Overwhelmed and Need guidance for hard/software solution.

[Bullitt5094]

I'm sure this is the umpteenth post for "what do I need to get the job done", but I've researched this until my brain is overflowing and really would like some advice from those that live in this world and know thier stuff, please!

TASK: I need to convert both OLD VHS tapes and New Digital 8 to DVD and Hard Drive Archive. I would also like the flexibility to do some professional looking DVDs with transitions, titles, maybe even picture/picture stuff.

HARDWARE: Sony D8 camera. Panasonic ES40V VHS/DVD that seems to handle my old VHS well. AMD64 3700 with 100GB hd space and 1 GB ram. Playing back on Mitsu 65" Diamond RPTV

SOFTWARE: Sceneanalyzer, TMPGEnc 3.0 XPress, DVD Author Pro. Roxio Med Crea 7.5

MORE INFO: I want to get the best possible results on recovering the almost 20 year old VHS and archiving all the VHS and D8 videos I have. I've xfered the VHS to DVD in the Panasonic and it did pretty well. No jitter, noise, etc but had some color problems that I'm sure are tape related and not the Panasonics fault. I recently downloaded the Canopus ProCode software demo and it did slightly better than the TMPGE video quality wise and was MUCH faster. So I started looking into some of the Canopus stuff including the Hardware solutions like the ACEDVio
The bundle shown in the link with the Adobe Pro looks dirt cheap as compared to buying just the adobe software alone! BUT it is STILL expensive. For me at least. But I may still bite the bullet it is what I need to get the job done.

QUESTION: What do I really need to get the task done? Will a capture card do a significantly better A/D converions than passing it through my D8 camera to AVI then rendering it to MPEG? It isn't like I expect HD quality from the old tapes! Will the card offer me any advantages on the D8 input?

If I don't need a capture card, please lead me to a great rendering software/dvd production software solution. The EDIUS stuff is more expensive, by itself, than the capture card/adobe package for some reason. The adobe pro software by itself is more too! Does not make sense.

On the low end, is the Let's Edit 2 offering any good? Does it use the ProCoder rendering engine? Is there another offering that will get the job done for me with the best quality results without excessive bells and whistles?

ANY information/comments would be sincerely appreciated!

[Bjs]

Starting with your posted pc specs ... stay away from any usb2 devices .

These are for xp only , and the amd 2100xp isnt quite up to the abilities to get the very best out of such devices , you really need 2000mhz cpu like the amd 2400xp , with a clock of 2100mhz .

Avoiding the go between using the d8 camera , there are simply too many ways of doing things , and screwing it up , and the quality is very grainy .

Use the d8 camera for all the d8 tapes you have , but as for vhs , look for pci card , the capture results from some of the later cards is brilliant .

If you are thinking of upgrading to xp , take a look at avermedia devices in the capture cards list too the left .

The avertv gold is exceptional for quality , and no macro headaches .
I use it too backup my tapes I buy from oversea's , so they dont get chewed up by freinds who borrow them , only to play them in unserviced vhs players , which stuff them .

The card retails in au for under $100.00

If staying with win98se , then your choice will be getting slimmer by the day as many manufactures start dropping driver development for all except xp os .

You dont need more than 256mbs of memory , I have done capture for years with this amount without problems . The fact still remains I was doing this with only 128mbs before when using asus agp vivo's .

As for software :

Simple are ulead video studio , and nero , basic authoring .

Dvdlab still has bugs , and still lacks specific features .
Tmpgenc , dosent matter , I avoid it all together , its crap , but thats only my opinion on a product that has been extremely slow in development for many years .

If you dont mind learning a little using freeware .

The gimp for menu still creations
Dvdauthorgui for basic authoring
Pcgedit for dvd menu command editing and more
Besweet for audio conversions
Dvdshink , where project needs a trim
Ifoedit too playback dvd's , needs ac3_filters installed
(handy , check menus work before burning dvd projects)
Imagetools too burn (use's nero's api) , simpler to setup and go
Wax for pic in pic , and other video tricks , avi import
Vitualdub , a good standby for handling avi's
Bbmpeg (avi2mpeg) , supports dvd output
(vitualdub framservers to bbmpeg easily)
(supports avisynth scripts for motion button menus , more)
Blender for animations .

I think that pretty well covers the free range .

Another is a program called Super , converts mov to avi , mpeg1 , mpeg2 , just thought too mention it because I now some camera's save in mov format ...

Just check out the capture card section on the site for avertv , and see some of the reviews

Also check out the guides section in the forum , I've done a few on the tools mentioned above , just to help people get started .

[Bullitt5094]

Thanks for all the information! I see I have more research to do but at least I have some direction. You were looking at some old specs on my computer. Forgot to update them in my profile. I'm currently utilizing Win2000 for my OS but will invest in XP64 shortly.

So what is your recommendation for DVI to MPEG rendering software? You don't like TMPEG and the other software you mentioned has bugs.

[Bullitt5094]

Do you realize DVDLab Pro recommends it be used with TMPGEnc Source Creator since it doesn't include it's own rendering software? http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/dvdsc.html

[thecoalman]

So what is your recommendation for DVI to MPEG rendering software? You don't like TMPEG and the other software you mentioned has bugs.

That's his opinion, I don't have TMPGenc so can't give you a opinion on it but from some of the many posts and comparisons I have seen posted on here it is more than adequate. Would even be reccommended by many. As far as other software you'll get many opinions which is probaly why you haven't gotten any responses to your post. It really comes down to your needs and budget.

As far as hardware you don't need anything for the D8 cam except a firewire card, if your D8 cam has passthrough I'd suggest trying that as an alternative to the DVD recorder for capturing. No harm in seeing if you get better results. Many DVD recorders produce great results, check the DVD Recoreder section to the left for comments from other users about your model. The only "problem" with the DVD recoreder route is that it records in MPEG which is not the best format to edit, especially if your heavy editing such as color correction....

If you want some suggestions on other capture devices try the capture forum, there's many "What is the best" threads. You'll find many good suggestions there.

If you truly want to improve your VHS captures additional hardware such as a really good VCR and other video hardware is probably the best route. Try the restoration forum for more on that....

[Bullitt5094]

I tried his BBMpeg solution last night with a 1 hour AVI file with basic DVD settings and this morning there was still 14hours!! left to process the file with an Athlon64 3700. I'm patient for good results, but that is not acceptable. The only thing I increased was the motion detection to 100.

The Tmpgenc software does do a good job compared to everything I've tried except Procoder, and even then Procoder seems only marginally better on Mastering mode, quality wise, but is MUCH faster software then the TMPG.

What do you use for AVI-MPEG converison? Would you recommend something for me for my D8/AVI file processing in the below $200 range? Then maybe a high end solution in the $500 range? Is there ANY reason to look at a hardware card for this as opposed to software?

I'll spend some additional time in the restoration Forum to look for solutions to my VHS stuff. The Panasonic VHS/DVD seems to do a good job transporting my tapes. No jitter, noise, etc. Is there another unit in the below $300 range you would suggest as a transport only? The panasonic I have now is less than 30 days old. I could still return it and upgrade to a better player-only if that would improve the picture quality of my final results.

Thanks again for the info!! I was hoping for some additional opinions.