Hi all, I'm new to both capturing analog VHS tapes to my pc and backing them up to CDR or DVD+R/RW. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. I originally posted these two questions on the wrong forum so I'm posting them here now. I combined them into one post. Here are my system spec's. I'm still running Win98SE as my operating system. My system hardware is: Abit KG7{non raid}Mobo. AMD 1400 TBird Processor. 1 Gig Crucial PC2100 DDR 2x512 160 Gig WD Hard Drives {2-80's} Phillips DVD+R/RW228 master. Memorex CD/DVDRom slave. ATI AIW 9700 Pro w/128Mb's. Sound Blaster Audigy ll. 6.1 Creative Speaker System. Iomega Paralle Zip 100. Visoneer 3300 Paralle Scanner. I captured a taped movie I edited out commercials from when originally taping it. Total time approximately 92 minutes. I captured to my AIW using the personal video recorder with the following settings: DVD High Mpeg2 Video 720x480, NTSC {525}, 6.00 M b/s. Audio 48,000 KHz, 16 Bit stereo The file size 4,192,448Kbs The picture appeared to be jumpy as if signal strenght was weak and being lost though it was fine on my tv as it was being captured . That could be due to the fact my connection from my HDTV to the AIW is about 15 feet. It could also be due to the mode I set for capture. Since DVD I believe is 1:1 I also had dropped frames. The picture on my HDTV did not jump, but was not too good since I was using an amplified antenna for my signal input when all my VHS tapes were made. I have seen a number of posts that state one should capture to AVI Full Resolution and then convert using TMPGEnc. Since I was able to watch it on my pc as it was capturing, the thought that maybe these might be caused by interlacing from the video signal crossed my mind. Also the audio was fine, but I noticed when playing it back it still had the signal wavy lines as when it was being captured and right near the end of the file {somewhere between 2 and 5 minutes} the video stopped and when I clicked on the forward arrow it continued to the end of the movie. Is this caused by the O.S. not being able to see past 4 gigabytes? I thought I read somewhere on the forum that Windows 98SE had a 4 Gig limit on file size. If so I will probably have too change over to Windows 2000 and reload everything again. The quality of my VHS tapes I'm sure is not the best. All were taped on a older TV with a NEC DX 1000U VHS Recorder which I do not use now. The record head is bad, however it will still playback fine. I also was using an amplified antenna for my tv video signal at that time. Currently I have a Symphonic VHS for playing my tapes. My connection setup is like this. Amplified antenna to vhs rf in, rf out to 2 way splitter in. One out goes to my rf in on the HDTV {new, bought in september} and the other splitter out to my AIW video card rf connector. The reason for this is that there is only a composite out and a single audio out on the VHS. I would have to use a adapter spliter on the audio out to give me both a left and right audio signal to the HDTV. Is there a better way to hook this up? If so how? Also what would be the better capture setting for transfering my tapes to my HD? Should I continue to use the DVD High setting that I used above or use the Full Resolution setting available which is: Full Resolution Video 720x480, NTSC {525}, 7.20 M bit/sec Audio 44.100KHz, 16 bit stereo I'm not sure if the Full Resolution settings capture as MPEG2 or AVI. Would it be better to capture to AVI and then use TMPGEnc to reencode the file before burning? My version of Nero is 5.5.9.8 bundled. It came with my burner and I tried to find the firmware upgrade 1.51 on Phillips website as the firmware version currently is 1.13 and the upgrade is for support of the 4x media on the market. I tried a contact request on Phillips site inquiring about the firmware, but have not heard back from them yet. Also can I hook a VHS directly to my AIW using another VHS and amplified antenna directly on my pc or would I end up loosing my ability to watch my DVD's or tv shows on my new HDTV by doing that? Since I have over 250 VHS tapes of shows with commercials edited out while recording that I want to convert to either DVD and/or VCD/SVCD {depending on size and time of show taped} most tapes will end up on DVD. These are 2 hour movies {minus commercials} and the rest {1/2 hour kids shows w/o commercials}to VCD/SVCD . Once again thanks for any and all help you can possibly give me. alleng1 Also as Jackie Chan's Uncle would say "One more thing". What do I now do to burn the above captured movie on my hard drive? Do I need to use any software other then Nero? Thanks again. alleng1
I haven't captured and burned any VHS yet, so I can't help with that, but about the 4GB limit.... this is a restriction of the Fat32 file system. You need to use an OS such as Win 2000 or XP, which can use the NTFS file system. NTFS does not have the restriction. Win 2000 or XP can use either NTFS or Fat32, you can choose during installation. Goodluck!
