confusion with capture devices and hardware needed for transfer of vhs to dvd.

Hi, I am new to all of this so I appoligize in advance for my lack of knowlegde. My problem is more of needing advice more than tech help. First let me list my system so people know what type of system I am dealing with:
I have a P4 2.8ghz computer with the prescott chip that has 1mb l2 cache, 2.0gb of dual channel ddr 3200 ram, two hard drives 1.) Primary 80gb 2.) slave 120gb for video. Both drives are 7200rpm. I have a lg 4040b multi dvd+/- rw/ram drive. Also I have a radeon 9800 pro 128mb video card and a avermedia tv studio capture card.
What I have been doing is capturing vhs tapes at 720x480 at 20mb/s in mpeg2 format. Then i rencode using tmpge down to 352x240 and burn on to dvd using tmpge dvd authoring.
I get viewable quality, but it still is less then I would like. I am aiming to have dvd with near the same quality as the vhs. From what i have read on this forum it is probably my capture card. What would be my best alternative. I was looking at buying a canopus ADVC-100, but they are costly and I am not sure what other hardware i would need if i did buy this card. Do I need to buy a really high quality firewire card or will any card do? I am not sure since my pc only has usb 2.0 and not fire wire. Also since my Pc is quite powerful i was wondering if any one else would have any recomendations on good capture devices for this task and what other equipment i would need to purchase in order to make it work eg. Software etc. I am only looking for a device for vhs transfer only as i probably won't use it for much else.
Thank you in advance as any insight is well appreciated.
kedm
P.S. Does anyone know if it is true that the Canobus advc-100 disables macrovision or not? I read in one thread someone said it did , but the company does not say.
Thanks again

 

Are you using the ATI Tv software to capture? Try using windvr, and encoding 720x480 mpeg1 format, then rencoding with TMPGenc. You really only get about two hours of footy, but you can use dvd shrink to make it smaller. I've used ati tv software and windvr, and I perfer windvr (less bugs, more options, greater compatibility.) I just reecoded an older vhs tape, and I ended up with better quality on the reencoded dvd than the vhs tape itself. I would suggest trying what I mentioned above using mpeg1, and 720x480. I think you don't even need to change the resolution, but I am not sure as I have not screwed with TMPGenc that much.

 

I have used the Method you are useing accept I think your Quality Problem is Due to the Fact you are Re-encodeing your 720+480 Mpeg2 files to 352+240....
352+240 is a Valid Resolution for the Sif DVD Format but it is the Lowest Quality DVD Format so if your Aim is High Quality you should be encodeing the Files useing the Same Full D1 Resolution and Bitrate and just Put one Movie on each DVD....

What I do is I capture to 720+480 useing WinDVR 3.0 at 20,000kbs and to sterio Dolby AC3 audio...I then use DVD2AVI to make a D2V Project file and then Frameserve the D2V file to My Encoder(CCE SP)useing AVISynth and a Couple of Noise Filters to improove the Image Quality and remove any Backround Static, I also use a Bitrate Calculator to calculate the exact Bitrate Needed so the Movie Fills up a DVD-R to the end so I can Maximize the Quality...
You don"t have to Use AVISynth or Frameserve But you should use a couple of Filters in Tmpgenc to clean up the Image and you should try just put One Movie on each DVD or Maybe 2 But useing the Half D1 Resolution of 352+480.....
If after doing this you still are not happy with the Quality them Maybe a Better Capture device would be Needed But I have gotten Acceptable Quality useing this Method useing my ATI Radeon 7200 VIVO card....

As to your Questions about the ADVC-100 there is a way (Or at least used to) to disable the Macrovision detection and the Directions are Posted somewere on this site and on the Net, They Might have stopped makeing them so the macrovision can be dissabled..
Even if there was a way the Company would never admit it because they are required By law to add Macrovision detection to there devices...You can allways get a $30 Video stabilizer to Fix this Problem, and the Video stabilizer will actually make your Captures Look better because it Boosts and Stabilizes the Video signal.....
You can get one of the Canopus Devices that is Internal and save some money, Like the ADVC-55 or the Canopus ACEDVio which use the Same Hardware DV Compressor Chip so they Produce the same Quality....
Well Good Luck...Cheers

 

Thanks minion and gotisos
I appreciate the help Tonight I will try to see if i can get windvr. I will let you all know how things pan out when I finish.
Thanks a million
kedm

 

hey , everyone
I tried win dvr 3.0, virtual vcr and virtual dub and have had hardware compatibility issues with each one. Win dvr 3.0 will not even display a picture, virtual vcr's picture is all garblled and virtual dub will not let me capture any higher than 320x240. Any advice? The only software that seems to work is windows moviemaker 2 and aver tv studio's bundled software, but it only captures into mpeg 1 or 2 and it does the most annoying rhing if you record at 20,000kbs. It splits all files into dvd size pieces (4.13gb). Any ideas of what i should do next? I get the hint that this card does not like AVI format. I think i should take this avermedia studio card and jump up and down on it. Any advice on a good capture device and where to purchase it. Minion mentioned canopus advc 50. Do you think if i get a different capture card i will run into the same software issues.
Thanks,
Kedm
Oh. on an up note i did purchase a video stabilizer off of ebay, so i hopr that will help.
Thanks

 

If you get a Capture device Like the ADVC-50/100 you will not have any hardware/Software problems because these devices do not even use any Drivers at all but they will only work with certain types of Capture software like most Video editing programs Like Premier and Vegas Video will capture from the ADVC-50/100 and so will WinDVR 3.0 to either Mpeg1/2 or to DV AVI, These devices use a Firewire Port on your PC to capture so you will need one on your PC..You will not be able to use Virtual-Dub but most others shouldn"t be a problem and these are Good Quality devices so they rarely have Problems like you are haveing.....Cheers