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  1. Hey y'all:

    Brand new here and newbish towards DVD burning. What I am researching is a project that requires me to transfer movies shot on home camcorders on VHS tape to my computer, then burn them to DVD. (not VCD, not SVCD - DVD)(DVD+R).

    Anyway... I've been reading some reviews and such but I thought I would just come out and ask for your opinions.

    Looking for a capture card to get that analog footage onto my comp. Preferrably capture in MPEG2 with audio (cause thats what the footage needs to be for DVD, right?) - and 720x480 is the best resolution for use in DVD, as far as I know.

    And of course, I am looking for as high of quality final footage as possible. The final DVD needs to be the same level of quality as the original VHS footage (or as close as possible). Another consideration of mine is the amount of time it would take to capture - less time = good. Quality is top priority tho.

    About the budget - I would be willing to spend a MAXIMUM of $500 on this card. Not a penny more. Period. So... what I am looking for is your opinions on the best capture card for my needs under this budget.

    It doesn't HAVE to be the full $500 either - if there is a card for $300 that does just as well as a $500 card (or almost as well) then please suggest it!

    I really appreciate any input and responses that you might be able to offer. It looks like you've got a good community here and I hope I can borrow some info from you guys! Thanks!
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    Hi,
    I'm pretty much a newbie too. I am doing the same thing you want to do(except burning to VCD, which doesn't affect your question on best capturing systems from VHS). And I am capturing with pretty good results using a Dazzle Video Creator II system.

    But when I was looking around and asking questions, I got a lot of input from really skilled people that about the best system around was the ADVC-100 with a Firewire connection(which I think is around $350 without the firewire card), but didn't have the budget to spend it.

    Hope that helps
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  3. There are a billion posts that totally disagree with moving VHS tape over to the DVD resolution format. From everything I have read. TV quality and VHS quality are at the VCD standard resolutions. I believe one of the analogies that I was given was pretending the VHS tape is a ballon with writing on it, when you increase the size of the balloon the picture gets bigger, but blockier.

    Do a search for VHS tapes, etc. and read the comments. This site has several posts from people wanting to do the same thing, but the experts say it can't be done (at least with the results that you think you will end up with).
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  4. OK. I'm tired of lurking. Here is the definitive answer on moving VHS tapes to DVD. I do this all the time.

    First, you can get a card under $200 that will be excellent at capturing analog video. Over on the AVSForum.com, there is a guy named Ken Hotte who modifies Zoltrix TV Genie cards and makes the input/output quality phenomenol. It also uses the popular BT878 chipset which is good for many reasons, one of which because it bypasses Macrovision so you can record any VHS tape. Other choices are a regular IOMagic PVR for $40 and the Osprey-100 which is supposedly good too, without the TV Tuner.

    For capturing under Win98, use AVI_IO. Register it and that's that. If you're like me, you want to move to Win2K and use all WDM drivers and modern applications. I now don't have any VfW legacy apps or drivers. The only WDM capture application that gives perfect A/V sync is Virtual VCR at http://www.digtv.ws.

    Now, DVD-R is my platform of choice for my VHS tapes. Full D1 resolution is 720x480 which is overkill for the original VHS quality. However, don't be mislead that VCD at 352x240 (NTSC) is the same as VHS quality. It is not. But, if you have a DVD-R burner and use 720x480, you kill how much space you can fit on one disc. As it turns out, 1/2 DVD resolution of 352x480 is just perfect. It also allows you to keep it interlaced like the original VHS tape. You can also keep your bitrates down to 3000-4500 because it only needs half as much as a full rez DVD. This will allow you to get over 2 hours easily on one DVD-R disc.

    Soo.... I capture with VirtualVCR at 640x480. I found it gives better quality than capturing straight at 352x480. I then use Vegas Video to normalize the sound, clean up the video and the integrated main concept encoder to shrink it down to 352x480 while converting it to MPEG2 at the same time. I have some custom settings in VV3 to make sure the A/V stays in sync, but I won't go into them now.

    I then use DVD Moviefactory or DVD Workshop to create my DVD and Prassi to burn it to a DVD-R disc on my Pioneer 104.

    This gives the best quality while maintaining the most space on a single 4.3GB DVD-R disc. The KBK modified capture card is great for watching TV too and it sits happily in my HTPC.

