Capture high-quality video from VCR

[APATEC]

New to video-capture and editing.
Haven't yet purchased any equipment or software.

Objective: I have many family VHS tapes containing 60-90min. I would like to capture high quality video to PC, then use editing sw to add chapters, transitions and clean it up a bit for better quality, then burn to DVD at highest quality.

Q1: Shall I go with a PCIe or USB 2.0 Video Capture Adapter ?
Q2: If PCIe is the way to go, should I insert the PCIe Graphics in the PCIe16 and the Video Cap PCIe in PCIe8?
Q3: What are potential PCIe cards?
Q4: Is the USB 2.0 adapter a limitation to the video capture?
Q5: What resolution should I expect for highest quality DVD on HD TV?
Q6: Does it really make a difference if I go with USB 2.0 or PCIe, but more importantly how the editing sw or video is burned to the DVD?
Q7: I dont need a high end editing sw, just to add transitions, chapters, clean it up a bit.
Q8; Does the DVD media make a difference?

Concerns:
1. I don't want to lose frames during capture.
2. Audio not aligning up with video
3. DVD appears grainy on a HD TV

THANK YOU!!!

[newpball]

Make sure you do not have a inflated expectation of what is possible regardless of the quality of the capture and post processing.

Fact is that VHS is very low quality video!

VHS only gives you about 240-250 vertical lines and that is under good conditions. Noise, idiotic edge 'enhancement' levels and dreadful color encoding is unfortunately the norm. Now add to that that your source is likely not recorded with studio quality cameras but your run of the mill consumer cameras.

Should you capture the best (within reason) way?
Absolutely! There is no reason not to!
Family videos are priceless, for the present and also for future generations!

So what do you need/have to do?

- Get a good VHS player with heads cleaned
- Get a TBC
- Get a quality capture board preferable PCIe based
- Capture interlaced and with a lossless compression codec
- Archive the captures to at least two separate media carriers, locked and safe!
- Process, edit the results to your heart's content and place them on the media carriers of your liking.

[APATEC]

Thanks for the reply!......still need much needed responses to my initial questions in orig msg.

- Get a good VHS player with heads cleaned R: YES, DONE
- Get a TBC R: UNKN CONFIGURATION TO ATTACH IT AND UNKN. MODELS
- Get a quality capture board preferable PCIe based R: UNKN. MODELS AND WHAT EXT PORTS TO GET
- Capture interlaced and with a lossless compression codec R: UNCLEAR HOW AND HOW TO USE

[usually_quiet]

You do NOT need a PCI-e based capture device for VHS capture. There are a few different USB 2.0 devices that work quite well for members here with extensive experience doing lossless VHS capture. They use the Diamond VC500, the Hauppauge USB Live 2 610, and the ezcap.tv 116

newpball spends his time here, stirring up arguments, making misleading posts, creating endless worthless polls. insulting various technical professions and wasting other people's money. Take anything he writes with a grain of salt.

[Edit]Good luck finding a good TBC. The AV Toolbox AVT-8710 is the only consumer full-frame TBC still made, but the quality control is iffy. Buying used TBCs is a crapshoot.

Passing the signal through a Panasonic DVD recorder (you don't use it for recording) can help correct tearing and some other defects.