Converting analog to DVD:This is what I have so far

[Theresa]

Hello all--
After many months of trying to sift through as much information from you all as the time available to a 40 yr. old mother of 3 will allow, and after receiving much good advice, this is what I have compiled:

JVC HR-S9800U VCR, DataVideo TBC, Canopus ADVC 110

ScenalyzerLive 4.0, Virtualdub, AVISynth, TMPGEnc Plus, TMPGEnc DVD Author and DVD Shrink.

I have read copious amount of information, but the techobabble is beyond me, I'm afraid. I have got everything hooked up, programs are running fine it seems, but now I realize I have no idea how to actually make them work. I'm not even sure if I have the order of programs lined up according to their function. I almost didn't post because I feel that in light of how much information is available here, that I should be able to put it all together. But I'm afraid it may be over my head and beyond my reach. So what is my best option? I am reading the manuals, but I may just be too techically handicapped to get in first gear. If you all feel like taking this subject on, please advise! I will be so grateful!

Theresa

[jimmalenko]

Sounds like you're looking to do it the way I do it

1. ScenalyzerLive to capture to DV-AVI.
2. a) Create AVISynth script in Notepad.
2. b) Open AVISynth script in Virtualdub & edit.
2. c) Save Trims into AVISynth file.
3. Open AVISynth script in TMPGEnc Plus and encode to DVD-compliant MPEG. {optional, but recommended} Make sure you use a bitrate calculator so that you get your file sizes right.
4. Author MPEG with TMPGEnc DVD Author.
5. {optional, not recommended} if by some chance you didn't use a bitrate calculator in 3, or you purposefully encoded and authored oversize, you could use DVDShrink to shrink your project to fit.


Note:
All points for 2 are discussed in this guide:
https://www.videohelp.com/guides.php?guideid=643#643

http://members.dodo.net.au/~jimmalenko/AVI2DVD.htm might assist you with using TMPGEnc Plus in point 3 also.

[bendixG15]

You are correct in that there is a lot of technobabble.

May I suggest that you post just one specific thing that you want to do. Skip all the fancy filters, cutting and patching and timelines blah, blah blah.

If you post that one thing, then people here can be specific in there suggestions. But remember, KISS..keep it simple. And yes, you can do it.

Once you master the mechanism of.... say putting a tape on a DVD, then you can play with the gingerbread.

[Theresa]

Thank you both very much. What's the expression---How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Thank you for the reassurance, and I will be back to ask the specifics. Like the 'biterate calculator'. I'm clueless, but I'm getting use to that feeling. Thank you for the compliment, Jimalenko. I have printed out some of your suggestions and am glad I'm on the right track. Stick around, I'll need the hand-holding!

Theresa

Ok, I'll ask now. Where do I get one of these 'bitrate calcuators'?

[jimmalenko]

https://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm
http://members.dodo.net.au/~jimmalenko/calc.htm

[julitomg]

You could also use Windows Movie Maker(free and already in your system) if you are not familiar with Avisynth/Virtualdub (I am not and prefer more conventional aproaches)for your editing, save your video as DV AVI and follow the same path from then on(TMPGEnc, TDA, etc..)
Good luck.

[lordsmurf]

Hello all--
JVC HR-S9800U VCR, DataVideo TBC, Canopus ADVC 110

This is good. Very good.

ScenalyzerLive 4.0, Virtualdub, AVISynth, TMPGEnc Plus, TMPGEnc DVD Author and DVD Shrink.

Skip Scenalyzer. WinDV is free and more straight-forward. Save DV AVI to computer.

Virtualdub will not leave you as satisfied in editing as Adobe Premiere Elements would have done. Open DV-AVI and edit. But it's free, and it can do some decent filtering and basic cutting, and will dump to a new AVI file (I suggest uncompressed, HuffYUV, MJPEG, or use a free DV encoding codec).

You don't need AVISynth yet. That is advanced. You may never need it, actually. I don't use it, no need, and I do advanced work almost daily.

TMPGEnc Plus is a fine MPEG encoder. Convert your edited AVI to MPEG for DVD. Follow guides at digitalFAQ.com (or wherever) for settings to encode.

TMPGEnc DVD Author is good newbie software, learn the ropes of making DVD menus. It does have flaws, and it is sort of basic, so you'll graduate to more advanced software in time (year or so, maybe). Something like Ulead DVDWS2 will be a good program at that time.

DVD Shrink is not to be used for creating your own DVDs. That is a cheat, intended only for copying commercially-made DVDs. Home sources like VHS and home encoding tools will not give you a source high enough to shrink without it resulting in a serious quality loss. If you make a mistake and encode too big, re-encode it again with less bitrate and other tweaks as needed. Cheating loses quality.