Hiya alleng1, so they all ignoring ya?? Rotten, are they not... Anyways, here I am. Well written questions, BTW. Do you still have all the notes from our last chat? 250 tapes, that is a LOT of work to capture, encode and burn, so I assume you are looking for a semi-permanent connection solution, Yes?? Is it right that your VHS player has ONLY RF-IN, RF-OUT, COMPOSITE-OUT and AUDIO-OUT? No COMPOSITE-IN? No SCART? No COMPONENT VIDEO? No S-VIDEO? What is the full range of connections on your HDTV? COMPOSITE-IN? SCART? COMPONENT VIDEO? S-VIDEO? You must try to get the best possible signal between items to avoid degradation, especially so as you have indicated that the VHS recordings are not of the best quality anyway - so you don't want to lose any more. We have a difficult job ahead of us, as long as you are prepared for some hard work it can be done. Awaiting your answers.
Thanks Arcartx, I relooked at the file size and it shows as 3.99Gigs. I tried to preview it in Studio 8, but when it loaded it showed as 5.23Gb's. Whether or not that is due too the program I don't know. I do think that maybe I could get a better capture than what I did if I have my system setup properly. I will be looking at Win 2000 Pro as I know that all the drivers for my hardware is supported under 2000. It's not under XP though. Also I'm not sure what I do next to burn the movie after capturing it. Do I need to run it through another program before burning or is it ready to burn as it? I hope someone is willing to offer suggestions, advice or anything they feel is useful to know to help me get started. Thanks for the responce. alleng1
Hiya Drchips, Yes, there ignoring me. That's why the 48 hours post. My el cheapo VCR my daughter bought for me 2 or 3 years ago has 1 composite and 1 audio in on the front and 1 composite in and 1 audio in on the back. There is also 1 composite out and 1 audio out on the back. My HDTV has 4 AV inputs and 2 component inputs. I'm using 1 component input for my stand alone DVD Player and therefore can't use AV1. I have 2 SVideo input connectors. 1 connector is in parallel with the AV2 input which is not being used. The other is on the side {AV3} and I currently have an SVideo hooked up from my AV out connector on my AIW video card. My audio out from the AIW is plugged into my line in on my SB Audigy sound card. AV4 is for a component HD Receiver or Digital DVD Player and not being used. There is also a Monitor out and a Right/Left Audio out for connection to a second VCR for recording or to connect the audio to a Audio system. By the way my Receiver is a Pioneer VSX-454 Audio/Video Stereo Receiver. I purchased this several years ago. It has connections to hookup a LD Player and a VCR though I haven't used it for that. I use to run my audio from my vcr to it for audio when playing tapes or actually watching television using the vcr turner as my television signal. On my AIW AV in I have not connected it up yet. I have to different connectors to choose from. 1 is a component connector however I don't have a component out on my HDTV. It is a Phillips 34"inch without a lot of bells and whistles. I bought what I could afford. The other is a scarf connector with a SVideo in, composite in and a Right/Left audio in. I'm guessing that Monitor and Audio outs off my HDTV would have to be used to connect to my AIW in but I'm not sure about using the AV in on my pc. That's about it. Anything else you need to know? Thanks alleng1
Hiya alleng1, Have a good read through this guide I found, it is well worth studying: http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/capture/start.html Have Fun...
