Diamond One Touch Video Capture VC500 questions

[Hans L]

Hello:

I just successfully captured one of a slew of VSH tapes to my computer. However, since I know very little about this process, I wonder if I can ask a few questions from those of you who may have used the Diamond device and software.

I will do very little editing, so I have not installed the ShowBiz editing software. Should I, just in case I need it? (I know, this is not a very specific question

Now, a more specific issue: I set the record format (Setup => Record tab => Record format) to MPG4 (MPEG-4, I guess), but the recording format turned out to be AVI. How come? Are there any serious restrictions with AVI?

I will record all my VHS disks directly to the computer, and later I may burn disks to play on a player (BluRay in my case). What format should I use of the eight available when I record to the computer (and does it matter): DVD, SVCD, VCD, MPG4, AVI, WMV, WMA, MP3?

Thank you very much in advance.

Hans L

[hech54]

You should have used MPEG2/DVD as your capture setting.

[Hans L]

First, why?

Second, you can only use one of the eight options (radio buttons), and I had checked MPG4, but the format of the recorded tape was still AVI.

Regards,

Hans L

[hech54]

First, why?

Because DVD is MPEG2 - it can be nothing else(unless you want REALLY crappy MPEG1/VCD quality).

Second, you can only use one of the eight options (radio buttons), and I had checked MPG4

Then check the correct one....MPEG2/DVD

I had checked MPG4, but the format of the recorded tape was still AVI.

AVI is a "container". You can also stick MPEG2 inside an AVI container as well....not much will play it but it is still do-able.

The most common, easily editable, easiest to do with even FREE software option is MPEG2/DVD.
MPEG4 does not mean higher quality just because the "4" is a higher number than the 2 in MPEG2.
If your goal is to make a disc-shaped-object to stick in a DVD or BluRay player to watch on your TV.....MPEG2.
Then you will need to "author" that MPEG2 footage to a DVD, which I'm sure the supplied software can do fairly easily.

[Hans L]

Okay, I'll use DVD.

Thank you!

Hans L

[Hans L]

The most common, easily editable, easiest to do with even FREE software option is MPEG2/DVD. MPEG4 does not mean higher quality just because the "4" is a higher number than the 2 in MPEG2.
If your goal is to make a disc-shaped-object to stick in a DVD or BluRay player to watch on your TV.....MPEG2.
Then you will need to "author" that MPEG2 footage to a DVD, which I'm sure the supplied software can do fairly easily.

The .mpg file is 10 times larger than the AVI file, and a 1 h 20 min barely fits on a 4.7 GB disk. Mentioning this just to see if this is okay.

I burned two disks using ImgBurn ("Write files/folders to disc"). Could play neither the AVI, nor the .mpg, disk on my BluRay. I guess I should have done something else on ImgBurn, e.g. "Create image from files/folders" and then "Write image file to disk". Please advise, since, as I said, I am rather bad at these things, although I am really interested in learning, as I plan to do more A/V stuff in the future (database design and organizational studies at the moment).

Again, thanks,

Hans

[usually_quiet]

Some newer Blu-Ray players can play back .avi and .mpg files from a DVD, but not all can. You need to use DVD authoring software (with the .mpg file as input) to create a DVD that the vast majority of Blu-ray players can play. Your capture device may have come with DVD authoring software, but if not, AVStoDVD might be worth trying.

[Hans L]

Okay, UQ. I will also check if ImgBurn have this function. It says in the ImgBurn Help:

"The 'Write' mode is used to write a CUE or an image file to a CD, DVD, HD-DVD or Blu-ray disc."

Promising! I will have to experiment. I guess cue is a file format (for CDs?)?

By the way, what are the differences between AVI and MPG? More specifically, would i be able, in general, to create a Blu-Ray disk from both an AVI and MPG file?

Regards,

Hans L

[MOVIEGEEK]

What formats Blu-ray supports:
https://www.videohelp.com/hd

As was mentioned capture MPEG-2 for DVD's or Blu-ray, capture MP4 for mobile devices(iPad, iPhone, etc). AVI is a container that supports many formats, however it isn't used for DVD-Video or Blu-ray. As for your ImgBurn questions, you have to author MPEG-2 files, you can't drop MPEG-2 files into ImgBurn and expect it to work on your player.