[trhouse]

That is very nice equipment and software, more than adequate to produce fine video. The capture card route has a healthy learning curve associated with it as you are discovering. If you have time constraints, did you consider the dvd recorder route?

[Theresa]

Thank you, again, jimmalenko, for your help. I'll follow up on it.
Thanks, too, julitomg, for posting---that thought had briefly crossed my mind as I realized how over my head I am with these other programs. I gotta spend some time practicing!!
And Lordsmurf, thank you also very much for your imput. I've printed out huge amounts of information from your site. Not that my brain absorbed it, but I'm trying! So you have already guided this process for me in a few areas. Anything more 'straight-forward' sounds wonderful--I'll give WinDV a try. What would you suggest as a good DV encoding codec? I only downloaded DVD Shrink after reading somewhere I needed it. Of course, I didn't know why, but that's why I should ask questions first! It's just embarrassing to ask such basic questions so I put it off until I get tired of beating my head against the wall. This project is only for preserving my kids VHC-S tapes---I have a few thousand of them slowly disentigrating.
Thank you all for your advice. Please put up with the ridiculous questions to follow in the next few weeks!

[RWANDREWS]

CANOPUS has its own codec, so don't bother about that. One thing that has not been mentioned, that I have had problems with, is the type of AVI file that you should capture at. TMPGEnc does NOT like type 1 AVI format, so capture at type 2 AVI. I use DVApp to capture (freeware) & found it easy & straightforward. It is possible to encode type 1 with TMPGEnc, but I have had many problems with it. Maybe there's a workaround , or something else to do, but if you capture in Type 2, nothing needs to be done.

[Theresa]

trhouse, good suggestion about the dvd recorder route. I considered it, and may have to resort to that if I am unable to figure this all out. But since some of these tapes may need restoration, my ego forced me to assume I could do it the hard way. If everyone on this forum puts up with me, maybe I will.
RWANDREWS, could you explain more about Canopus' codec--how do I use it, access it, whatever. See what an idiot I am?? And thanks for the tip about 2 AVI---I would have had no idea whatsoever. I'm so glad I asked for help! Thanks, everyone!

[RWANDREWS]

There's literally nothing to do as far as codecs go with CANOPUS. Plug in your box, start DVApp, go to FILE, specify where to save file, pull down the ?? menu & set as AVI Type 2, start your VCR, click on red record button & capture is started. Click on stop button to stop. DO NOT CLICK THE RECORD BUTTON AGAIN, as it will write over your first file ! I usually exit the program & restart to keep from accidentally writing over my capture, but that's just me.

Open the AVI in TMPGEnc & follow one of the guides here to set up your encoding process. You will probably want to encode at 352x480 for NTSC VHS.

OPen your MPEG & WAV files you just made in TMPG Author, (you did buy the Dolby Ac-3 upgrade, didn't you?) under settings, set the audio as AC-3 & 224k bit rate, make your chapter stops in edit, make your menus, & click on the button to author. Then use the tools to make an .ISO file (it will suggest it to you, or go back to the beginning of the prog) then burn with DVDDecrypter or Nero or whatever you got.

It is very worth your while to have a 2nd HD of at least 200GB for your capturing & converting. Also defrag the HD often. Check your work with DVDInfo to see if there are burn errors on the DVD.

Good luck, you can do it !

[harley2ride]

You can also consider an ADS Pyro AV/Link which will come with Adobe Premiere Elements for about $160.00. Premiere Elements software will allow you to capture, edit, and author your dvd. The only limitations are that there aren't a lot of transitions of special effects available with Elements (like there is with Premiere Pro). But most people don't need all of those anyway. This is a good alternative to the Canopus ADVC 110, and does basically the same thing.

[Theresa]

Thanks for replying RWANDREWS. Great 'hand-holding' here---appreciated! You are talking on my level. I'll check to see if I did download the Dolby Ac-3 upgrade. I just went with TMPGEnc DVD Author 1.6---I'm not sure what it has in it. How do I find out? [this is embarrassing!] I do have a second hard drive but I think it's only 120 GB. *sigh* Will it work? I'll get DVDInfo---sounds like a great idea to see if I did things right.
Thanks to you, also, harley2ride. Your way sure sounds easier than the ambitious way I jumped into this! Since I have spent more than I'm worth so far, I'll give this a go, but if [when] I fail, I'll take your advice!!
thanks again

[RWANDREWS]

120GB is OK, just a bit small. I used 80GB for awhile, you just wind up deleting a lot & cannot have many projects going at the same time.

You have to buy the AC-3 upgrade for TMPG author for $30 extra. Well worth it, as it makes your files 100% DVD compliant, while saving considerable space vs the .WAV (LPCM) is rather large & MP2 is not DVD compliant for the US.

You cannot get around the learning curve, really, so just start make mistakes, learn from them, try again.

