Encoding from VHS (and other video formats) QUESTION

[beniro]

Hello. I'm new to this and I need some help in terms of what hardware and software I should get for my PC to be able to encode at good quality from VHS and other video formats up to 640 x 480.

Do I need RAIDed harddrives? What TV in card should I get? How fast does my computer need to be? What software should I get (for editting and encoding...primarily to MPEG 2, I think)?

I'm trying to get a feel for this...I want to turn out a pretty high-quality product...

Thanks.

[vhelp]

beniro,

If this is your first time, then, the first time you capture/encode to mpeg will be
an experience you wont forget, he, he... it was for me!
When I first recorded an excercise vhs video, I thought, "wow!" Only later on
I thought it was crap. Anyways. . .

Don't expect to get VHS quality out of an VHS tape, even if its a brand new
movie, ie, Star Wars Phantom Menace for instance.

If you find the right combo (capture card vs MPEG or AVI then encode to MPEG
and proper filter usage) great. . . it might come out in decent quality, but still
not as the origonal VHS tape. Sorry. Just given it to you straight. Some here,
may beg to differ. But, that "opinion" is a subjective one. So, you may feel
that its good quality - that's fine!

Anyways, as for your best method, I guess it would depend on what you want.
* VCD
* SVCD
Then, you have to decide if you want to spend all day processing (encoding)
your captured movie for best quality, or spend as little time, "just get it in VCD
format"

If you just like a handful of VCD's that you can churn up in a days time, then
you could try and DVC I, it's a usb gizzmo and is virtually effortless. Has
hardware MPEG1 chip, so while you watch the movie(s), it records them to MPEG1
or VCD format (per template)
Also, there's the DVC II, an PCI card with Hardware MPEG1 and MPEG2 chip,
and also has a VCD template (but not so good in VCD)

On the otherhand, if you want the best you can get in quality, than the ONLY
way is via AVI capture. But don't think that this WILL give you great quality
for VHS captures, cause you'll be kidding yourself, as I have to myself (in the
past)
I have a zillion brand spankingly NEW VHS movies on tapes that I bought in
stores for $5 here, $7 bucks there. I'm waiting till have the quality issue
all worked out for VHS captures, before I start this embarkment.
It takes pratice and time to become a master at this capture/encode/burn
to CD business.

Also, read as much as everything you can (to your left) There are link
there that you can jump to to find all the information on your endevers.

Well, the above is just a handful of some information for you to digest.
The two units I discussed above (DVC I, DVC II) are easy to use and for
a newbie, is a great starting. . .

Later.

---------------------------------------------
Sample Clips . . .revised web site

[nfl2k2]

I just capture in AVI to watch movies on my pc because I've got a tv-out to hook up to my TV. so there's no need to go to mpeg1 or 2

[beniro]

Thanks for the replys, guys. To clarify a bit, what I want to do is shoot footage of my area and put together a promotional film for my company...

I HAVE encoded from VHS before, and gone through alot of the same problems I'm sure you went through, vhelp.

It was tough.

It seemed that, apart from general deterioration of quality, my TV in card or harddrive didn't have high enough bandwidth to capture at a satisfactory framerate. That what I'm mainly concerned with.

What if I shot this all with digital video? My video camera can record at resolutions higher than the normal VHS...

I'm so puzzled...I definitely don't want to spend too much or underbuy...If it helps, my budget is around $2000.

Thanks again for the great replys.

[lusid]

You should get better quality pulling the video straight off your DV camcorder.

I fact, you might be better off working all the way through in DV, then you can output to VHS and do another encode straight from DV to Mpeg2. That should give you the best quality and let you compare the merits of both formats.

All you need is lots of HD, a firewire card, and some DV editing software. If you get the ATI firewire card, it comes with some software.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: lusid on 2001-12-02 23:21:31 ]</font>

[beniro]

Thanks for the reply. So just a firewire card and some software...and lots of HD.

Will my HD be able to keep up with the video at a good framerate? I was thinkg about getting a RAID card...

Thanks.

[clk8]

I have to agree with Lusid. I have a Sony Digital8 camcorder and the quality of my avi is perfect. Your result from encoding can only get worse, not better, so the higher the quality of the source, the better. You will need a fast HDD with plenty of free space. One hour of video takes up around 15GB. I am currently using a 60GB ATA100 drive and I have yet to drop a frame. I also use my camcorder to capture from VHS. My Sony TRV120 has a pass thru function that allows me to connect the output of my VCR to the camcorder, and the camcorder to the computer through firewire. It works great!

[beniro]

Hey, this is beniro's brother. I was wondering also, what video editing software do you use? And do you have a generic firewire card that you use with that?

Because I was working on a computer a while back, and it's owner had bought some pinnacle bundle that came with the card, and he was upgrading to a higher quality video editing program, and he couldn't use the old pinnacle firewire card.

So my main question is what software's good, and can you just use a generic firewire card with it?

Thanks.

[hantanbl]

Dear CLK8

What capture card are you using? Also, how do I check whether my Sony Camcorder TRV310 supports passthrough mode?
Tks.

[clk8]

beniro's brother:

I am using Adobe Premier 6.0. I have also used the Movie Maker software that comes in WinXP. I use a generic OHCI compliant firewire card that I found on Ebay for $20 and it came with Ulead Video Studio 4.0. I did not care for the Ulead software much, but not everyone can afford Adobe Premier.


hantanbl:

I do not use a capture card exactly. I am using a firewire card to connect the camcorder to the computer. The camcorder digitizes(captures) the input from the VCR and the information is transfered to the computer through the firewire connection and Adobe Premier. As far as your TRV310 goes, I believe that it does. I just tried to check Sony's website, but it is not working right. I would check your manual if you have one, or Sony's website, or look through the menu on the camcorder. My TRV120 has a menu option to turn off the passthru. It says something about analog > DV. Good luck.

[Tbear]

The Faster the hard drives the less chance of dropping frames. Or you could say the faster the HDD the bigger
the bandwidth.

SCSI is faster than EIDE. A raid set up would be the fastest. You need to look at the drives constant through
put. For example ATA 100 is going to around 25Mb/s.
I found this info at tomshardware.com it is a two part article on video. I found the article to be very helpful. I also have found alot of good info from this forum as well.




www4.tomshardware.com/video/01q2/0150524/index.html