Dropped Frames+ Quality issue Upgrade? VHS to DVD UDDATE!!

[Rikert]

(UPDATE-Well I went and purchased a WintvPVR 150-)



1st post But I have been lurking about this board for some time.
I need to copy 8MM video tapes and VHS tapes to DVD ( Home movies)
I have an ATI AIW 128 16MB card with MMC 7.2 (Tried to upgrade MMC but can't) I don't record off TV Just want to make DVD's of home movies.
I think My machine can't handle the capture. Abit K7AMA AMD Athlon 1g processor-60 gig HD win xp pro Sonic MYDVD(Sux)- 256M Memory- The picture is a bit grainy and choppy when the camera is moved in a scene. But if I increase the Megs per second Even at 8.00 MPS I get dropped frames. This is MPEG2 same thing happens in AVI.
I have looked in lordsmurfs website and tried many things but still dissapointed in quality. This machine is just for recording and DVD burning.
Do I need to get a hardware capture card? I hate to spend 300.00 +
on an advc-100 Plus I would need a firewire card? Looking at the Adaptech Videoh or the hauppage 250 PVR. would rather stay at 100.00 to 150.00 But hate to spend that and still have quality issues.
Or am I expecting too much?
Rikert

[lordsmurf]

Your card is too old. Your machine is too slow.
Your equipment is about 5-6 years old, and DVD video was not meant to be produced on it.

You can maybe capture AVI in VirtualDub, but that's about it.

[Rikert]

Your card is too old. Your machine is too slow.
Your equipment is about 5-6 years old, and DVD video was not meant to be produced on it.

You can maybe capture AVI in VirtualDub, but that's about it.

I agree that it is not up to par, Thats why I am asking about Hardware based capture cards. I can copy (backup DVD's fine) just can't capture at a good quality. Is there any hope for me to use this machine? It can accept mor ram and has raid avail but can't go over 1.3 processor speed.
Thank's in advance.
Rikert

[Nelson37]

Disagree.

Your PC is a bit slow for real-time Mpeg, I found 1.4Ghz sort of a threshold speed for that. AVI, however, should be very doable. Your biggest need is easily solved, find an old 10-gig or so drive, use that for your OS and software. Use your 60-gig for capture only, connected on second IDE channel, BY ITSELF. Move DVD drive to slave with boot drive.
Another 256 MB of RAM wouldn't hurt, but not absolutely necessary.

You should be able to upgrade MMC to at least 7.6 or 7.7, significant improvement for MPG, minor CPU upgrade - $20 or so - would get you there.

Do not use the coax input, go with composite or S-video, if available, and cap at 720x480, cropped. Use Huffy compression.

How does quality look on AVI cap? Ignore dropped frames, 2nd HD will fix that. PQ alone, sharp, blurry, ??? You might need to tune card settings for color, brightness, etc but make sure to test this from an RW played in a standalone player, do NOT use PC monitor or PC output to TV to fine-tune settings.

[gshelley61]

Before you spend a bunch of money upgrading or buying another computer... consider a standalone DVD recorder. Wal Mart has two units under $150 now. Even name brand models are getting close to the $200 range. They are easy to use and the results are very impressive. They capture MPEG2 with 2 channel Dolby Digital audio in real time. If you get one with a built in hard drive, you can even do simple editing and burn to a disc all in the same machine.

[Rikert]

I have gone crazy trying to upgrade mmc. to 7.7 have not had any luck. So you don't think that I should get a hardware based capture card?
If I remember I wasn't too happy with avi because of the time to convert to Mpeg then burn DVD and quality was not much better although it has been a while since I tried avi.
I don't watch these on the PC..
Rikert

[Rikert]

Nelson, I tried a 5Min capture using Virtualvcr. I could not set it over 320X240 UYVY if I try to force say 352X480 or 640X480 it says "cannot set video format e_fail:800004005" I know my sys is not the best But my main question would a hardware based capture card work better? such as the ones I mentioned in the opening post

[Nelson37]

If you want real-time Mpeg with your current setup, then yes, a hardware encoder would be your best bet.

However, you will probably be upgrading your PC or getting a new one at some point, in addition to the other obvious benefits this would enable real-time Mpeg with your current card and also decrease encoding time for AVI. The hardware encoders do not benefit from a faster CPU.

Upgrading MMC is a royal pain. Rage3d.com has the best, most complete removal and install instructions, these worked for me. Try 7.6.

[yg1968]

I have a similar computer (AMD 1 gig). I am able to do fine with the ADS Instant DVD Xpress box (a hardware mpeg encoder that is roughly $50). I am also able to capture with my Sony DV camcorder with good results.

See this link for a review by vhelp of the ADS DVD Xpress:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=242340

[dfisher]

I have been dubbing my old Beta tapes with great success using a computer with a 1 GB Celeron & 392 megs of ram. I'm using an ATI 8500DV All-In-Wonder card & MMC 7.7. I'm not even using a seperate hard drive. But make sure that the MMC is 7.7 or above or you'll have to redo the audio. If you can find an ATI 8500DV with the install disk that includes the MMC 7.7 on ebay for a reasonable price I think that should work for your present system. Make sure you use Lordsmurfs directions for the settings. I've been capturing MPEG-2 at 352x480 & 3.48 M Bit/second, audio at 48.000 KHz, 16 bit, stereo, constant bit rate. I've been burning the DVD's using Ulead Movie Factory 2. So far I've done about 10 of them & they've all come out great.

[Rikert]

Thank you fellas, Now we are getting somewhere. No offense, I know my system is not fast. I have 3 systems here all 1g Processor, If i upgrade I would rather do my main one that i do not record on.
I'm sure in the future I will upgrade the recoding comp, just don't have all the funds avail at this time and am looking for a good capture setup that I can use when I update computer.
Hauppage looks pretty good to. I'm not sure if I can convince the wife to go 300.00 on the avdc- 100 but it looks good. 100.00- 150.00 looks better + I can get another HD and some mem.
Rikert

[Rikert]

Well, I went and purchased a Wintv pvr150...
And Nelson, I lucked out... have a friend that just got a sony vaio and no longer can use his 60 gig HD, added it as a master as you said.. formatted ntfs. Captures are great!!!
I am a happy Camper now!

Rikert

[Capmaster]

Your PC is a bit slow for real-time Mpeg, I found 1.4Ghz sort of a threshold speed for that

I strongly disagree. I've captured over 1500 feature length MPEG2 at full D1 DVD res on a Compaq laptop with the P3M-1.133 GHz processor. Laptops have slower specs than a desktop, and I had no trouble with the PC keeping up.

Most MPEG2 hardware capture cards recommend anywhere from 450 to 550 MHz CPU speed, and judging from my experience and others I'd have to say that seems accurate.

[Nelson37]

Cap, my response was referencing his stated hardware, an ATI AIW.