Capturing to Burning..how?

[everglade]

I am new to this and have spent hours reading forums and web guides but can't seem to find a basic step-by-step guide on converting VHS to DVD. What I've got so far is plug your VCR to a Capture device (like Canopus), that then goes into your PC via a Firewire connection. Then I'm not clear? I keep reading about shrinking, authoring, burning, editting, and its got me really bewildered now. Are they are different softwares required? One to capture, one to edit, etc? And whats all this about saving them in avi...calculating the bitrate, using TMPEG to convert to peg2..shrinking and authoring.....anyone help with some easy tips??

[bottle-necked]

Your profile says you have a Celeron 300 and a 20G hdd. Is this the computer you will be capturing video with?

[everglade]

Haha..no, gladly not.. I'm getting a quote at the moment for a new PC with pentium 4, 2.8GHZ processor, 300GB HDD, 512MB RAM, 64MB Graphics Card, USB/ Firewire connections and Dual Format DVD Writer. I am inteding to use an external capture device, either the Canopus ADVC-100 or the ADVC-300. If it helps any, I wil be compiling lots of clips from dozens of VHS cassettes, all around 4-5 minutes long, and then wanting to compile them all and burn them onto a single DVD.

[bottle-necked]

Thank goodness

I would consider adding another hard drive for video only. Trying to capture to the same drive your operating system is on can sometimes cause problems.

Firewire capture is like a direct file copy but it can have it's own set of problems (like the one I mentioned above). Your capture device will probably come with a good capturing program.

You may find it necessary to edit out unwanted parts of your video. This can be done after the capture or during by simply being more selective. There are many programs for editing DV video and again your capture device may come with one.

You will then need to convert your editied DV video to MPEG2. For this I recommend Tmpgenc MPEG Encoder.

After that you will need to author your MPEG2 files. I recommend Tmpgenc DVD Author. It's a good program and easy to learn, but there are many usable programs available and your device may come with one.

The shrinking part you read about (DVD Shrink) can also be used if you find it necessary to make a last minute adjustment to get your authored project to fit a blank dvd disk. Some might think this step is cheating or something but it comes in pretty handy if that need should arise.

Good luck.

[everglade]

Thanks for that very easy to follow guide. The only questino I now have is, that I am wanting to compile around 30-40 VHS clips onto one DVD, a lot of the software I've been looking at , such as DVDXMaker only allows you to add 20 "movies" to your dvd, can you recommend any software that may suit my purpose? Similarly for editting the video, if the Canopus doesn't have good editting software, any that you'd recommend? I know one problem I'd have on some clips is colour bleed on the reds and blues which I would need to address. Thanks again.

[bottle-necked]

Ulead VideoStudio version 8 is pretty nice and is available as 30 day trialware. For joining, editing, capturing, etc all those clips it is a nice program and easy to learn. That is my favorite right now.

To maintain the highest quality I would capture DV, edit DV, output your edited video project in DV, then encode that to MPEG2 using a program like Tmpgenc. Ulead and such programs can encode MPEG2 but better quality can be achieved. What you wind up using is going to be up to you.

Editing for color, contrast, brightness, etc can be done while editing but...... if it's possible to adjust these settings before capturing then that might be a good idea to help save you time and problems later. Applying filters isn't that hard and may programs provides this function but it's going to take time and effort. I think it's easier to adjust the capture settings first then the files are good as is if that is possible to do.

Getting DV onto the computer is fairly easy, all the steps aren't that hard until you find something has gone wrong, that's why it's a good idea to test each step you take before moving on to the next one.

Good luck.

[everglade]

Thanks for all the help you've gievn, just wanted two things clarifying: At what stage is best to 'compile' all the clips together? If you do it at the video editting stage will I end up with a single 'movie' with no chapters? Or do I have to do it at the authoring stage so as each clip is a chapter? And what Region discs do you burn? Do you find it best to burn them as 2 or 0? Thanks

[offline]

To maintain the highest quality I would capture DV, edit DV, output your edited video project in DV,

Just my 2 cents. DV capture does not give the higest quality IMO but it
is very good and, when used with cards such as the Canopus, offers
an almost fool proof process avoiding frame loss and audio sync
issues that may appear with other methods.

