Newbie needs help on what to purchase

I am new to this group and need some advise on what equipment/software I need to purchase to convert my betamax and VHS tapes to DVD; I live in the USA.

I have a P4 2.53 GHz CPU running XP Pro.

I noticed in a couple of threads that people recommend Canopus ADVC 300 or Plextor PX-M402U, among other hardware.

I might add that I also own a Sony Digicam that I would like to edit some of those films. I currently don't have a firewire card.
Also, some of my betamax tapes have a pinkish hue to them due to the video camera I was using, so I need s/w to correct this.

With all that in mind, what is my best option for hardware/software to help me with my project? Is there a particular firware card I should purchase or will this be included in the hardware that is recommended by you. What is the best s/w I should purchase if it is not included in a package?

Thanks so much for your help.
Dave

 

Grab a firewire card.
Use the cam as a passthrough.
It will digitize the video.
Capture in WinDV (it's free).
This will give you a very large avi, which you'll have to encode to mpeg-2 for DVD.
Get the Panasonic DV codec (also free).
Open the avi in virtualdub, and play with some filters to correct colour, sharpness, etc.
Learn how to frameserve it to a good encoder.

 

regootjim,

Thanks for your suggestions. I have a few follow-up questions.

I assume this means that I take my output from either the beta or VCR players and plug them into the camcorder. Correct?

I have no idea what you are talking about. What is frameserve?

Thanks again for your help.
Dave

 

Frameserving is a process by which you directly transfer video data from one program on your computer to another. No intermediate or temporary files are created. The program that opens the source file and outputs the video data is called the frameserver. The program that receives the data could be any type of video application....

For instance if you had a Video File that had Bad Color and you wanted to correct the Color Problem by adding filters to correct the Problem...
In Most Cases you would Have to Load your File into a Video Application and add your Filters and then Render it with the Filters to Make your Color Corrected File, This Process Can Use up a Lot of Disk Space and take a Long time and Can Lower the Quality as every time you render a File with Compression you Loose Quality....

With a Frameserver you do not have to Render to a New File so it doesn"t take up any extra Space or Time or Lower the Quality so for Instance you would Load your AVI file into Virtual-Dub and add your Filters to correct the Color and Instead of rendering to a New File you Frameserve the File to a Mpeg encoder which will add the Filters while encodeing the File to Mpeg-2/DVD.....

Instead of Frameserveing you Could also Just use a Mpeg encoder that Has Built in Filters for Cleaning up the Image...If you would Like to do it that way then I suggest you use either "Tmpgenc Pluss/Express" or "Canopus Procoder/Express" to encode your AVI to Mpeg-2/DVD because these are the Only 2 Good encoders I know of that have a good Variety of Filters for Cleaning up Video.....

Here is some Info on Frameserveing....

http://neuron2.net/LVG/frameserving.html

 

Minion,

Thanks so much for your explanation. Where does one find the filters for virtual-dub?

Another question: it was suggested that I should use Canopus ADVC 300 in conjunction with Sony Vegas 6. Comments on that setup would be appreciated. Also, being a neophyte with video editing, I don't know if Vegas 6 is a complicated program to use.

Any thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again for all the great suggestions!
Dave

 

Virtualdub comes with a bunch of filters already. Probably more than you need. Just click Video, filters, add, and browse the list.
For fixing up VHS, I use Sharpen at 20, Levels, and HSV adjust.
Play with the settings until you get the best output picture you can, then do a test burn (after frameserving a few minutes to your encoder) on a DVDRW.

Vegas 6 is a hugely complicated piece of software, with a steep learning curve. For simple VHS editing, it's way overkill (and overpriced).
With the ADVC series, you only need WinDV to capture, virtualdub to do basic editing (cuts, joins, filters), a good encoder to make the mpeg's, and something to author and burn with.

 

rebootjim,

Thanks for the clarification.

To summarize (and please make corrections where appropriate):
1) to capture my VHS/Betamax tapes, I will use Canopus ADVC 300 and a firewire card to get the data into digital format.

2)WinDV to capture.

3)VirtualDub to do basic editing .

4)Encoder -- what is an example of freeware or $$ware that I should use?

5) Author program -- same question.

6) I have both Nero6 and Roxio 7.5 to burn...any preference?

Again, thanks so much for your comments and also Minion's comments...you are saving me tons of money!

Dave

 

1) to capture my VHS/Betamax tapes, I will use Canopus ADVC 300 and a firewire card to get the data into digital format.
Correct.

2)WinDV to capture.
Actually, the Canopus is doing the digital conversion, WinDV is simply transferring it from the canopus to your hard drive, via an easy to use interface. This is different than "capturing".

3)VirtualDub to do basic editing .
And filtering, yes.

4)Encoder -- what is an example of freeware or $$ware that I should use?
QuEnc, Freenc, Tmpgenc, Canopus Procoder (Express), Mainconcept mpeg encoder, CinemaCraft Basic.

5) Author program -- same question.
DVDLab (Pro), Tmpgenc DVD Author.

6) I have both Nero6 and Roxio 7.5 to burn...any preference?
Nero. You probably already have Nerovision Express, which will also "capture", encode and author, although it basically sucks at all 3. Nero Burning Rom to burn is great though.


For your first few tries, you need only some simple software.
WinDV to get the avi onto your hard drive.
VSO DivX to DVD, will encode and author the files.
Nero to burn.
Please make sure you install the Canopus DV codec (should come with your device) and consider the Panasonic DV codec as well (it's free to download and use).
These will insure that virtualdub, vso, and many other applications, can open and edit your files.

 

rebootjim,

Thank you so much for your expertise and comments...they are greatly appreciated by this newbie who has never ventured into this type of work before.

Dave

 

You're most welcome. We were all newbie's once, although we rarely admit it