    It took me almost a year to get to this point after playing with TMPGEnc (which I learned to hate), VirtualDub and all the free stuff out there. I now have a "system" that works well for me that converts VHS tapes to DVD in great quality.

    -Robert
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  5. Good info so far - I went to AVSforum and read up on the KBK card - sounds impressive, but it also sounds like it could take a couple months to get my hands on one. I may need a working solution before that time. However, all the good opinons on the KBK card make it hard to consider anything else. But still, I dont think I could wait 2 months. Maybe I'm wrong in thinking it will take that long?

    Any other comparable cards?
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  6. if it was me, i would get the pioneer AO4 and for $3xx and a good capture card with the money thats left
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  7. Yes it takes that long. Get another BT878 card while waiting, like the Iomagic. The Osprey supposedly is really good too, and since it doesn't have the TV Tuner, it may be less noisy.

    Look up opinions on this across the Web and see if they're good.
    http://www.cellarcinemas.com/cgi-bin/store/HTPC-VC-100-R

    -Robert
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    What Robert described above is pretty close to what I'm doing, so I would submit to you that it's generally a great plan.

    For your cap card, just get an ATI All in wonder (radeon or pro) and save a few hundred dollars. Despite their ah... imperfect driver support, the ATI cards deliver uncannily good and simple captures under most circumstances, and the radeon is great for gaming too. I can capture laserdiscs at nice high resolutions and encode for DVD, and the results are just wicked smart. For VHS, here's the scoop...

    First, don't use ATI's custom software. It bites. Also you may need a TBC (time base corrector) for your video-in. I need one; too many of my tapes are messed up in sync and look fine on a tv but cannot be reliably captured. Plus TBC usually breaks macrovision, which is nice.

    The "magic resolution" of 352x480 is definitely your money shot. Totally use it. It's a valid DVD resolution. First capture at AVI 640x480, since it's an easy res to capture at without losing frames. I use Virtualdub for this since there is so little wasted processing power, it tends to drop zero frames (or as few as possible given that the source is a tape, which can have missing frames). Leave it interlaced, there's no real improvement in this case by deinterlacing it. Be aware the capture is gonna eat up lots of space. You can capture straight to high-bitrate DIVX5 AVI and get nice results in MUCH less space, but for source tapes with the most action and movement, don't do it.

    A quick aside: for second-generation or worse tapes (generally bootlegged concerts, anime, and cult films), always always 100% of the time you will capture to 352x240/288 AVI and encode to mpeg-1 with high quality or very high quality motion detection, at standard 1150k/224k CBR. Four reasons for this. First, it's a valid DVD resolution (believe it!!!) and takes up VERY little space on a DVD, and your set-top player will play it. You could get well over four hours onto a DVD. Second, you can easily author an hour of it onto a VCD, using the same utils below, and that means CHEAP and EASY. Third, VHS's top end of quality is not really all that much higher than a well-encoded VCD. Once you start dealing with videotapes that have an extra generation or are fairly old, their best output is equal or worse than a VCD, so there's no point wasting space and effort to encode any other way. And finally fourth, it's worth the time to encode a decent mpeg-1 because the output quality can still be great, assuming your source is appropriate. If anyone has any webspace I can easily upload to, I have some stellar mpeg-1 demo files I can submit.

    Now, for good tapes... I still do use tmpgenc to convert to DVD 352x480. I use Automatic VBR-CQ as my encoding type. I made a custom template off the DVD NTSC template, and saved it as "DVD from VHS". Your CQ is 80% or so, and set your low bit at 2400-2600 (as you prefer). Now with the high bit, you get to play around. Anything more than 4900 is 100% waste of space, because this is half of DVD-full, which is 720x480 at 9800k, so literally your absolute top end for the high bit should be 4900. I get results indistinguishable from the VHS originals at 3400-3600, but for high-motion action films, you may wish to float in the low 4000s. Use "Motion Estimate Search" for non-action films and "Very high quality" - which will take forever to encode but is worth it - for action films.

