Can I capture with Gainward GeForce3 card?

[matt324]

I volunteered to do a Christmas project for a family member, which involves taking a VHS tape and transferring it to DVD. Nothing fancy, maybe a menu at the beginning, but I am really new to this.

I have a Gainward GeForce3 video card with video in/out capabilities. The card also came with a ULead version 5 program.

I have a VCR here, and can see that it has white and yellow female plugs on the back, and my card has a white/yellow female adapter which combines to one plug that goes into the video card. I understand that yellow=video and white=audio, and I plan to get a dual male cord from Radio Shack to connect the two.

After I plug the VCR to the video card and press Play on the VCR, will the Ulead software capture the video for me?

Also, will Ulead allow me to create a menu?

I plan to burn the final product using Nero, is this recommendable?

I hope not to purchase too much stuff, but if a product that you recommend will seriously help, please let me know.

I can't thank you enough for your tips and help.

Sincerely,

Matt

[ulapines]

Why not read the manuals for your VCR and graphics card?
And the tutorial for your Ulead s/w.

[redwudz]

Generally video out from the VCR to video in on the capture card. Audio to your sound card.

Most VCRs are stereo, so you would have two output leads, but you may have an older unit. If you have a mono VCR, you could buy a adapter to feed both channels (Also available at RS)

For the rest, refer to the Ulead manual. Nero would work to burn the DVD after it is authored.

[matt324]

Thank you very much, redwudz.

I am pretty sure I understand, now. The biggest mystery to me was whether or not this GeForce3 card would capture. The manuals that came in the package are, on average, 2 pages long (and in broken English).

Thanks again for the help.

-Matt

[Steen4]

Seeing as how you seem to have the same video card as I do (see the details tab), I think I may be able to dispense a little advice.

1. Try to use a vcr with s-video connectors. There is an s-input on the vivo whip, and using it will improve the quality of your input immensely.
2. Use a capture program that supports wdm, but not the VS5 that comes packaged with the card. VideoStudio has what I feel is a subpar mpeg capture, and is limited to uncompressed rgb for its avi capture. I prefer to use VirtualVcr with either the huffyuv codec or the picvideo mjpeg codec, but there are some other capture progs that do a good job.
3. If you open your capture program and notice a terrible brightness problem (oversaturated whites), you will need to download the video live drivers and the saa7108 evip manager from http://www.ab.ru/~lookin/ . This will allow you to reduce the gain control value (click the 'analog 2' tab) and eliminate the oversaturated whites you'll most likely be getting from this card otherwise (don't bother contacting gainward, as they seem to have no clue about this problem).
4. Also, seeing as VideoStudio has NO tools for cleaning up analog captures, you'll need something like virtualdub. It's free, it's easy to use (even for beginners, if you check out some of the tutorials on this site), and it can really improve the quality of your finished product.
5. For your final product, you can use vs5 or tmpgenc. The advantage of videostudio is that you can take your video segments and arrange them, add effects if you desire, then burn straight to dvd, complete with menus. Tmpgenc is just an encoder, albeit with some onboard video processing ability, but the quality of its encodes is far superior to vs5's. Also, you can encode video segments with tmpgenc, arrange and edit the segments in vs5, then set up your menus and burn. I believe Nero can be used to construct menus, as well.

I know that's quite a bit for a beginner, so this is what I recommend: read through some of the tutorials on this site that refer to some of the aforementioned tools. If they don't seem too intimidating, then download the tool(s) and do some experimenting. If it all seems to be a bit too much, then proceed in the way that you feel gives good results without too much hassle. I would suggest, though, that you still try to understand some of these other tools, because as you do more video work, there will come a time, as sure as night follows day, that you will become dissatisfied with the quality of your results. Don't worry, it happens to every single one of us on this site. Why do you think we're here?
By the way, all of the tools referred to are free, with the exception of tmpgenc, which I believe is around $80 now, and the picvideo mjpeg codec, which I think is around $20 for a single noncommercial user (who's gonna be the first to correct me? Sigh...)

[matt324]

I can't thank you enough, Steen4. This is great!

I am sure capturing is different for every card, so it is EXTREMELY relieving to know that someone else has the Gainward Powerpack card and has experience.

I have downloaded VirtualVCR and huffyuv, and plan to use these (in coordination) for capture. Before doing so, I will install the Video Live WDM drivers as well as the saa7108 EVIP manager in case I need to troubleshoot the brightness problem.

