VHS to DVD - Just getting started

[RickK]

First, thanks to the hosts for a very informative website.

Been doing a lot of reading, and I just want to confirm some basics. I don't even own a DVD player yet, but I've got a big store credit with Circuit City and a bunch of videos of my kids that I want to move from VHS to digital. I'd like to have basic menu and chapter functions on the DVDs.

PC is a Dell Dimension 4100 1gig P3 with 30gig 7200rpm disk and a Sony CD-RW drive. I'm going to add a Sony DRU500A DVD drive and an Adaptec FireWire kit.

Questions/assumptions:
1) I can use a "generic" AV-to-DV converter card like a Canopus, or I can use a "proprietary" Pinnacle solution. While I'd prefer the highly-rated Canopus, I'd like to buy from Circuit City, and they only carry Pinnacle. For my basic needs, will Pinnacle do it, or should I go with Canopus?

2) If I go with Pinnacle, much of the needed software is bundled. If I go with Canopus, I need separate capture and authoring software. Pam's thread describes options here.

3) I'm not sure of the meaning of the different "codecs". Is there a link that describes codecs from a novice's perspective?

Any help is appreciated, and I'd be very interested in corresponding with others with similar systems and requirements.

RickK

[simmons3d]

You may also want to consider a stand alone dvd recorder like the Panasonic E30. They are actually quite affordable and could save you a lot of headaches associated with capturing, encoding etc, etc.

Just a thought...

[langillt]

My situation is similar to yours. I own a VAIO PC, and have attached a Sony DRU500A in an Adaptec Firewire housing. Daisy-chained to the Adaptec housing is a Western Digital ext 120gb that I use to Ghost backup my VAIO PC and IBM laptop. (Ghost 2003 has both USB and firewire DOS drivers!)

I just added a Caviar 180gb as my second internal drive, displacing a sweet Maxtor 40gb, and promoting a Quantum 60gb to system drive. I'm a bit concerned about the results of that move, as the Quantum, which passes every test, sounds like an amplified cornpopper.

Anyhow, as the VAIO has native digital capture, my concern was finding some way to get 200+ hours of VHS/Hi8 analog into the box. I looked at the Canopus, the Sony converter, but discovered by accident that my AT TV Wonder PCI does a great job of snagging analog and passing it along to the Pinnacle Studio 8 software as mpeg2.

If you don't have built-in digital capture capability, I'd strongly recommend Studio 8 Deluxe, which comes with the internal card with breakout box on a pigtail, and the Studio software. The hardware will give you both analog and dig capture. $200 after rebate, at the big box stores.

[RickK]

simmons3d, thanks for the suggestion! I did some reading on the Panasonic and Phillips standalone DVD recorders, and they look very interesting. I think I'm still going to go with a PC-based solution, because I like the idea of creating mixing and matching film clips on different DVDs (could be great Christmas presents for grandparents).

langillt, thanks - I'm considering Pinnacle Studio Deluxe - that is what I thought I would buy at first. However, I've seen so many posts of people having trouble with Pinnacle that I'm wary. What has your experience been with Studio 8?

[RickK]

nudge

[stanleysa]

I just went thru a nightmare with Studio 8 and the analog card they include. It was the buggiest install I've ever seen, forcing me to reload my OS (XP) 3 times while trying to get it all to work. Pinnacle customer service has been slow so far, still waiting for an answer on how to get my money back. Just one example, but I'd be interested too if others have had similar troubles.

[RickK]

Well, I purchased Pinnacle Studio Deluxe, which included Studio 8.3. I had a couple error messages reported when installing Studio, but I think they were because I hadn't updated Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3.

I then hooked up the hardware, and hooked my VHS-C camcorder to the breakout box. I was able to capture video with no problem (0 dropped frames), and I now have a nice AVI file with 15 minutes of family video.

Now I'm going through the manual and learning how to trim out noise, add transitions, and put in menus. I haven't received my DVD burner yet, so haven't tried burning and haven't seen the quality of the end result on the TV. The quality of my captured VHS is fairly lousy on the computer screen, but I think this is normal.

So far (fingers crossed) Pinnacle Studio Deluxe 8 is working fine for me.

RickK

[Akgirl]

I just bought a DVD Recorder, I am trying to convert VHS to DVD I just tried to play the DVD-R in a old DVD player & it would not play, Why??? I am using
Maxell DVD-R 2x 4.7 GB Disk thanks

[tmozer]

I just put together a Dell P4 2.4, 620 mb, an 80 gig C and a 30 gig D (both ATA 100/7200 rpm), an ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 7500 and an NEC 1100A DVD+R DVD burner. I have Roxio CD Creator, VideoStudio 6, Sonic MyDVD and proabaly a few other utilities installed.

I have more-or-less managed to capture my first 2 hour (18 years old) VHS analog tape to my hard drive as one large MP2 DVD resolution file.

Basically I want to cut and save clips from the captured MP2 file, bring them into an authoring program (VideoStudio, unless another is highly recommended enough to make me want to spend more money), add a main menu that would allow DVD play to jump to a specific clip, and burn the whole mess to a DVD that will play on just about every DVD player.

My first mistake was purchasing a 10 pack (at a good price if I get the rebate) of DVD-R discs. My DVD+R burner will not write to them..... DUH! But then again, what do I know??

My brief experience with Ulead VideoStudio 6 leads me to feel that it is "a bitch" to cut and save clips from the large file. This is the most important part of this process, since all my tapes are a chronological series of birthday parties, family get-togethers, kid's sporting events/plays/dance routines, etc.

Help and suggestions, especially on the clip creation part, would be very much appreciated!

tedmozer@comcast.net