    Anyway, adjust your top bitrates for filesize also. TMPG will be estimating a filesize, and will typically come within 5% of it on the Automatic VBR/CQ setting. If you can keep it around 4.15gb, you're home free. For films longer than about 130 minutes, you might have to lower the bitrate into the mid-3000s and that might make you a bit antsy, but honestly, the output quality is still pretty damned close to optimal. I encoded all of Dune (1984) Extended Version to mpeg2, it's 3 hours and change, at something like 2200/3000, and it looks spot-on exactly like the source tape. Notice that the source tape is a decade-old tape copied off a laserdisc, but still. And it fits on one DVD disc... oh yeah!!! It's like 4.36gb, barely fitting. For films 120 minutes and less, you can give it nice healthy bitrates in the 4000's, and your output will look very sweet, even from nice, clear, fairly new source tapes.

    Your output mpeg2 file will look all wrong in Windows Media Player, but don't worry, it's fine. It works because the pixels are square in WMP, but are rectangular on the horizontal on playback on your set-top DVD player. Even still they are smaller than VHS "pixel-equivlaents", so this entire process isn't going to lose you any VHS quality at all, if you follow the steps and tweak and adjust where your own trial-and-error suggest.

    I load that mpeg2 into Ulead DVD movie factory, and make a menu and chapters (yee ha!) and the chapters actually work too, which is a beating. Most software can't author proper chapters for your set-top player. MAKE SURE you go to ulead.com and get the audio sync patch. Even with the patch you don't want to burn your disc in UDF. Just author it to a VIDEO_TS directory on the root of your disc. UDF will let you do that. Then load up Nero or PrimoDVD, or whatever came with your DVDR drive, and burn a data disc, adding an empty AUDIO_TS directory, then your authored VIDEO_TS directory. And burn. Done!!!!

    I should write a guide for this, once I get my templates nice and tuned. Maybe after I finish doing the Indiana Jones laserdiscs I'll be able to really give a good dissertation on this, with top-tier experience.

    Anyway I hope this helps you, it should take you from start to finish pretty straightforwardly. I use a pioneer 104 -RW drive, but of course any recordable DVD drive should work fine with this method.

    -Mike
    -MPB/AZ
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  9. Sheesh Mike, and I thought *I* would have the longest post in this thread!

    I left out a couple things, mostly my custom settings I use (based off the DVD template) for the MainConcept MPEG2 encoder in Vegas Video. It took a lot of tweaking. I like it just as nice as TMPGEnc at DVD bitrates and its integrated in Vegas. I used TMPGEnc when I made xVCD's and in that case, it was a must.

    Mike, I agree with much of what you said. I usually stick with 352x480 for all my VHS tapes in the 4000 bit range, but that's because there is seldom a movie or video over 2 hours. Get into the 3000 range, and you can go over 2.5 hours (which is still as good as a full rez DVD in the 6000 range). I don't think going to 352x240 is good for anything anymore, so I disagree there. On a 19" or smaller TV, you won't tell the difference. But on my 36" TV, every little bit is noticeable. Even store-bought DVD's at 720x480 don't look that sharp anymore. It's the price you pay as you get bigger TV sets.....

    If I ever decided to type up a guide, I'd add more details. For instance, my capture at 640x480 is using HuffyUV compression so there is no loss and I capture straight at 16-bit, 48Khz sound so I don't need to change the audio. 'Things like that most people know already if they frequent these forums....

    I don't use a Time base corrector on my captures, but between my BT878 capture card and my JVC HR-S7800 VCR, I don't need one. (I bought this VCR becaus it has a TBC in it).

    -Robert
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    ATI 8500dv does it all. Has DV as well as analog. I copy 2 hour vhs tapes with no sync problems. Sync comes in then the file is re encoded later, like in the DVD authoring. Get this card and the "disable macrovision patch for ati, then consider making VCD's by reading this link below. I got a dvd burner and was going to do DVD's too, till I found you can use TMPGEnc to load your captured video and play with the bitrate to shrink your video file down to a size that fits on ONE regular 700mb 80min CD-r disk. It works, the sound stays in sync and you'll save a bunch in not buying DVD media. I use Nero to burn the VCD's.

    http://forum.vcdhelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=84759&highlight=vcd+bitrate+tmpgenc+guide

    http://forum.vcdhelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=98184
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  11. Hey y'all:

    Thanks so far for some REALLY great info - I've learned alot so far, but am still rather fuzzy and haven't made a decision yet as to what to get - I will try to clarify exactly what it is I will be doing and then ask y'all if your opinions still stand.

    I am not transferring produced movies. What I am transferring is a LARGE amount of video shot on home camcorders on VHS tape.