[hech54]

Okay, UQ. I will also check if ImgBurn have this function. It says in the ImgBurn Help:

"The 'Write' mode is used to write a CUE or an image file to a CD, DVD, HD-DVD or Blu-ray disc."

Promising! I will have to experiment. I guess cue is a file format (for CDs?)?

By the way, what are the differences between AVI and MPG? More specifically, would i be able, in general, to create a Blu-Ray disk from both an AVI and MPG file?

Regards,

Hans L

You're not listening.
Capture MPEG2
"Author" that MPEG2 file to DVD(you will end up with a VIDEO_TS folder).
AVI will NOT work for either DVD or BluRay, so forget about AVI.
You can't just "burn stuff to a disc-shaped object" and have it become a DVD....it doesn't work that way.

[usually_quiet]

Okay, UQ. I will also check if ImgBurn have this function. It says in the ImgBurn Help:

"The 'Write' mode is used to write a CUE or an image file to a CD, DVD, HD-DVD or Blu-ray disc."

Promising! I will have to experiment. I guess cue is a file format (for CDs?)?

By the way, what are the differences between AVI and MPG? More specifically, would i be able, in general, to create a Blu-Ray disk from both an AVI and MPG file?

Regards,

Hans L

ImgBurn does not include DVD or Blu-Ray authoring functions. It is only a burning program for optical media.

As others have said, most DVD and Blu-Ray players won't play .mpg files or .avi files.The files have to be converted to match the DVD or Blu-Ray specifications for audio and video, and then placed in the correct file structure before burning. Authoring creates the proper file structure.

You could author a Blu-ray disc from your captured files, but there aren't many consumer-friendly programs available for converting files to be Blu-ray compatible, and authoring Blu-Ray discs from them. There aren't a lot of advantages to authoring a Blu-Ray disc from your .avi or .mpg files from VHS captures either. Blu-Ray players play DVDs and the material you captured will look fine when converted to DVD compatible format and authored to DVD, as long as you don't try to put too many hours on the DVD.

[Hans L]

ImgBurn does not include DVD or Blu-Ray authoring functions. It is only a burning program for optical media.

As others have said, most DVD and Blu-Ray players won't play .mpg files or .avi files.The files have to be converted to match the DVD or Blu-Ray specifications for audio and video, and then placed in the correct file structure before burning. Authoring creates the proper file structure.

You could author a Blu-ray disc from your captured files, but there aren't many consumer-friendly programs available for converting files to be Blu-ray compatible, and authoring Blu-Ray discs from them. There aren't a lot of advantages to authoring a Blu-Ray disc from your .avi or .mpg files from VHS captures either. Blu-Ray players play DVDs and the material you captured will look fine when converted to DVD compatible format and authored to DVD, as long as you don't try to put too many hours on the DVD.

Of course, I forgot that the Blu-Ray player plays DVD. Thanks for reminding me.

Regards,

Hans L

[Hans L]

Hello again:

I burned my first DVD for a player this evening, and just played it for a few minutes on my Blu-Ray player (not a Blu-Ray disk, just a DVD). I want to thank you all for your help!

When I used AVStoDVD, it asked if I wanted to convert (or similar) from PAL to NTSC, which I did. However, it reminded me that I wanted to burn a player-ready disk for my son-in-law and my grandsons in Sweden. Now, it turns out they do not use PAL anymore, but DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial).

Would anyone know if a PAL-disk can be played in a country using DVB, and, if not, if AVStoDVD can convert to this format?

Regards,

Hans L

[usually_quiet]

Hello again:

I burned my first DVD for a player this evening, and just played it for a few minutes on my Blu-Ray player (not a Blu-Ray disk, just a DVD). I want to thank you all for your help!

When I used AVStoDVD, it asked if I wanted to convert (or similar) from PAL to NTSC, which I did. However, it reminded me that I wanted to burn a player-ready disk for my son-in-law and my grandsons in Sweden. Now, it turns out they do not use PAL anymore, but DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial).

Would anyone know if a PAL-disk can be played in a country using DVB, and, if not, if AVStoDVD can convert to this format?

