Easy VHS to PC capture

[grandsire02]

I have a large number of VHS tapes that I want to convert to DVDs on my PC. Having done some surfing on Google, there seems to be a multitude of equipment and software which various manufacturers claim can do this - all very confusing for the relative novice!

I’ve been looking at the Hauppage WinTV-PVR-150 as a possible solution, but before committing to it I want to make sure that it will a) do what I want it to do, and b) do it in a very user-friendly way (i.e. easy-to-follow tutorials etc). Apparently this unit comes with some video capture software, and I can of course always make use of the on-board TV facility to watch TV on my PC. Am I going in the right direction?

Also, is there an easy-to understand ‘How to’ guide on this subject? I’ve looked at http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/capture/start.html, but I have to confess it’s a bit beyond me.

[mikiem]

There's tons of info to digest -- that's for sure.

You'll find that there are a few schools of thought: folks who like external boxes, particularly ones that do DV and connect via firewire to your PC, folks who like PC cards, and folks who like an external dvr.

Best advice I can give is to look over the many different things people are doing, decide as best possible what you would like to do today and might want to do in the future, and then find the best solution within your budget.

[swiego]

I have to admit that a little dinky ADS "DVD XPress" external box I have here does a darn good job. It's easy to use, and the quality is excellent. I've been at this for a couple of months now and I'm still finding that it takes a lot of expertise and trial/error to produce "manual" results that match what you can get from a DVD recorder or a composite/svideo-to-mpeg external USB box.

I've also found (pretty definitively) that the player you use is far more important than how you do the capture. I am beginning to suspect that you'd be better off putting every spare dollar into a good VHS player, even if it means getting the cheapest capture device you can find.

[yoda313]

I’ve been looking at the Hauppage WinTV-PVR-150

Up until the other week I still had a wintv-pvr-250 and loved it. The software is pretty straightforward and the results are very very good.

As far as capturing with the hauppuage you have a window screen that has the video display and you have the controls. You just hit record when you want to start recording. In the menu you have a lot of quality options. You can make low quality vcds, slightly better svcds (low compatibility with settop players), or regular dvds.

The hauppauge pvr capture series are mpeg recording cards. They record straight to mpeg ONLY. You can't record to avi with them. But if your main goal is to make a dvd that's all you need. You'll get a compatible dvd mpeg file ready to load into your favorite dvd authoring software.

Since the wintv is mpeg only there are very few third-party software packages that will record with the card. But with that said the included software for hauppauge is quite sufficient.

I think you'll like recording vhs to dvd. It can be overwhelming at first but with time and patience you can get great results. And you can always ask people here at videohelp if you're not quite sure about something.

[zoobie]

I've noticed if you want technicality, most here go with internal cards. If you want simplicity, most go external boxs.

I built my comp but use a external box.

I wouldn't be surprised if that ADS box is the same as Datavideos box.

[grandsire02]

Thanks to everyone for all the helpful advice; I've now decided to continue down the Hauppauge path. I have supplementary question - simple those in the know, I'm sure!

To connect my VCR to the TV card it seems that I will require a Scart (VCR end) to S/video (PC end) lead. The likes of Maplin and several others sell these for £40 - £50 each, whereas I've seen one on E-Bay for £2.50! What is the difference, and will the cheaper variety serve my purposes?