    I need to transfer all these tapes to DVD. The quality of the video on the DVD needs to be as close to original quality as possible. The reason for transferring to DVD is to have a digital BACKUP of the VHS tapes.

    And yes, it must be DVD, not VCDs. This is not for myself, this is a potential service I am considering performing for a potential customer.

    As they are backup copies, of course the quality needs to be as close to original as possible.

    However, there are ALOT of these tapes and total time to backup 2 hours of footage is an issue to me. The more DVDs I can produce in a day, the better the deal for me.

    That's why I asked if there were any good cards that capture directly to MPEG2. If the card captures in YUV, then I have to take an extra step (and much more time) to convert YUV to MPEG2 - right? Maybe I'm not too clear on this.

    So - not tremendous quality videos - all shot on home camcorder - some on VHS, some on 8mm - but there are ALOT of them and time is an issue.

    I hope I have given enough info to clarify my needs. I REALLY appreciate all the great input so far. However, I think some of the methods listed (although they will give me the most AWESOME quality) - I think they may be too time consuming and have too many steps to be useful to me. If I can only do 2 DVDs in one day, the whole thing is not gonna be feasible. It will take me far too long to do the whole project.

    Thanks for any additional info, folks - I'm glad I found this great community.
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  12. I actually am doing the same thing as we speak, however I am transfering to SVCD.
    I recently (In the past couple months) have been fascinated with every facet of video encoding and editing, via the PC. I have found this website a extremely valuable source of information as well. People here really know what they are talking about. I myself have emersed myself in readings about proper encoding for the two months on a daily basis, and have learned volumes.

    I bought a Creative Labs Video Blaster Digital VCR for $99.00. I originally liked the looks of it because it had a hardware MPEG-2 encoding chip. I figured it would be great to capture and have the raw footage editable and eventually burnable as a MPEG-2 .mpg. However after 2 weeks of having this card, I have found it still takes time, even with this hardware encoder to get a final product.
    Most of the footage I have is VHS-C, which I capture at 480x480 with the highest Kbs setting. I do this because I figure my source resolution is obviously lower, and my output product is SVCD so encoding time would be minimal if I stuck to one resolution. Once captured I have to transfer it from Creative Labs proprietary MPEG-2 format to a complaint MPEG-2 format, editing out out of sync A/V issues due to capturing on the fly with a program called PVAStrumento. Once everything is in sync I have to framserve with DVD2AVI, producing seprate Video, and Audio files, then I use TMPGenc to encode to SVCD using the standard SVcD template.
    This is time consuming, but I have found no other way to yield the results that I have been getting. VCD just doesn't do justice to what I am doing, it likes in sharpness, even with filters and embossers applied.
    The reason why I like SVCD is because its CHEAP, a semi-reasonable encoding time, and file sizes are manageable. I don't know much about DVD encoding, but I would assume that it takes probably twice as long, if not longer, and probably yields about the same results.
    I have been reading about CVD and am very interested in it, considering it is 1/2 D1 DVD compliant, which would really be good for transfering to future DVD+R's. However I do really like SVCD's 480x480, having a slightly higher resolution value, but maybe not noticeable.
    My thinking is that encoding, as I am, to SVCD will not be a wasted effort in the future, because future DVD players should all have SVCD compatibility.
    Good Luck in your efforts, I just think that if time is an issue, its going to take you alot longer to encode DVDs for equivalent results, that it will SVCD.
    LS
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  13. Member
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    Greets!

    Glad we could help. Well, first off, to answer the overall question...

    Yes, unfortunately, capturing straight to MPEG-2 blows. There's really no good way to do it right now. Maybe with the dual powermac... I have not yet used hardware designed so specifically with video in mind to the degree that those are... but with anything in the world of normal PCs, the quality will suffer. If you're doing this for a customer, then it makes a huge difference. MAYBE if you have a fast PC and MAYBE if you are willing to do something like 3-4k CBR (which wastes DVD disc space horrifically)... it might work out for you, capping straight. I'd recommend against it. I learned the hard way, if you get my meaning. Lots of wasted time.

