Help with capturing VHS to make DVDs of home movies

[jrodefeld]

Hi everyone,

I have used this site as a resource in video editing, dvd authoring etc many times in the past. I am working on a project for my grandparents to transfer all their home movies to dvds. I haven't done this before but I have read a little about it and I would appreciate if some of you could answer a few questions I have about it. First of all, I understand that it is important to have a good VCR to use to capture. So I am going to buy a used S-VHS deck from ebay, probably a Panasonic AG-1970P. From there I plan to use S Video output to capture from. I am using dual layer dvds and my goal is to get the highest quality I can, doing whatever I can to enhance the image through various filters with Virtualdub or I can use something like Adobe Premiere as well. I am certainly not looking to spend a ton of money aside from the S-VHS player.

What I want to know first is what kind of capture card or device can I use to get a good quality transfer? If I am using a high quality source does it matter that much what I use? My parents already bought an "all in one" kind of device and I am unsure of the quality. It is the Roxio Easy VHS to DVD USB device. I am sure it is very far from what many of you would advocate using, but if I used this would it really poorly affect the quality of the captured video? It is a USB device that has a composite input and an S-Video input and it captures directly to Mpeg2.

Or if this is no good, what capture card or device would you recommend to get a high quality capture of home vhs tapes run through a high quality S-VHS player? What about a Hauppauge PVR-250? I can get one for a good price. I just don't know how important the capture card or device is for this sort of project. I am definitely not looking to spend hundreds of dollars on a capture device, but if you could recommend something good that I could find (new or used) for under $100 I would appreciate it.

Second, what enhancement software can I use to improve the quality of the video after I capture it? Are there any settings and filters that you use in general to improve the quality of captured vhs tapes? How can I go about this?

Thanks for reading this and I hope someone here can help me. I am fairly computer literate and I have done some video editing in the past but I just haven't captured video before and certainly not vhs tapes. I can easily do the editing and dvd authoring, but I just need some ideas on how to capture the footage in the highest quality manner I can.

I look forward to reading your responses.

[lordsmurf]

You'll need a TBC separate from the good S-VHS VCR (which has a TBC, too).
Capture card is VERY important.

What you can use largely depends on your computer and OS version.
For example, some of the very best cards only run on Windows XP.

[jrodefeld]

You'll need a TBC separate from the good S-VHS VCR (which has a TBC, too).
Capture card is VERY important.

What you can use largely depends on your computer and OS version.
For example, some of the very best cards only run on Windows XP.

Thanks for the reply. I am running Windows 7 but I could conceivable load windows XP if I needed to to capture the video. You really think I can't get a good capture card working for Windows 7? Why do I need a separate Time Base Corrector from the one that comes with the Panasonic S-VHS player? I am looking to get the best quality I can but I am certainly not looking to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars for a minuscule amount of visible difference. How much difference would a good time base corrector make if everything else was done correctly and I used the Panasonic player and a good capture card?

What would you recommend as a decent TBC for a reasonable price to capture home movies?

What capture card can you recommend that I could get (new or used) for under $100? I would prefer something for Windows 7 but I could use Windows XP if I needed to.

I appreciate the help.

[yoda313]

If your main goal in the end is to make a dvd its hard to go wrong with a pvr 250. I used to have one and it is an excellent card. You will get good results.

You can use a very high bitrate to get a good capture. Though I don't think you can use the maximum bitrate even if you are using a dual layer disc as you say. You can use a bitrate calculator to determine the bitrate you need. You also need to allow extra room if you want to do fancy menus with music and background videos or whatever. Also note doing motion menus will add more time to the authoring process compared to static picture only or simple theme menus.

Regarding the tbc issue. I have the very model svhs player you are looking to get. I copy tapes to h264 with my hauppauge hd pvr. I get very good results capturing at 13 mb/s with it over svideo. I leave the tbc on on the player itself. I personally haven't seen a need to add anything else like a seperate tbc to the workflow.

