

And it could save you a ton of space for either more video per DVD or higher bitrate on your video.
I've been using ffmpegGUI to convert WAV to AC3 and it's worked on all the players I tried it on.(this isn't a huge number though, like 10 or so.)

Maybe TJ meant for capture purposes. Better to capture PCM WAV than MP2

But yeah I agree that AC-3 should be used on the final DVD.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[BSR]

Maybe TJ meant for capture purposes. Better to capture PCM WAV than MP2

My bad,...sorry.
FulciLives - (Saw Maddox not to happy about Pitts first pick. )

[Almost Human]

Yes, you can convert old VHS-EP tapes to DVD with an ATI card.

I use an ATI RADEON VIVO I purchased on eBay for $60, a Sony SLV-N81 VCR, good cables, MMC 8.9, and the absolute minimum amount of software/drivers/codecs installed.

I have been able to copy my 6 and 8 hour tapes of movies from regular cable with ZERO dropped frames, over 200 tapes transfered so far. I had 9 tapes that dropped hundreds of frames from 1985, but was able to use my old Sanyo VCR to capture with minimal dropped frames (transfers less video info).

I used Lordsmurf's guides, with minor modifications.

[ajc53]

Yes, you can convert old VHS-EP tapes to DVD with an ATI card.

I use an ATI RADEON VIVO I purchased on eBay for $60, a Sony SLV-N81 VCR, good cables, MMC 8.9, and the absolute minimum amount of software/drivers/codecs installed.

I wish one could have your kind of success with a 9000 series ATI. My experience, and plenty of reading on this site, says you must have a TBC for older VHS tapes. Period.

Older ATI including the 7500 does not have the additional Macrovision detection built into the hardware which goes biserk over imperfections.

Older ATI and other devices can skip over those imperfections without hardly a blimp. The difference in auto terms is like running over a reflector in the road, as compared to a 10 inch deep pot hole.

[Almost Human]

ajc53, when I first started out I was getting an unacceptable amount of dropped frames with this system (I have two, one for capture and one for encoding/burning). I did a clean install of WinXP, latest video driver, MMC 8.9, SantaCruz drivers, PowerDVD, VirtualDub, TMPGEnc+, TMPGEnc DVD Author, and that's it. I usually capture, then send the file to my encoder machine for processing and burning. If the burning machine is busy, then I process on the capture machine and transfer for burning later.

I think the biggest positive change was to have the least amount of codecs installed.

[ajc53]

The problem I am talking about has nothing to do with the capture. It is what you see on the preview screen with older tapes; garbage. If I wanted I could capture that garbage without dropped frames, but it is still garbage.

I am still using my ATI for TV recording and newer better VHS home movies with great results. Even some 15+ year old tapes may work OK. But most will not.

It is not just me, there is several threads in this forum with numerous comments on this problem.

If you don't have a TBC, and if you ever want to get a newer ATI, which is good technology, you should spend some time reading. Otherwise you will be in for a rude awakening.

[presto]

ajc53,
Very well stated. I don't know why people think that if they have been able to copy VHS with ATI cards that means anything in this discussion. The point is that SOME (especially older) vhs tapes can not be copied by certain ATI cards unless one uses a TBC or perhaps a very high end VCR while these same tapes are captured PERFECTLY by other devices.

If I were to try to sum it up I would say that certain ATI AIW cards (for instance my ATI AIW Radeon and ATI AIW Radeon 7500) do not handle tapes with sync signals below some threshhold. Your TV can handle it. The Dazzle 150 can handle it but the ATI card cannot.

People who record VHS tapes and find that they play well on TV and can be copied and the copies play fine have every right to expect that their state of the art ATI card will be able to capture that signal. Unfortunately that is not always the case.

I'll let you know when I run into a tape that plays fine on TV but cannot be captured by my Dazzle 150.

[ajc53]

I'll let you know when I run into a tape that plays fine on TV but cannot be captured by my Dazzle 150.

Same here with my newly acquired ADVC 100, but early indications are pretty good.

[lordsmurf]

For an external MPEG hardware device, I'd also not overlook the TDK indiCAPTURE ... never tried it, though it looks appealing, and I've never heard bad reviews on it.

Someday I'll buy it to try it (and then return it), but not anytime soon.

[Manokat]

If you decide to use USB device with your notebook, one thing that you
need to consider is that your Laptop does not have a Line-IN, mine does not, leaving you with only a few options for USB 2.0 devices. Most of usb 2.0 capture devices require a Line-IN for capturing audio.

These three usb devices do not need a laptop with line-in. I have tested three of them but kept only one.

1. Convert M402.

2. ADS DVD express USB 2.0.

3. TDK indiCAPTURE.