    Get a nice 100GB or so drive (should run you about $140 from the wholesalers these days) to use as a scratch drive for this. I would still suggest capturing to AVI uncompressed (or huffyuv lossless codec... same thing essentially) and then encoding to 352x480 mpeg2, and burning to DVD. You get plenty of time on the disc, and if you give it some nice bits to play with (Automatic CQ, low 2400 to 2600, high 4000 or more) then you're getting a really razor sharp output file. (Everything I said above still applies, I'm just getting more specific right now.)

    Since you've got a VHS source, that's a template that can provide more quality than your source is capable of storing... therefore assuring that you're getting as close a digital backup of the source as you possibly can. And as Robert said, remember to capture audio at 48000khz, it saves a LOT of grief later.

    I stand by my recommendation of the ATI All in Wonder (Pro or Radeon). It's the most bang for your buck, and it's capable of accomplishing the task at hand pretty close to perfectly.

    -Mike
    -MPB/AZ
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    I don't know about anyone else here but with a budget of $500 I wouldn't want to re-encode my captures to get them to DVD standards.

    Many of the posts above are correct when they say that PCs generally do not have the horsepower at the moment to capture direct to MPEG-2. But this limitation is only when using software codecs. There are many hardware based MPEG-2 encoders available which will produce good quality video that you can burn straight to DVD-R.

    It is a shame that the Capture Cards database on this site is down as it is normally great at answering these sorts of queries. However I have listed a couple of cards below that may satisfy the requirements.

    Pinnacle Systems MP20 - http://www.pinnaclesys.com/ProductPage.asp?Product_ID=556&Langue_ID=10
    Real Magic DVR - http://www.teamsolutions.co.uk/sigma/sddvr.html
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  15. well for $199 the happauge PVR card will let me do any rez I want, VCD, SVCD, DVD from 1150 bitrate all then way to 12,000 I find that 4000 to 6000 is good enough for DVD and 2500 to 3500 for SVCD, but I find extremely simple to record anything over to my Panasonic DVD recorder DMR E-20, VHS, 8mm, Beta, Hi8mm, DVD and the machine was only $699 at Circuit City.
    Seriously, its gonna take you anywhere from 2 months to 1 year to get it down to perfect copies, its a learning curve of what fits you and the equipment you have, been doing VCD for 3 years SVCD 2 years and now DVD last 6 months and what I did 3 years ago is a joke compared what I do now, no matter what you deside remember its not goona be perfect the 1st few times. Keep in mind your VHS tapes will not look any better on DVD than the tape, but at least you have it on a format for arciving.
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  16. Originally Posted by Valnar
    OK. I'm tired of lurking. Here is the definitive answer on moving VHS tapes to DVD. I do this all the time.

    First, you can get a card under $200 that will be excellent at capturing analog video. Over on the AVSForum.com, there is a guy named Ken Hotte who modifies Zoltrix TV Genie cards and makes the input/output quality phenomenol. It also uses the popular BT878 chipset which is good for many reasons, one of which because it bypasses Macrovision so you can record any VHS tape. Other choices are a regular IOMagic PVR for $40 and the Osprey-100 which is supposedly good too, without the TV Tuner.

    For capturing under Win98, use AVI_IO. Register it and that's that. If you're like me, you want to move to Win2K and use all WDM drivers and modern applications. I now don't have any VfW legacy apps or drivers. The only WDM capture application that gives perfect A/V sync is Virtual VCR at http://www.digtv.ws.

    Now, DVD-R is my platform of choice for my VHS tapes. Full D1 resolution is 720x480 which is overkill for the original VHS quality. However, don't be mislead that VCD at 352x240 (NTSC) is the same as VHS quality. It is not. But, if you have a DVD-R burner and use 720x480, you kill how much space you can fit on one disc. As it turns out, 1/2 DVD resolution of 352x480 is just perfect. It also allows you to keep it interlaced like the original VHS tape. You can also keep your bitrates down to 3000-4500 because it only needs half as much as a full rez DVD. This will allow you to get over 2 hours easily on one DVD-R disc.

    Soo.... I capture with VirtualVCR at 640x480. I found it gives better quality than capturing straight at 352x480. I then use Vegas Video to normalize the sound, clean up the video and the integrated main concept encoder to shrink it down to 352x480 while converting it to MPEG2 at the same time. I have some custom settings in VV3 to make sure the A/V stays in sync, but I won't go into them now.

    I then use DVD Moviefactory or DVD Workshop to create my DVD and Prassi to burn it to a DVD-R disc on my Pioneer 104.

