I have been visiting forum for some time and I can't quite figure out what I should use for my needs. I have a large collection of foreign language novelas on VHs, I would like to download them into my computer so that I can edit and burn them to DVD. I know I need an analog capture device so that I can download from VCR onto computer harddrive. That's as far as I have gotten. After I reach this point, I'm not sure how to proceed. There are a lot of different software applications that are discussed in the forum and I can't figure out if I need to purchase them or not. Also, I am looking at Plextor's analog capture device, does anyone have any experience with this program?
Well you are going to have to get a Capture device and the better the Capture device the Better the Quality of final DVD...I would stay away from the Plextor Device as I believe it is a USB Device which are generally awefull unless you are willing to Pay the Money for a Good Quality USB device.... I personally would recomend something like the "Canopus ACEDVio" ..It is a Analogue Digital Converter and Editing Card which is made for exactly what you want to do and is one of the Cheapest Costing Professinal Analogue/Digital Converters, I have seen them for $169 US on E-Bay but cost up to $350 if you buy direct from Canopus so ebay is the way to go...Canopus also makes External firewire Analogue Digital converters like the "Canopus ADVC-100" it does basicly the same thing as the Canopus ACEDVio but is external and costs about $250...They are Both just different versions of the Same Function and will produce the same Quality but one is cheaper and a PCI card.... If you didn"t want to spend that kind of Money the Next best thing which is quite a Bit down the ladder in Quality would be a TV Tuner Card with a 10Bit Decode chip like a Leadtech Expert or an Asus TV tuner card, You can get one of these for under $75 but the Quality will not be as High and there are a Lot more potential problems Like Sync Problems and dropping Frames and a Hundred other problems that can pop up it makes it worth it to sped twice as Much and get something you can rely on, and Canopus Hardware has a great resale value so if you don"t want it anymore after you have done all of your VHS tapes you could allways sell it for close to what you paid for it... Depending on what type of Capture Card you get would determine what Editing and Capture software you would use but you can Find a Lot of Freeware software on the net that will do stuff like Basic Editing and the capture device you get would come with basic Capture and editing software... After you have your Movies captured and have edited it the way you like you will have to convert the edited File to Mpeg2 for DVD... Your editing software might have a feature like this and some Capture software will capture your movies to the Mpeg2 DVD format so you will have no need to convert the captured files..... After you have your Mpeg2 DVD Files you will need some DVD authoring Software to put the Movie on DVD with Menu"s and Chapters..There are so many different DVD authoring programs so your choice would depend on the Complexity of the DVD you are creating and the features you need..Some DVD Authoring Program will give you the Option to Write your Own Subtitles for the Movie you are authoring which you might find usefull since your movies are foreign language films, but this is a very advanced feature only found in more advanced programs...... If you have any questions then ask me or PM me and I"ll try to help the best i can...Cheers
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I visited this forum for six months and printed up guides and subscribed to every thread; and after a lot of trial and error was successful in backing up my entire dvd collection. My husband had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century and I finally got a computer last December. We had a lot of discussion about all the features I wanted. It took me a year to learn WinXp and then another 6 months to figure out DvdShrink and DVDDecrypter ( with a lot of info gleaned from this site). We also have an extensive VHS collection and I wanted to impress him because one of his favorite movies Biloxi Blues is starting to deteriorate and I am hoping that I can transfer it to DVD. I know that you have probably answered questions like mine many times and I do appreciate your kind patience. II have subscribed to various threads and I try to visit site daily. I am not really too concerned about price, I will buy the best for my needs and like you said, since I won't be buying VHS movies I can resell on ebay.
Another thing you are going to have to consider becides getting a Capture device(I hope you get the one I recomended) is a Video Stabilizer....Because you will be Captureing from VHS Tapes which are usually Copy protected if they are retail VHS Tapes so you will not be able to capture the VHS Tapes properly if they are Copy protecyed and what the video Stabilizer does is it removes the Copy Protection while captureing and it will boost the Video signal strength so the quality can be slightly improoved useing a Video stabilizer...You can get one of these Boxes for less than $30 and will work on any VHS Tape and even some DVD"s...... If you have any problems or Questions about the Hardware and what software would be best then PM me and I"ll help the best I can....Cheers
Hi Minion: Yes, I absolutely plan on getting the Canopus 100. Do you have any recommendation on the video stabilizer? Also, will I need to get a particular kind of cable to use from the VCR?
Well Any Video Stabilizer will work for VHS tapes, and there is a Basic Type that is Black and Uses a 9v battery and thos are the ones I have used for VHS capture and Duplication, they are generally under $30.. There are More high end Video stabilizers that gaurantee to work with all DVD"s also but they are about twice the Price and if you are planning on copying DVD"s there are better ways to go about it than Captureing it....There are usually a couple Video Stabilizers on e-bay for pretty good prices or any major electronics store will have them....Cheers PS: the only Cables you will need are RCA Cables or maybe a S-Video caple if your VCR has a S-Video output..