When the video is fully captured, I will do as you recommend, and use VirtualDub to clean up the analog capture. Then I will use ULEAD's Video Studio to delete unneeded scenes, add a menu, and burn to DVD.

Again, Steen4, I really appreciate the help. Thank you.

-Matt

[luigi2000]

The problem with GF3 VIVO cards is that the analogue to digital conversion process distorts the input video signal.

An input video signal (top-half) with sixteen levels of gray becomes distorted in amplitude into fewer levels of gray (bottom-half).



Almost all the important details of the picture are lost.

The problem is caused by video card bios that does not properly initialize the analog to digital converter circuitry. This site http://www.ab.ru/~lookin/projects/vlio/ might have a driver to correct this error. I did not try this method. My solution was to purchase a Gainward GF4 to capture analog video.

Use Virtualdub MPEG or Virtualdub Sync for capture. These modifications resample the audio to keep from dropping frames.

[Steen4]

Do NOT use virtualdub to capture with a wdm card; even if you are using the vfw-to-wdm wrapper, you will usually drop frames like a BIG dog, even at small frame sizes. There are wdm capture programs that will do the job much better, such as virtualvcr (free), iuvcr (trialware, $25; windows 2000/xp only), and avi_io (trialware, $25). By the way, virtualvcr employs the best audio-video sync compensation I have ever used. Not that virtualdub is not a great program -- I use it religiously. But it is not a wdm-based tool (although I believe Avery Lee is working on some wdm functionality for the 1.6.xx version run).

[matt324]

Thanks for the heads-up, Steen.

BTW: I want to let the moderators know that I am going to make a donation, because of all your help, Steen.

Thanks for being so cool.

Sincerely,

Matt

Also, Steen, I have a VCR that just has the Audio/Video plugs (like an auxillary device [CD player]). Should I try and find a better VCR with S-Video jacks? Will that increase the quality that dramatically?

[Steen4]

Using the s-video input from a vcr will not only dramatically increase the quality of your input, it will also make your input more stable, hence more compressible. If you capture a bit of video through the rca video jack (the yellow plug you use now), look around at boundaries between colors or lines (easier to see if the border is vertical), especially red. See those dots crawling around in there? We call that, oddly enough, dot crawl. This is a direct result of a lack of y/c (y=brightness data; c=color data) separation. Now, find a scene with lots of parallel lines, say, Jay Leno's tie or some thug's pinstriped suit. See the rainbow distortion in there? Yep, another y/c separation artifact. That crap will be pretty much gone if you record through the s-connector. The s-input keeps the y/c information discrete so that the receiving unit does not mistakenly interpret parts of one type of signal as the other. I'm not sure if a lot of vhs players have the s-input, but it is standard on s-vhs machines. If you are not planning on recording in s-vhs, or if your tapes are recorded in standard vhs only, an s-vhs recorder is not a must, although the s-vhs units seem to be of a generally higher overall quality and can include features like time-base correction, s-video outputs, and digital nr that really can improve the output quality.
The bottom line with video, just as in audio, is your level of expense and need: are you satisfied with what you are getting; are you willing to spend to upgrade to something better; how much can you comfortably spend; and how much improvement will justify the expense?

[matt324]

That makes sense, Steen.
The video is just a regular VHS cassette from 1991, but since I am trying to "immortalize" it on DVD, I am thinking I should take that extra step (buying the s-VHS machine).

Thanks again for your input.

-Matt

[Leoslocks]

Not that I can help with your hardware setup but I too have been transfering old (1990 - 91) vhs tapes to DVD. Some of the tapes are in too poor condition to capture with out better equipment. Several of the tapes broke at the leadin which was easily fixed. I need a Time Base Corrector to compensate for streatched tapes and other problems with these old videos. If you can find an sVhs machine with a TBC, that would be good.

If you have Nero 6 you could do everything from Capture, encode/edit, Author and Burn the DVD from within Nero. It is not the quality you want for any precious material but it is a taste of the problems you will find with the multistep process of creating a DVD from Vhs.

It is good that you have started early, it took me three months to get the Capture part worked out and another three months to learn the encoding software (TMPGEnc). The finished DVD is of better viewing quality than the origional sVhs tapes.

The Best extra step you could take would be to buy a standalone DVDRecorder/vhs deck. Example

Either way, the results are Priceless!