    This gives the best quality while maintaining the most space on a single 4.3GB DVD-R disc. The KBK modified capture card is great for watching TV too and it sits happily in my HTPC.

    It took me almost a year to get to this point after playing with TMPGEnc (which I learned to hate), VirtualDub and all the free stuff out there. I now have a "system" that works well for me that converts VHS tapes to DVD in great quality.

    -Robert

    Yes VCD is VHS-TV quality.
    Both me and especialy a friend of me have ended-up with some VERY good 1150 VCD films, Those who claims it is not,

    Wake up and change hobbies.
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  17. Yes VCD is VHS-TV quality.
    Both me and especialy a friend of me have ended-up with some VERY good 1150 VCD films, Those who claims it is not,

    Wake up and change hobbies.

    I'm sorry, but you know not what you say. VCD at 1150 is definitely not VHS quality. If for no other reason, you're removing the interlacing and compressing 2 fields down to one frame.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------
    BTW, I don't mean to step on any toes regarding the ATI All-in-Wonder recommendation, but you'll have a better supply of software applications if you get a standalone (especially a BT878 chipset) capture card. But then again, all the complaints plagueing this forum regarding the All-in-Wonders were over the past couple years. It's my understanding that the latest drivers are a significant improvement.

    Capturing to MPEG2 directly is a great idea, but alas, it hasn't worked well in practice yet. Either you have A/V sync problems, or the quality simply isn't as good as a post processing software encoder. If time is of the essence, you may simply want to get a second PC for some of the chores. I have a separate PC for doing the capturing and my main PC does all the after work from editing, authoring, compressing to burning. If the MPEG2 compression worries you the most, you may want to dedicate your fastest PC to that purpose. Or better yet, build yourself a nice dually AMD system on the 760MPX chipset and let that go at it!

    -Robert
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    Wilse,

    In my previous quest for transferring from VHS and Hi8 to VCD/DVD, I've tried Dazzle then Pinnacle. Good products but not consistant in video quality. I now have the Canopus ADVC-50 (<$200), it captures in MPEG1/2 at 29.97FPS. No encoding or converting, just capture and burn. NOTE: If you capture MPEG2, make sure your system has the horsepower to process without dropping frames.
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    If time is your main concern, to be able to do as many capyures as you can in a day. You will need to capture with an hardware MPEG-2 card.
    Your budget is set to low. Check out Matrox.com. You can also do a search of the web for other Hardware MPEG-2 encoders.

    Software encoding - Time Consuming
    True Hardware Encoding - Real Time


    If you plan on doing this as a business, better check out what the Studios use.
    May the force be with you.
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  20. Real-time CVD (352x480), bitrate 3000-4500, with ATI AIW on 1700 XP+ machine looks very good to me, VHS or better quality. MMC 7.7 allows 48K audio, DVD compliant. Cost under $100.
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  21. Member SHS's Avatar
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    You know for $150 US you can get a Realtime MPEG2 encode it come with MPEG editor and it come with DVD Authoring Software for VCD/SVCD/DVD Ulead DVD MovieFactory it called WinTV-PVR 250.

    As Tbear said
    Software encoding - Time Consuming
    True Hardware Encoding - Real Time
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  22. Is a sub $500 hardware MPEG2 encoder card going to give me as good of a final file (in 352x480) as using a card like the Osprey to capture in HuffYUV (640x480) and then converting to MPEG2 (352x480)?

    If I can use the capture file to burn on DVD, then that would be excellent - I'd eliminate some steps and save some time. HOWEVER, I cannot sacrifice quality. I'd only consider the hardware route if it can give me comparable results to the long-about route.

    The system this is going on is a 1.5GHZ Athlon w/ 1GB RAM and a 100GB IDE hard drive dedicated to the video stuffs - I use a separate HD and operating system install for my day-to-day use.

    More complicated than I originally thought, but you guys are giving some GREAT info - THANKS!
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  23. Only the Matrox, Canopus and similar hardware capture cards in the $1000 range or better will look as good as a post-processed solution.

    If you don't have that money to spend, be prepared to sit and encode.

    Robert
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  24. Thank you VERY much Valnar for the straightforward, to-the-point answer. Time to sit and encode!