I suggest, everglade, that you take the time to research the various
methods available to do what you want. There is no one best method
that does everything perfectly - this is why there are so many different
opinions on the subject. Some solid reasearh now will save you
stress in the future.

BTW Nothing bottle-necked said is wrong

[daamon]

Thanks for all the help you've gievn, just wanted two things clarifying: At what stage is best to 'compile' all the clips together? If you do it at the video editting stage will I end up with a single 'movie' with no chapters? Or do I have to do it at the authoring stage so as each clip is a chapter? And what Region discs do you burn? Do you find it best to burn them as 2 or 0? Thanks

If you want to do basic "editing" (i.e. trimming clips, joining clips etc.) then check out VirtualDub. It can also be used to capture the AVI. As can ScenalyzerLive - I've not used this, but have seen quite a few people rate it.

Re: "Joining clips" - You can do either. Join all the AVI clips into one big one, or load all the encoded clips (i.e. AVIs turned into MPEGs) into your chosen authoring tool and it should (I know TMPGEnc DVD Author (TDA) does) treat them as one continuous movie.

The chapters are adding during authoring, irrespective of one long "movie", or multiple clips. You should be able to set chapters that are mid-clip - i.e. ignoring the end of one clip and the beginning of the next. Each clip does not have to define a chapter.

I've recently downloaded the TMPGENC Batch list creator (click on the name, there's a link), but not yet tried it. That may be useful for your multiple AVIs.

Re: Region - When you burn home made DVDs they're usually region free (code = 0), unless you dictate otherwise. I'm not sure of any software that does this - I think something exists. I use TDA and haven't seen it...

Finally, these links might be of use:

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=220020&highlight=

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=219415&highlight=

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=206798&highlight=

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=218734&highlight=

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=207014&highlight=

...as there are useful links and info in them.

In particular, I would suggest to read up on capturing at 1/2 D1 and lower bitrates etc. (it's all in the links above).

Hope that helps. Good luck...

[everglade]

Thanks fort he links, I've read them all, as well as loads of others in this forum. I've even "Digital Video for Dummies" which is good for basic explanations. The one thing I'm not clear on is chapters. If I was to compile 40 different clips onto one DVD and wanted to be able to jump to any particular one to view it, they have to be chapters right? If thats the case, do I combine them all at the editting stage or the authoring stage? As I would like to be able to have transition effects from one to another and titles, etc. Any help much appreciated.

[TOMMO]

It can be confusing.

How you approach your project largely depends on your content and how it relates.

For example you might have 20 totally different videos and none relate to the next one. You could therefore create 20 different clips each with a menu button to activate them.

Or your content could be 20 clips each relating to the next clip. Example a wedding, grooms stag night (heavily edited), bride leaving house, guests turning up at church and so on. This video would be better as one video. Authoing program such as Encore and DVDA allow you to make chapter points, which you could set at each important stage. These would be linked to each clip as required.

Just because you have created chapters and a menu for each chapter does not mean you will be limited to seeing only that chapter. If you clicked on the first chpater it should play all the chapters thus keeping your transitions. Providing of course you have made the video as one large clip.

Another point to rememberis by doing a video set containing a particular aspects means that each seperate segment of your content can be streamed out for use on other DVDs, so keeping the content to 20 indivual clips can be an advantage too.

Have fun.

[everglade]

I have to apologise, I have using the wrong word, I want only one CHAPTER with about 40 SCENES. Sorry about that, that being said, back to my last question: do I combine them all at the editting stage or the authoring stage? As I would like to be able to have transition effects from one to another and titles, etc Thanks