[FulciLives]

I have a few things to point out.

If you have ScenalyzerLive then use it. It is the best of all DV AVI capture options. Make sure you use DV AVI TYPE 2 instead of TYPE 1 format. If you don't want to pay for ScenalyzerLive then WinDV is a very good FREE alternative but if you ever have A/V lip sync issues when using WinDV then ScenalyzerLive would most likely solve that issue. However few have that issue so using just WinDV instead should be OK but if you have and already paid for ScenalyzerLive then by all means use it as it is the best.

If you only need to do very simple editing then my guide about editing with VirtualDubMod is the way to go. Usually this will cover most types of edits that are simple such as captures that only need the start and end trimmed and maybe TV ads cut out etc.

If you are doing home movie footage and have a lot of editing to do and want to get fancy then you need something more powerfull such as the aforementioned Adobe Premiere Elements which is just one of many programs that have advanced editing abilities. By advanced editing I mean more than cutting out a bit here or there but more stuff like re-arranging clips and adding special effects like text captions (1992 - MY SON'S 3rd BIRTHDAY PARTY) or doing "transitions" like fading to black and stuff like that.

TMPGEnc makes a good MPEG-2 DVD spec encoder but it is SLOW but quality is very good. For home camcorder stuff just put one hour per DVD as this will give max quality plus this allows you to speed up the encoding time as you only have to do a CBR or Constant BitRate encode.

TMPGEnc DVD Author is a great program and all you will really need for your DVD authoring needs. Some people "rip" on it for being too "simple" but trust me it works and works well and creates decent enough looking menu designs etc. plus it sounds like you have a lot of tapes to back-up so you really made the best choice here. However if you intend to use AC-3 audio instead of LPCM WAV audio then you should purchase the AC-3 "plug-in" for TMPGEnc DVD Author.

- John "FulciLives" Coelman

[trhouse]

You may want to check out this link in the Restoration forum,

https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=239205

Depending on the nature of the restoration, you may get better results and the learning curve is less severe with hardware. Detailers and color correctors are not hard to use and are available regularly at places like eBay for very reasonable prices. I paid about $55 for a Vidicraft Detailer III and JVC JX-C7 color corrector. The color corrector also could correct IRE, audio, video levels, and had an enhancer ( similar to the detailer ) all for less than $30.

Also, some recorders like the now discontinued Panasonic DMR ES-10 had input processing which could correct some forms of rolling and horizontal jitter. I had a tape that jittered horizontally and the picture rolled vertically. After it came out of the ES-10 there was no horizontal jitter and the picture did not roll, instead there appeared a transparent horizontal line that scrolled slowly up the screen.

[lordsmurf]

When I refer to codecs, it's for the output from the VirtualDub editor. This is easier than trying to set up a frameserver, and generally works faster, although it can result it a miniscule quality loss (negligible in most cases).

If you have Adobe Premiere Elements, then this step is not needed, but an MPEG encoder is built in (plug-in with MainConcept engine). VirtualDub has no MPEG plug-in or export function, just an AVI output.

Anyway, there are (or were) some free MJPEG codecs, there is HuffYUV, there is Alparysoft, and then there are even freeware DV encoders (FYI, the aforementioned Canopus software codec is just to decompress, it's not for encoding). I've used Adaptec DVSoft a couple times, and it looked plenty fine. Since your source is already DV (due to DV capture), the colorspace loss was already made.

[Theresa]

RWANDREWS, thanks for telling me how to get the AC-3 upgrade. And thanks also for the reassurance! I think I will be spending a lot of time figuring this out and acquiring a few bald patches from ripping out hair.
Mr. Coelman, thank you very much for adding your opinion to all of this. I am reassured of the direction I’m going. I had already bought ScenalyzerLive, so I’ll try to figure out how it works. I downloaded the manual, but it’s slow going. Any advice in that area? I have Virtualdub---should I get VirtualDubMod?
I’m not going fancy with my editing---I just want the video quality to be the best I can get it. I want to put in chapters and menus—then that’s it. So I’m not sure what is the most reasonable editing software to use. Again, thanks for weighing in on my problem. I am almost despairing that I will ever be able to do this. I couldn’t without the help of you all.
Trhouse, thanks for your advice about restoration. Due to a housefire, and the subsequent reshuffling of my belongings afterwards, my precious tapes ended up in the basement. A huge rainstorm came through and flooded the boxes where some of these tapes were stored. I dried them out right away and later played a few---they seemed fine, but I’m not sure just what I’ll be running into. I’ll keep your advice handy.
And Lordsmurf, thanks again for your imput and for answering my question about a codec. So since I have Virtualdub, then I need a MPEG encoder---I’ll get one of the ones your suggested.
I actually sound like I know what I’m talking about when I asked questions! If you all knew how clueless I was, you would shake your heads and go on to the next person to help. Thank you all again and don’t forget about me, ok??

