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Problem converting VHS to DVD

Discussion in 'MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 encoding (AVI to DVD)' started by doulies, Jan 28, 2005.

  1. doulies

    doulies Member

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    Not sure if this is the right place to ask this but here go`s
    I have a Plextor ConvertX model px-m402u, with InterVideo WinDVD Creator 2 software. I`ve been trying to capture VHS movie`s directly to DVD disk`s with no luck. Here are the step`s i take.
    Open InterVideo windvd creator
    click on
    Record video tape into dvd disk in one step
    Click on
    The capture button
    then click on the Setting`s Button
    Select
    MPEG- format
    Profile- DVD (standard play)
    Stop recording after 120 min
    Click o.k
    Then hit the Start Recording Button
    MY PROBLEM IS THE DAMN MOVIE STOP`S RECORDING,BEFORE THE MOVIE IS FINNISHED.
    Hope someone can help, getting tired of making coaster`s
    Thank`s, John
     
  2. Minion

    Minion Senior member

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    Maybe there is a file size setting and it is stopping when it hits that file Size Like 4gb...Or if your drives are Formated to Fat 32 then it will only make Max 4gb files....That is all I can think of Right now....
     
  3. doulies

    doulies Member

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    Hey minion, thank`s for the reply.
    I forgot to say, my recorder is a Plextor px-708a.
    I can convert VHS movie`s to the hard drive, then burn them with no problem, but the only problem that way is it take`s a lot longer. I just tried doing another one directly to disk and have another coster. I don`t think the problem is the file size, because all the movie`s i convert to hard drive are around 3 to 4 gig`s and i can burn them. I`ll just keep playing with it and hopefully i will figure it out. If i do i`ll post it for anyone else that might have the same problem.
    But any how thank`s again
     
  4. pfh

    pfh Guest

    I have the M402U too and had initial success with direct to dvd using older commercial vhs. Seemed to me once I went to newer tapes (late 1980's-'90's) is when I started getting coasters or program (dvd creator) hangs.
    I thought it was a macrovision thing so I purchased a "Sima Copy This" filter but even that didn't help.
    I have yet to try it again since updating WinDVD software (that's another story).
    For the most part, I don't mind capturing to HD first cause I typically break the mpeg into chapters then author into dvd format. If it exceeds single layer disc size then I'll run it through DvdShrink. But there are those tapes that I'd certainly just like to transfer without edit/author routines.
    On another note, I've found Plextor's GoCap tool to be better capture interface than the included WinDVD Creator software- it has flexible bitrate settings and I am now getting great copies. By great I mean true 1:1 copies. I'm working on a newbie guide for my vhs to dvd technique.

     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 30, 2005
  5. doulies

    doulies Member

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    pfh,
    I also had initial success but only with RW`s, i did copy a few movie`s directly to disk successfully using DVD+RW`s. I then tried copying the same movie to a DVD+R and -R with no luck. Also when i erased the RW`s and tried using them over again i could not get a full movie. I`m going to get some new RW`s and give it ONE more try. I think windvd creator 2 has a glitch in it when it come`s to converting directly to disk.
    When you get your guide put together let me know where you post it, i`d like to see your technique.
     
  6. pfh

    pfh Guest

    Yeah, I'm going to try again too. I have since moved my external dvdrw to internal so maybe that make a diff.
    I too feel it's a Windvd problem.
    I'm new at this stuff so my guide is for one newb to another. The fancy editing stuff is not exactly what ( I think) most of us are interested in right now. We just want to transfer our investment of vhs to dvd with maybe some simple menus. If you're like me you've got 100 or more tapes sitting around waiting for fungus to grow on 'em. Meanwhile, vhs is getting squeezed out of existance by the studios, rental companies, and hardware manufactures.

    Oh yeah, I've only used Dvd -R. 8x branded Fuji discs.