I'm baaaack........ Drchips My ISP went down last night and as it was rather late I hit the sack. I get up early for work. I checked out the guide @ Doom9 and it looks pretty good. Most of the tapes will be burned to DVD though. My tapes were all recorded using 6 hour mode on the VCR to fit 3 movies per tape. Of course the ones with the childrens shows have more episodes then the ones with the movies. 3 movies per tape or 9 to 12 if childrens shows. Also very little editing has to be done since I paused out commercials while taping. So what suggestions can you offer me in regards to hardware setup as to how I currently have it set? Do you think I'd be better off looking to purchase a newer VCR that would offer me a stereo audio input/output. I do have several purchased tapes I don't really feel like rebuying on DVD so would need to capture them for conversion to DVD. Looks like your the only one willing too help and I appreciate it very much. Thanks!!!!! alleng1
I'm baaaack........ Drchips My ISP went down last night and as it was rather late I hit the sack. I get up early for work. I checked out the guide @ Doom9 and it looks pretty good. Most of the tapes will be burned to DVD though. My tapes were all recorded using 6 hour mode on the VCR to fit 3 movies per tape. Of course the ones with the childrens shows have more episodes then the ones with the movies. 3 movies per tape or 9 to 12 if childrens shows. Also very little editing has to be done since I paused out commercials while taping. So what suggestions can you offer me in regards to hardware setup as to how I currently have it set? Do you think I'd be better off looking to purchase a newer VCR that would offer me a stereo audio input/output. I do have several purchased tapes I don't really feel like rebuying on DVD so would need to capture them for conversion to DVD. Looks like your the only one willing too help and I appreciate it very much. Thanks!!!!! alleng1
alleng1, one reason for the paltry # of responses is the long message. I could have finished reading the last Harry Potter book sooner. As for the jumpy picture, are you sure it isn't because of your PC instead of the signal since it looks fine on your TV? One sure sign of a slow hard drive or poor connection is dropped frames and choppy video capture. First, I hope you have a dedicated hard drive for your video, and if you partitioned it, make sure it's the first partition you use for capture (it's the fastest). Also, defrag your drive after every capture. You may want to split your MPEGs into 1 GB segments to get around the NTFS req. Like I've said before, if you have to upgrade your PC and the cost is more than $300, just buy a Gateway DVD Recorder!!! It'll save you alot of headache.
Hiya alleng1, This thread may be of interest to you, it is a possibility: http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/67470 It would save you considerable time (250 tapes etc). Have Fun...
DogBomb, I realise that my original posting is long, but I felt that listing my system and offering up the setup I currently am using would avoid having replies ask me to post them later. Your idea of purchasing a DVD Recorder is a good one. My sister and her husband have one and record movies for themselves. My tapes are important to me and I have a lot of time {hours} and money {blank tapes} purchased for the taping of movies I liked. These are movies that I can't buy on video or dvd and more than likely would be hard to find if available. Thanks for the responce though. Hiya back Drchips, I saw his responce back to mine earlier and it is a good idea, however I do need to edit some on quite a few movies. Even though I edited out commercials while taping there were times I had to do a double pause. On some there is dead frames and/or parts of commercials where I messed up, that show up while watching. When you consider that 250 tapes equal possibly over 700 movies that is a lot of work. Also I like the idea of learning something new. I'll keep at it til I get it right. If anyone out there would like to offer suggestions on my above posted hookup at the start of this thread and any other ideas for accomplishing what I'm trying to do, it would be appreciated. Thanks alleng1
Yeah, but if you have copied the tape to a DVD Recorder, it is then in a format that is really easy to edit on the PC. Use a RW disk in the recorder, copy it onto the PC (it will already be in VOB or MPEG-2 form) edit the clips and re-author, then burn onto DVD-R (2 copies, one for archive, one for use). The RW is then available for wiping and re-use. If you had already considered buying a Recorder then do so, it would be the most efficient way, by far. If you still want to go the PC Capture route, be prepared for some hard graft (time and learning). Have Fun... _X_X_X_X_X_[small]Life is just more of the same:[/small]
If I burn on a recorder do I burn the whole tape or just burn each movie individually? What program would I then use to edit the movie and what program to reauthor? That is really begginning to sound like the way too go, but I still want to learn how to do it the hard way also. Isn't life grand? alleng1
Whether you burn the whole tape or just a movie is up to you and dependant upon the runtime of the tape (dvd recorder records at a fixed rate which limits the time you can record on a disk). Copying the result onto the PC is dead easy, just normal file copying. Editing and re-Authoring can be done (in simple fashion - chapter points, cuts etc.) with TMPGEnc DVD Author, which will allow you to add menus etc, then create the structure ready for burning. If you wanted to get into more creative editing, then TMPGEnc V2.5 can be useful, as can a numer of other programs, but it is best to start easy. Have Fun...
I did download TMPGEnc from your link, but I didn't see the DVD Author on it. Is that the one you must purchase called TMPGEnc Plus? Thanks again for the help. alleng1
Here is a direct link for TMPGEnc DVD Author download: http://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/download/tda.html Have Fun...