[FulciLives]

I've never used ScenalyzerLive as I don't do DV AVI captures so I cannot offer help on using it. In the past I've used a PCI type capture card and used PICVideo MJPEG where the process is the same sans the capture program/format. So yes I am very familiar with video capture and encoding just not with DV AVI capture. After the capture though the process is the same so please don't think I'm giving "bad" advise! As per my comments on ScenalyzerLive being the best for DV AVI capture ... this is according to all the threads/posts I've read.

As for editing ... VirtualDubMod is what you need to edit if you intend to use AviSynth. I have a guide on this and jimmalenko already linked to it in his post. In fact his post is dead on. Pay special attention to it!

You said that you have TMPGEnc Plus which is an MPEG encoder. This is the program that will convert your DV AVI capture to MPEG-2 DVD format. It can be VERY slow but if you only put 1 hour per DVD then you can do a CBR encode as I said before. Personally I suggest using a video bitrate of 7500kbps with LPCM WAV audio or use a video bitrate of 8000kbps if you intend to use AC-3 audio. TMPGEnc Plus will only do MP2 or LPCM so always use it for LPCM and convert to AC-3 later if you want to use AC-3 but if you do it that way then the built-in bitrate calculator should be avoided because it assumes the final product will be LPCM but if you later convert to AC-3 the internal bitrate calculator can't be used.

As stated before you can use the bitrate calculator located on this website at this link ---> https://www.videohelp.com/calc

I suggest you try going through the motions with 1 of your videos and get a "feel" for it. Plus this will allow you to find out what you understand and what you don't so you can begin to ask some specific questions on points where you are getting stuck/confused about.

Expect the first try or two or three etc. to be "trail runs" in that the end result may not be what you want and you may have to do it over. This is normal to the learning process.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[RWANDREWS]

Theresa;

Let's keep it simple for your 1st time. I promise to be gentle.

Capture your vid with Scenealizer (sp?) making sure it is TYPE 2 AVI.

Import into TMPGEnc, read a guide on this. Select LCPM (also called WAV) for audio, NOT MP2. Set at 8000 CBR if a 1hr vid, 6500 if 1 1/2 hr, or 5500 if 2hr. Program will warn you that the resulting DVD will be too big & not spec. IGNORE.

Import into TMPGE Author, set audio to AC-3, 224k bitrate under SETTINGS. Go to EDIT, set chapter stops, & CUT out unwanted footage by marking START FRAME, END FRAME, then CUT.

Pick a generic menu & modify to your topic. Check your total volume to see if under 4.4GB, but about 4GB is best. Create video. In tools make an .ISO file, then BURN. Watch vid, see what you did right/wrong, & have a celebratory beer.

Do a couple more, try different things, fine tune the process.
Forget about VirtualDubMod, AVISynth, etc. until you have a good idea of what you're doing. Once you have the basics down, THEN see if those programs do what you want. You may find NO need for them at all.

[FulciLives]

Import into TMPGEnc, read a guide on this. Select LCPM (also called WAV) for audio, NOT MP2. Set at 8000 CBR if a 1hr vid, 6500 if 1 1/2 hr, or 5500 if 2hr. Program will warn you that the resulting DVD will be too big & not spec. IGNORE.

8000kbps video is fine for 60 minutes or less.

6500kbps video is fine for 90 minutes.

5500kbps is too high for 120 minutes.

For 120 minutes with 224kbps AC-3 audio the video bitrate should be 4800kbps instead of 5500kbps.

However to be "safe" size-wise I would use 6300kbps for 90 minutes and 4700kbps for 120 minutes if using 224kbps AC-3 audio. That will leave more room left over for the DVD authoring stage which always adds to the final size.

In other words you never want to cut it "too close" to the final size of a DVD recordable.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
Take a look at the following thread ---> CLICK HERE
This is a recent thread where I went into detail on using a bitrate calculator. You might find it usefull.

[Theresa]

Thanks again, Mr. Coleman, I will follow through. I also respect what jimmalenko has taken the time to help me with---I'll closely re-read what he instructed. Thank you so much for the guides on bitrates---again, I'm clueless here. Your exactness is just what I needed, for when I got to that point in the process, I would have had no idea.
Reassurance is something I'm painfully in need of, so thanks for adding that!! Look for my desperate pleas for help in the weeks to come!
Again, RWANDREWS, thanks to you also for your continued support and advice. Breaking everything into little bites must be tiresome for you all who know this so well, but it's the only way I'm going to do this. I so appreciate the time it takes for you all to help with this.
I'll be back, several pounds lighter from never leaving my computer to eat until I get this down. Anyone want to babysit three kids for a month? :P
Thanks!!!!!!