First, I tried the Dazzle DVC 80. Customers should really be warned that this is for internet traffic only. The quality is really poor for home video and it takes all night to render. Bad news. Then I tried the Pinnacle DVC 150. Great video, quick render time, but couldn't create a disk. If Quick Start was uninstalled (came with DVC 150) and Pinnacle Version 8 SE (came with DVD burner)installed it would make a good quality disk. DVC 150 was not recognized to be used as a capturing device, however. After installing and uninstalling, I gave it up and moved on to Adaptec MyDVD. Great video, but the audio lagged behind video by 2 or more seconds. Then came TDK's Indicapture. Great video, much longer render time, fewer features. Takes too long to make a one hour video. At least the voice and video are in sync. So far, it seems like Pinnacle products offer the most features, but it is so finicky that getting a good DVD is nearly impossible. Anyone have some other suggestions for a good quality software/hardware that can be used to make DVDs from old VHS video tape?
I would agree that Pinnacle offers nice picture quality, but often buggy software. You can try asking the people on the Pinnacle forum for advice on your problems: http://webboard.pinnaclesys.com/read_forums.asp?WebboardID=1&SectionID=143&lng=1 If you don't need to do any major editing, then I'd just buy a good standalone recorder for copying VHS to DVD. You give up the fancy menus this way, but it's way easier and the quality is very good.
What I would sugest is to NOT use a Hardware Mpeg encoder because you will get Better Quality if you Captured to a Low Compression AVI format orr DV and then used a Real Software encoder to encode the Files to DVD Compliant Mpeg2...I would Sugest Getting something like the "Canopus ADVC-100 or ADVC-50" these are Profecinal Quality Analogue Digital Converters and they Capture some of the Highest Quality Video I have seen Plus it captures in High Quality DV AVI format that is extremely easy to edit and Once you have edited the Files the way you want you can then use a High Quality Mpeg encoder Like Tmpgenc or Procoder or CinemaCraft Encoder to encode the File to High Quality Mpeg2 that you can then author to DVD..This takes Longer But you will have the Highest Quality possible for the Source you are captureing From...Good Software Mpeg encoders Are Much More efficient than Consumer level hardware encoders and have More Options, And if you capture Directly to Mpeg2 and then you edit with Studio 8 and author with MyDVD you Loose a Lot of Quality in this step because Mpeg files are not meant to be edited this way ,There are Special Editors especially made for Editing Mpeg files were there is absolutely No Quality loss from editing but these editors do not allow for adding effects or Transitions or changeing the Video Properties In any way so it is Best to Capture to an AVI format Like DV or Uncompressed AVI because they can be edited over and Over and Effects and Transitions can be added without any Loss in Video Quality..So If Quality is a Factor in what Capture device you get then the ADVC-100 or 50 is the Best you can get...The ADVC-100 is a Box that Connects to your PC Via Firewire port and the ADVC-50 is a PCI Card they Both produce the same Quality but the ADVC-100 has More features and Inputs/Outputs, The ADVC-100 Runs at about $250 US abd the ADVC-50 is about $175us..Theck out the ADVC-100 here: http://www.canopus.com/US/products/advc-100/pt_advc-100.asp Cheers
