Hi guys I need your advice. I want to copy old family vhs videos to my pc and eventually burn them onto DVD's. I have a video capture card. It's all set up and working fine using Windows Movie Maker (yes I know).This is causing problems like crashing and produces .WMV files. So what is the best way. I mean capture to which format, which software and which format is best to use to put onto a DVD. I have downloaded all kinds of software and I am now completly confused. Pleas help, Thanks.
First, we need to know the make and model of your capture card. We also need to know how you have the VCR hooked up to it, what type of cables, etc. If it's a Conexant BT8x8 based card, then VritualVCR, Stoik Video capture, or even virtualdub will capture for you. Once you have a captured avi, you'll have to encode it to mpeg-2, then author it to DVD. There are VERY few cheaper cards that can capture directly to mpeg-2. What software came with the card, and why aren't you using it?
The Video card is "AVerMEDIA DVD EZMaker Gold". My camcorder has no s-video so I connected video out to the video card. Audio to the PC sound card. The software is "neoDVD standard" and it can capture directly to mpeg-1, mpeg-2, VCD and DVD-Video. There are bits of the videos that need removing, like sticking the lens cap on and leaving the cam corder running! What is the best format to capture to, bearing in mind each video needs editing. Once done, what format do I put out to DVD? I used "Video Edit Magic v2.2" to capture a 30 min video to AVI. Went to over 8Gb. Is this normal? I did manage to convert to mpeg-2 using "WinAVI Video Converter v5.6" and it reduced it to 615Mb with good quality. Am I going about this the wrong way? I do have VirtualDUBmod downloaded from Afterdawen, but find it a little complicated. TIA
Capturing as mpeg saves space and can be edited with Womble mpeg2vcr quite easily. Then import the new edited mpeg into authoring program for dvd creation. If you capture as avi, at some point you'll still need to encode to mpeg for dvd creation/authoring. This,however, will require much more drive space.
Capture directly to MPEG may save disk space (but what does that cost these days?) but is not recommended, because in this the encoding needs to be done real time. This will definitely not result in the best quality. If your 30 minutes is around 8GB, sounds like you're capturing to DV (although 30 minutes should be more close to 6.5GB). That is the way to go... Compressing 30 minutes to only 615 MB MPEG-2 is a bit too much compression. For good results (and given the fact that your base material is VHS) you should use a bitrate of no less than 7500kb/s, which would yield around 1.6 GB for 30 minutes. BTW: if you own a miniDV camera which allows analog to digital "pass-through" you could consider this option. On http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/basics/transfer.php you will see a picture of how to connect.
Cool! Actually the 30 min video is a cut down/edited version of 2 x 45 min VHS-C tapes. So it is probably more like 45 mins. Anyway, I can now see light up ahead! When you say "Import for DVD creation". Do you mean something like Nero? and leave in mpeg-2 format for burning to DVD? Much appreciated guys...TIA
There are two ways to go from an AVI to a DVD. A two step approach: you use a stand-alone encoder to create and MPEG-2 and then you import the MPEG into a DVD-authoring/burning program. A single step approach: import the AVI directly into a DVD-authoring program directly (in which case the authoring program has a built-in encoder). The two step approach in general is better, because stand-alone encoders usually allow better encdoding quality and also have a lot more settings with which you can control quality. The most well-known stand-alone encoders are TMPGEnc, Canopus Procoder Express and Mainconcept MPEG Encoder. Nero has DVD-authoring capabilities, but it is certainly not the most advanced one. If you are looking for a little more advanced authoring tools, check the list at the bottom of this article http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/basics/createdisc.php Personally I think the Ulead DVD-authoring tools are good value for money, if you go for ultimate freedom in design possibilities go for DVDlab.