Regards,

Hans L

Countries that were PAL before broadcast TV switched from analog to digital still use the PAL video system for DVDs. I can't say whether or not AVStoDVD does a good job converting from NTSC to PAL. I have never tried it for that.

[Hans L]

Thank you.

Well, as I said: "When I used AVStoDVD, it asked if I wanted to convert (or similar) from PAL to NTSC, which I did.", which means, I assume, that (my) AVStoDVD is set to PAL as default. So, I will create a disk *without* changing to NTSC and try to play it on my player. If the player does not play it, I will assume it is PAL, and I can send it to Sweden.

Regards,

Hans L

[hech54]

PAL countries can easily play NTSC DVDs and even VHS tapes so don't worry about converting.

[Hans L]

Countries that were PAL before broadcast TV switched from analog to digital still use the PAL video system for DVDs. I can't say whether or not AVStoDVD does a good job converting from NTSC to PAL. I have never tried it for that.

The warning that AVSto DVD actually gives is the following, right after I click on the Source Title (file):

"Warning! Input Video stream is NTSC compliant. Do you want to change DVD Standard from PAL to NTSC?"

I am not sure how to interpret this. Would anyone know? For the time being, I will say 'No' and see what happens.

Regards,

Hans L

[hech54]

Put the DVD in your drive.
Explore
Open the VIDEO_TS folder
Run one of the ~1GB VOB files through MediaInfo
That will tell you whether the DVD is NTSC or PAL.

[_MrC_]

The warning that AVSto DVD actually gives is the following, right after I click on the Source Title (file):

"Warning! Input Video stream is NTSC compliant. Do you want to change DVD Standard from PAL to NTSC?"

I am not sure how to interpret this. Would anyone know?

1. Your input video is NTSC compliant (or very close to)
2. Default AVStoDVD video standard setup is PAL
3. AVStoDVD is asking you if you want to change setup from PAL to NTSC
4. If you reply 'yes', AVStoDVD will produce a NTSC DVD
5. If you reply 'no', AVStoDVD will convert the file from NTSC to PAL.



Bye

[Hans L]

Put the DVD in your drive.
Explore
Open the VIDEO_TS folder
Run one of the ~1GB VOB files through MediaInfo
That will tell you whether the DVD is NTSC or PAL.

Done! It is PAL, as could be expected, since this disk did not run on my player. Off to Sweden (the disk, that is, not me, unfortunately –– I'm in Cleveland, Ohio, USA). Anyway, thanks.

A kind of silly question: An icon on my desktop says "mkvmerge GUI". I know what the app does (looked it up), but I cannot remember having seen it until now. However, it was created yesterday, so I assume that it was put there by AVStoDVD? Is that a correct assumption?

Hans L

[Hans L]

1. Your input video is NTSC compliant (or very close to)
2. Default AVStoDVD video standard setup is PAL
3. AVStoDVD is asking you if you want to change setup from PAL to NTSC
4. If you reply 'yes', AVStoDVD will produce a NTSC DVD
5. If you reply 'no', AVStoDVD will convert the file from NTSC to PAL.

Great explanation. Thank you!

I'll find the setting and change default to NTSC.

Oh, I am editing and burning an AVI file now (as an experiment), but for it, I was not warned, and could not find a way to change PAL to NTSC. I could do so only after I aborted and started editing the file that actually gave me the warning (MPG). But, I guess there is a setting.

Hans L

[Hans L]

Put the DVD in your drive.
Explore
Open the VIDEO_TS folder
Run one of the ~1GB VOB files through MediaInfo
That will tell you whether the DVD is NTSC or PAL.

MediaInfo said it was Adware, and they were not kidding. My Home page in FireFox was changed, and AVG toolbar installed. I got rid of it, but now, I cannot get iGoogle sign-in to stick. I have to sign in every time (I have CookieCuller, which should allow me to save the relevant cookie that starts up iGoogle). Well, that is not for this list, but I wanted to mention it.

Regards,

Hans L

[hech54]

I burned my first DVD for a player this evening, and just played it for a few minutes on my Blu-Ray player (not a Blu-Ray disk, just a DVD). I want to thank you all for your help!

Done! It is PAL, as could be expected, since this disk did not run on my player.

Goodbye.

[Hans L]

Bye, hech54, and thanks!!!

Hans L