Basic copying of home made VHS movies to DVD

Discussion in 'Video capturing from analog sources' started by bonnyr, Oct 15, 2004.

  1. bonnyr

    bonnyr Member

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    Hi all,

    I have several home made movies on VHS cassettes, which I wish to copy to DVD. I also have a video card that
    allows me to record straight from the Video player into an mpeg file. So far so good. However, the mpeg file
    generated is too big (the source cassette is 3hrs long) and wont fit on a DVD (i dont have a DL burner).
    This clearly is too long. I could split it into 2 dvd
    disks, but would like to avoid it if possible.
    I had a look at nero recode/vision express, but it tells me the quality would be too low.
    Surely there's a way as I can see many DivX, Mpeg and SVCD movies which are full length but do not occupy a complete DVD space. Sure the quality is lower than the
    original, but still good enough to watch, and the
    source, in my case comes from a VHS movie - the quality
    there cannot be too good in the first place.

    Also, if possible, I would like to minimise the number
    of steps required to accomplish this. I realise this is
    not going to be a one step thing, but the less the better.

    Any help and ideas would be very welcome.


     
    bonnyr, Oct 15, 2004
    #1
  2. Nephilim

    Nephilim Moderator Staff Member

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    Moved to appropriate forum ;)
     
    Nephilim, Oct 15, 2004
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  3. Frankwm

    Frankwm Member

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    You could try using a freebie program called "DVD Shrink". There is an entire forum just for that application.

    Alternatively, you can use CloneDVD2 to burn your DVD. This application lets you compress as much as you like. A colour bar at the bottom of the screen shows you the compression, ranging from green (good quality) to red (really crappy quality), but it won't stop you recording/burning, even if it's in the red. Relatively inexpensive program (approx. US$40) Input has to be either IFO/VOB or ISO/UDF files.

    I've used CloneDVD2 to burn all of my authored movies, never had one "coaster".
     
    Frankwm, Oct 18, 2004
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  4. samp1001

    samp1001 Member

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    Hi there,

    Could you list out the steps to detect the video card (analog composite ports). I am not able to locate it, though I see the digital IEEE port. These ports are working since they can be detected with other software like "click to DVD". I have a Sony VAIO P4, and am trying to copy VHS to PC - just cant get started though. Is there some way around? What steps do I seem to be missing? ...would appreciate any help from way down to starting basics.

    Thanks,
    George
     
    samp1001, Oct 20, 2004
    #4

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