HOWEVER please note I"m using commercial hollywood movie tapes. Those are in fair condition and were produced with the maximum quality you can do for vhs (in general, some are ep tapes but still look decent).

I would recommend doing test captures once your get your vcr and the capture card you do settle on. In the end you are the best judge for what is good quality. If you like the quality you get with just the svhs player and the capture card than you really don't need anything else.

HOWEVER we don't know what conditions your tapes are in. If there are any imperfections in your source tape an extra tbc may be able to correct SOME of those issues. But remember if these are badly garbled some things cannot be completely repaired. You may have to live with some imperfections depending on the conditions of your tapes. Some filtering and post processing can make improvements but it won't be magically made perfect and can lead to softening or over sharpening of the source.

EDIT - be sure to invest in either verbatim blank dl discs or taiyo yuden (buy ty online I don't think any are available in stores in the US). And burn your video_ts folder with imgburn for best results.

edit 2 - I don't know if the hauppauge pvr-250 can run on win 7. I don't see why it can't but I would do a search to see if there are any potential issues on 7.

[jrodefeld]

If your main goal in the end is to make a dvd its hard to go wrong with a pvr 250. I used to have one and it is an excellent card. You will get good results.

You can use a very high bitrate to get a good capture. Though I don't think you can use the maximum bitrate even if you are using a dual layer disc as you say. You can use a bitrate calculator to determine the bitrate you need. You also need to allow extra room if you want to do fancy menus with music and background videos or whatever. Also note doing motion menus will add more time to the authoring process compared to static picture only or simple theme menus.

Regarding the tbc issue. I have the very model svhs player you are looking to get. I copy tapes to h264 with my hauppauge hd pvr. I get very good results capturing at 13 mb/s with it over svideo. I leave the tbc on on the player itself. I personally haven't seen a need to add anything else like a seperate tbc to the workflow.

HOWEVER please note I"m using commercial hollywood movie tapes. Those are in fair condition and were produced with the maximum quality you can do for vhs (in general, some are ep tapes but still look decent).

I would recommend doing test captures once your get your vcr and the capture card you do settle on. In the end you are the best judge for what is good quality. If you like the quality you get with just the svhs player and the capture card than you really don't need anything else.

HOWEVER we don't know what conditions your tapes are in. If there are any imperfections in your source tape an extra tbc may be able to correct SOME of those issues. But remember if these are badly garbled some things cannot be completely repaired. You may have to live with some imperfections depending on the conditions of your tapes. Some filtering and post processing can make improvements but it won't be magically made perfect and can lead to softening or over sharpening of the source.

EDIT - be sure to invest in either verbatim blank dl discs or taiyo yuden (buy ty online I don't think any are available in stores in the US). And burn your video_ts folder with imgburn for best results.

edit 2 - I don't know if the hauppauge pvr-250 can run on win 7. I don't see why it can't but I would do a search to see if there are any potential issues on 7.

I want to get a capture card that lets me capture with huffyuv uncompressed avi for editing. I will then encode to mpeg2 with CCE. I am pretty sure the hauppauge PVR 250 is only mpeg. Can you recommend a capture card that will let me capture to uncompressed avi?

Thanks a lot.

[jrodefeld]

I wanted to bump this thread to see if someone could please answer this question for me:

What capture card would you recommend to capture VHS with huffyuv unconpressed avi with the highest quality?

I would appreciate a response. Thanks.

[lordsmurf]

The ATI 600 USB

Works well, can capture HuffYUV in VirtualDub, PAL or NTSC.

[jbd5010]

I have the ATI 600 PCI Express version. Great card.

If for some reason you change your mind on the PVR-250, it will only work with 32-bit operating systems. So it should work with Windows 7.... just not 64-bit. That's why the one I bought is still sitting in the box... haven't gotten around to dual booting XP or 7 32-bit with my current 64-bit Windows 7.