VHS conversion

[dongle1]

Hi,

I want to convert all of my VHS tapes to DVD (i have a lot!).
Can anyone tell me the best software to use and the best USB converting device.

Also does anyone know if there is software that will split the converted VHS video into sections/scenes automatically (of that you can set to do). As I want to just split each one in say 10 scenes so it is easy to navigate, but not have to tell it at what time, etc every VHS I convert as there are so many.

Also what is the best format to burn to the dvd, so that it will work in most DVD players.

Many thanks!!!!

[guns1inger]

Chapters (or scenes) are set during authoring. Most authoring tools allow you to have chapters at set intervals if you wish. If you just want to get the tapes on DVD, and are not wanting to edit or do restoration work, the easiest solution is a DVD recorder.

[dongle1]

Thanks for the quick reply!

I think a DVD recorder would cost quite a bit more than the conversion hardware for a PC, so I would probably want to do it on a PC.
As for the restouration, I would only bother if there was a tool within the software which would make it look any better. (similar suitation as with the chapters)

Is there any particularly good software that you would recommend?

Many thanks

[guns1inger]

There are several good tools, but restoration is a long road that take time, patience and a willingness to put a fair bit of time and effort in. A DVD recorder is much faster and simpler, and will generally produce higher quality than attempting to use a cheap USB capture device and your PC to do the same thing. Whatever the price difference at purchase, you will come out ahead in time saved.

That said, if you want the very best quality you can get, then a good capture card, a lot of elbow grease, a lot of time spent playing with virtualdub and/or avisynth, and a lot of time spent encoding and authoring will produce you output that you cannot match with just a DVD recorder alone.

[dongle1]

Thanks very much.

As I have so many, im not going to bother with any resouration, just copy them. But I still think I will use a USB device, for cost resons.
Im sure there is free software out there to do the simple copy and chapters that I want.

Thanks again for your time

[guns1inger]

The device will probably come with software, but otherwise there are several tools to try. If you want to go to DVD then you need to find a USB device that can encode to mpeg-2 at DVD compliant levels as it records. You can then use DVD Styler or GUIForDVDAuthor to turn this into a finished DVD.

[dongle1]

Awesome!

[dongle1]

Does anyone else know of any free software that will split up 1 video clip to different chapters?

Thanks

[guns1inger]

When you author a DVD you don't actually split the video up into chapters. You have a single title, or video, and you place markers for the chapters. Splitting the video into separate titles introduces a whole lot of new problems, including pauses in playback at the break points, and limitations to the number of titles which is less than the possible number of chapters. Chapters are done at the authoring stage.

As for automatically splitting clips - VHS makes it very difficult. There is no time code in the way that DV has, so there is no inherent indication of scene breaks. You might be able to use something like comskip to do a pass through the video looking for potential break points, but you will also get a lot of false positives.

However if these are movies you are converting, you want chapters, not separate clips.

[dongle1]

Aaa, i see. Ok, thanks.

[orsetto]

Whenever I hear someone say they have "lots" of VHS to do, but they want to use a cheap USB or PC board solution for the conversion, I cringe. There is more to this than just clicking a few buttons and walking away, large collections of VHS contain many variables that will totally screw the person who thinks a cheap PC-hosted solution is the way to go. If you don't intend to make it a lifelong hobby and invest a lot of time in it, the PC really blows as a VHS conversion system. Its fine for a person with just a handful of tapes whose new PC already came with on-board video connections, or for someone with skills and a need to supervise every second of a conversion because the tapes are priceless or being done for professional clients.

For anyone else, who only today had the notion pop into their head they'd like to convert their 300 VHS tapes to DVD: stay the hell away from the damned computer. Let the moths fly out of your wallet, apply for a moonlighting job, bump off a relative- whatever it takes, buy yourself a DVD/HDD recorder and vastly simplify this project. You are in the UK, where good DVD/HDD models are still sold by Pioneer, Sony, Phillips and so on. These are designed from the ground-up as conversion stations: connect your VCR, copy the tape to the recorders internal hard drive, edit out stuff you don't want, put in chapter markers where you like, pick a thumbnail image and menu, and burn the finished DVD in 12 minutes. Done. There is no easier, more reliable, or faster way to get thru a large collection of VHS tapes.

Many will tell you go ahead and use the PC, because they had no problems. Bully for them, I'm glad it worked out, but be aware it does not work well for everyone. PC solutions have the annoying tendency toward being optimized for use with tuner or cable box input, not VHS. Even the best, most expensive PC conversion addons only grudgingly tolerate VHS input, causing unexpected issues. It somehow never occurs to these engineers that anyone might want to convert their VHS collections: astounding, because thats all anyone seems to talk about on forums. A current-model DVD/HDD machine, by contrast, has circuitry designed to go with the flow and cope with a wide range of VHS signal variation. When factoring the expense of the recorder, keep in mind these are highly sought after machines that really don't lose their value after you buy them. If you want to resell it on eBay after converting all your tapes, you'd very likely get every penny back that you paid for it, possibly even more depending on the second-hand market demand at that time.

My two cents, based on experiences converting 1600 of my 3400 tapes over the last couple years.

[robjv1]

I think the other big advantage of using a DVD recorder over a PC for someone on a budget is that if you use your primary computer as your video conversion computer, there is no telling what will happen when you upgrade your OS (or worse, crash your HD with all your video files you've been "meaning to burn to DVD forever now." If you have truly have a lot of tapes it could take you a few years to get this project done. I have far less tapes then Orsetto, but I've been working on mine for almost as long.