    Now, if y'all don't mind, let me put forth a list of what I plan to do based on what you've offered so far and what my time and budget allow for ant then see if you have any additional comments or suggestions:

    Osprey 100 capture card - unfortunately, I cannot wait for a KBK Genie, although that would be nice. This card looks to have a very well-liked chip onboard and has the quality and ability to capture in HuffYUV.

    I already have a VCR with TBC built in.

    I plan to use VirtualDub to capture my footage through the Osprey at 640x480 res (still unsure about bitrate here) and then use TMPGenc to convert from that avi to a 352x480 MPEG2 at a bitrate around 4000.

    I then plan to author the DVD file using Ulead DVD Movie Factory to add menus, chapters, etc... and then export and use Nero to burn to DVD.

    Hows this sound?

    Thanks so far for all the great input!
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  25. I am very happy with my method. I have many favorite tv episodes of various programs which I have started to put on DVD+R. I use a Dazzle DVC II to capture to mpeg2 at 704x480 with VBR of 4100-4300. Then use the Moviestar software to remove commercials. Then the DVD is authored to a VIDEO_TS folder by Ulead DVD Workshop. The burn is done with Recordnow Max. I put 5 episodes (42 minutes ea) on each DVD with this method. Using some type of direct mpeg2 encoding is far faster than alternatives that require software re-encoding to mpeg2.
    In the past I tried the VCD route but was not happy with the quality.
    Anya rules!
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  26. Wilse,
    That method looks pretty good. I had to play with my MPEG encoder of choice (as well as TMPGEnc at one time) quite a bit to find the right settings, especially the aspect ratios. Be prepared.

    ie. I'd encode something, burn it do a DVD-RW and check it against the original tape. In some cases, circles were ovals, and things that went off the screen into the overscan were now on the screen, etc. Finding the right field order will be fun too. (Do I swap it on the capture, or swap it on the MPEG encode, or swap it at all.......)

    It may take a couple shots to get the right combination and then save that template!

    For a bitrate calculator on how much you can store on a DVD-R, I use
    http://198.104.184.48/dvd/bitratecalculator.html

    That's most of my advice. Read a lot of the VirtualDub guides around. Another good one for post processing is http://www.lukesvideo.com/.

    Also I've heard, but can't confirm, that Nero sometimes doesn't burn DVD-R's right. You may want to use Prassi PrimoDVD to burn the video_ts and audio_ts folders.

    Have fun!

    -Robert
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  27. Okay, I've been looking at these replies with a great bit of interest. For my business, I've got this job that reuires me to make 44 VHS tapes and 15 dvd's of a 2.5hour dance recital. I got a program called NeoDVD Plus from Mediostream (www.mediostream.com). It automatically changes my .avi from my camera to MPEG2 on-the-fly (well, semi-on-the-fly, actually, because you need at least a 1.1Ghz processor for the automatic capture--mine is 1Gig). For an hour tape, it takes 1 hour 15 minutes to capture to MPEG2. It actually works fairly well.
    The NeoDVD Plus program is a complete dvd authoring package, letting you set up multiple menus, transitions and editing of your MPEG2 footage you captured with the program. The drawback to the program is it will only allow you to used 90 minutes of video for one side of a DVD-R. I think it's a requirement of the program in the capturing mode. I use one of the other Mediostream programs, CamPeg RT, for capturing. It allows me to vary the bitrate before capture. I've recorded a 2 hour video with the CamPeg RT program and used it with NeoDVD Plus with no problem.
    NeoDVD Plus can be had at www.tigerdirect.com for $149.95 (US), 10 bucks less than sold at the Mediostream web site. CamPeg Rt can be bought for download for 49 bucks at the Mediostream site.
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  28. Whoops. I forgot to mention that I use an ADS Pyro Platinum card that I got bundled with Premiere 6.0 from www.videoguys.com for 279 bucks. But the NeoDVD Plus program will work with all the ATI Radeon cards for analog catpure of VHS footage.
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  29. My thanks to valnar and mpb for some very informative posts. Both were instrumental in me finally getting my mind around the crucial concepts of encoding and the various parameters influencing quality and size.

    Thanks again.
    many, eclectic, and varied.
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  30. Here you go Wilse, everything you wanted.
    http://www.matrox.com/video/products/rtx100/home.cfm

    Uh, of course its not out quite yet, and it'll surely be expensive, but it fits all your other requirements!

    -Robert
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