VHS capture to HDD

[bcags7]

Hello all,

Like a lot of people on this forum, I'm finally tackling the VHS conversion project. So I was wondering if anyone would be willing to offer some advice on the process. I'm relatively new to capturing/editing video, but I have used Windows Movie Maker to make some movies consisting of pictures and short videos from my digital camera. I would like to stick with WMM just because it's simple and easy, and I know how to use it...I am open to other software suggestions however.

What I would like to do is archive all of my home VHS tapes to my hard drive, do some editing where necessary, and then have the option of either viewing them on my PC or burning them to DVD. I realize this is going to be a huge, time-consuming project (50-75 2-hr tapes), but I want to make sure I get the best quality possible from the capture process before the VHS tapes die on me. The editing that I plan on doing isn't too extensive, just cutting and splicing clips from different tapes. If I can clean anything up and make it look better I may consider that as well, but that really depends on how long everything is going to take. My main focus right now is just to get the videos transferred to my PC, retaining as much quality as I can, and balancing that with how much disk space it will take. I'll deal with the editing/DVD burning later.

I'm currently using a Dazzle DVC170 USB device with Pinnacle Studio 10, but after capturing a few of my VHS tapes I'm not too happy with it. The software is terrible in my opinion, and I didn't realize it encoded directly to MPEG2, which from what I have read is perfect for creating DVD's but not so much for editing...wish I would have done some more research before buying it. I have converted a couple of the MPEG2 videos to WMV using Windows Movie Maker for viewing on my PC, but there is a noticeable quality loss.

So, I guess my questions are...

Is it reasonable to transfer 50-75 VHS tapes to a hard drive? How much disk space would this use?

What is the best hardware/software for this? I've read mixed reviews on the Canopus ADVC-55...something to do with the color from VHS captures. Read good things about Hauppauge and ATI-AIW cards. It also seems like letting the hardware do the encoding is a simpler way to go. Is that true?

From what I understand, the Canopus devices capture to DV...is DV a good choice for capturing VHS tapes? Can DV be imported into Windows Movie Maker? I'm assuming that importing a DV file and converting that to a WMV would produce a higher quality video than MPEG2 conversion to WMV...but will it be noticeable? Can Windows Movie Maker even handle a 2-hr DV file?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!

[kr236rk]

hi

am similarly curious to know something about Canopus - it looks like a 'breakout box' - does it stand alone or do you use it in conjunction with other software, like Vegas; or can it do both?

accordingly - what is the best way to use Canopus please?

http://www.salonprosales.com/canopus-advc110-p-718.html

thanks

Ric

[yoda313]

fyi windows movie maker is not ideal if your final destination is dvd. You would be forced to export into dv mode and then convert to mpeg2 later.

It's doable but its another conversion step and if your relatively new to video you would probably be better off limiting the number of steps required.

A good thing to consider is an real dvd editing package. IF you want to make relatively simple cuts and fades and things like that consider getting a pinnacle or ulead editing package. THey have them starting around 50.00 usd. Then you can edit your video and get a dvd ready video file afterwards. You can even capture in some of the software depending on which versions you buy. Then you can really simplify the process.

I have pinnacle studio 12 and it can capture video from an analog or dv camera directly into its program. From there you can make some pretty decent edits to it. Its not a pro suite that I have at the 50.00 range but you can do some good stuff with it.

From there you can burn directly to dvd after making the changes. HOWEVER it does not have a menu creation program. What you can do is tell it to give you a dvd compatible mpeg 2 file and then you can load that into an authoring program like tmpgenc dvd author and make the menu look however you want to.