VCR to (S)VCD Capture Recommendations?

[Powermanzombie]

I would like to take some old video tapes, i.e., analog video and convert it to VCD/SVCD. I was looking for some recommendations on what capturing device(s) people are using. I would like to spend a maximum of $300.00 (US). Dazzle? ATI video card (and specifically which model(s))? Other recommendations? Thank you.

[christdoss]

Connect VCR to Camcorder then connect to PC thru IEEE 1394 Firewire card. No need to spend too much money for this. You can get good quality Firewire card for below $100 with Video Capture Software. But make sure you got proper cable (4 pin to 4 pin or 4 pin to 6 pin suggested by your Camcorder manual) to connect from Camcorder to PC. Once you installed and able link all these components you should be alright to capture into your PC as AVI format. And then you can convert it into which format you want (like VCD, SVCD, DVD) and then you can burn it into your CD. I'm using Ulead VideoStudio software. You can try Ulead products they are having lot of good products for video capturing, editing and burning too.

Hope this helps.

[jtor]

If you're looking at a possibility of acquiring a digital camcorder in the near future, you might want to consider the Canopus ADVC-100. With that, you'll need a firewire card on your PC. The device accepts analog and digital inputs. Video will be transferred to your PC in DV-AVI format.

hope this helps.

[christdoss]

Whatever camcorder may be, but the thing to be verify is whether the camcorder supports i-link (IEEE 1394).
thanks,
Christdoss

[jbarr]

I use the Camorder pass-thru to FireWire on the PC method, and it works GREAT.

The only thing you may encounter is problems with VHS tapes encoded with Macrovision. "Home-made" tapes convert great as do just about anything recorded off of cable or DSS, but commercial tapes may present a problem. I have a number of commercial tapes that I would like to archive to digital format (VCD) and can't yet do it because my Canon ZR45MC MiniDV camcorder prevents dubbing of "protected" material. Otherwise, it's a GREAT camcorder and setup!

[ajrecs]

I have a Sony DV camera which will pass through the video to DV, but the only software I have that will capture DV is (I think) Studio 7, which requires a timecode to record video. If I hit the "start capture" button, it starts the tape running in the camera! What software do you use to capture the passed-through video?

[ajrecs]

Can you use VirtualDub to capture DV?

[vhelp]

good afternoon all. powermanzombie,

I'm also using my DV cam, a Canon ZR-10, though it doesn't have the
pass-through feature (i'm not interetsed in it anyways) I use my DV
cam to record from Satalite to a bunch of miniDV tapes (SP mode) so
that later on, when I have the time, I encode those miniDV tapes.
Ok, I don't really use the firewire feature of the DV cam cause I
prefere (in short) the old analog capture route (IMO, it has better
quality color) and what-not. Basically, I'm using my DV cam as a
mini (sort of) TIVO.

My capture card is the ATW. And, I mostly capture at 352x480
resoluiton, though I have finally gotten the 720x480 capture w/ very
minimal frame-drop (10-20 per hour) The quality is very good, but
now,... I'm not after DVD "specs" or anything. I've only just figured
out how (via a minipulation) to capture at ANY (720x480) resolution,
he, he...

MV - no matter what type of DV unit you have, they are all pretty
much MV enabled, and will shut off or stop your DV from recording any
commercial VHS tapes. My only way around this, is the use my ATW
card, and it peforms FLOWLESSLY!! even at 720x480. So, being
that I don't care much for firewire transfering of any of my DV
footage (Sat/home-made) I use my ATW and I don't have to worry about
MV what-so-ever

In my old system, MSI motherboard, I believe that it just wasn't
good enough to capture at 720x480. But, in my ESC K7S5A motherboard,
I can. This motherboard jus twent through another revision. So, I
pretty much have the latest of this model board. And, it seems to
be holding up at 100%

And, no, getting more RAM is not going to speed up your encoding
and will NOT improve your capturing. Case you were to ask at a later
time. Nor does type of memory effect either, as well. But I do have
256MB of DDR memory. I have two ECS K7S5A PCs, one for Encoding, and
other for most everything else. Both are XP, 1700+ and 1800+ (no
speed difference in either)
* for a one hour capture @ 352x480:
* using no filtering, it takes me ~3 hours to enocode to 352x480
MPEG-2

With my setup, I actually am making VCD's on some of my projects now.
Since I have the quality down on this, w/ no blocks for the most part.
I'll be posting another VCD sample some time this evening/night.

Capture Cards:
* DC10+ - (hardware MJPEG avi) max NTSC is 640x480
* ATW - (mine) allows real-time (MPEG1/2 newer ones) and AVI
* AIW - (all in wonder and family) save as ATW above and more
* Wintv GO - AVI captures (resolution pendant on your sys punch)
* WinTV PVR (USB: 352x480 hardware MPEG2, PCI: max 720x480 avi/mpeg)
see SHS's web site/forum on these cards.
* PC PVR - real-time mpeg1/2 and AVI ($39) has the Pinnacle logo on it
* lots more, but so much to do...

Hope i've ben of some help here.
-vhelp
--------------------------------------------
You can see samples I post every day at this FORUM for your convenience
or for you to compare against your encodes (VCDs) so, visit this thread
every day: --> VHELP's Samples...