    Have you updated Windvd creator yet? The update removes the handy built-in menu buttons for adding/customizing your menu! At least I haven't been able to find them. Now all you get is browse window for adding "your own"! It might encode better but they've removed some of the easier functionality IMO. Maybe I'm not looking in the right spot but I've scoured the program to no avail.

    At least I think I've figured out one of the most important aspects in the tranfer process and that is setting the correct capture bitrates. This ensures you'll have a dvd that's as good as vhs and that's all I'm asking for- after all, I did BUY the tape! And like most, we wouldn't have bought the movie if we didn't feel like watching it again.
     
  7. doulies

    doulies Member

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    I use whatever brand disk office max has on sale, mostly +R.
    I backed up some of my dvd movie`s using these disk`s and didn`t have any problem.
    Plextor GoCap tool question...
    Is the GoCap tool only used for converting movie`s to the hard drive?
    Then do they have to be put on a dvd disk with windvd creator?
    When you convert a movie from your hard drive to a dvd disk using windvd creator, how long does it take? It takes me about 6 to 7 hours to go through the whole process: Make a Movie,Format,Erase Disk then Burn Disk.
    If it wouldn`t take so long to get the movie from the hard drive to the disk, i wouldn`t care about the direct burn.
    And your right about (we wouldn't have bought the movie if we didn't feel like watching it again.)
     
  8. pfh

    pfh Guest

    Doulies, GoCap is just a capture interface for setting your M402U and getting it to start capturing. So once your done or your tape is done and the cpature ends you'll be left with an mpeg file ready for editing/authoring with whatever s/w you choose. (as long as it handles mpeg). 6-7 hours is about what I've been running into. The least amount of time is the actual DVD burn at 4x!
    Man, dude, my head is swimming! The more I read the more confused I sometimes get! Check out the Womble program others have talked about- I am. It looks like it'd be ideal for our situation esp. in conjunction with GoCap. If it proves to be a good program we can ditch WinDVD all together!
    p.s.
    GoCap has a much smaller CPU overhead than WinDVD. On my comp. GoCap only uses 40-50% CPU!! That frees us up to at least browse internet while our capture continues!
    p.s.s.
    I'm also toying with the idea of going SVCD to DVD for these vhs transfers. How about you? Thought about this? Like I said, the more I read the more confused. Stay in touch, wish we had each others e-mail cause I like being able to talk with people with the same hardware.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 1, 2005
  9. Minion

    Minion Senior member

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    pfh: SVCD to DVD is easy and you don"t even have to re-encode the File..You can go from a 3 SVCD Movies to DVD in less than an Hour...You just have to extract the Mpeg-2 file out of the SVCD Disks/Images and then Just Load the SVCD files into "DVDLab" and it will author them to DVD for you without re-encodeing the Video and Ruining the quality and they should Play in most all DVD Players and this way you can Put up to 3 Full SVCD Movies on a single DVD-R....

    Cheers
     
  10. pfh

    pfh Guest

    3 movies on one dvd is very tempting especially if the quality of my vhs transfers is the same as I'm getting now with my current method. That's why I've started looking into SVCD. Using Plextor M402U as my capture device plus Plextor's GoCap tool I can set bitrates and capture as mpeg 1/2/4.

    (DOULIES)-the bitrate settings in GoCap are in b/s NOT kb/s. in case you try it.

    Other settings include: Resolutions 176x144 up to 720x480
    GOP size
    Sequence
    Video standards- 3 NTSC, 6 PAL & 8 SECAM
    So there is some flexablity with this tool so one can end up with many different mpegs.
    It does not capture as AVI.
    That Dvd Lab looks like a cool prog. that I'm going to try along with Womble Wizard. But first I'm going to experiment more with some capture settings to check quality and figure out what settings equal SVCD.
    Right now I'm capturing as mpeg2/720x480/6000000 to 9000000 b/s and getting 1:1 quality but of course only getting one vhs movie on one dvd.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 1, 2005
  11. doulies

    doulies Member

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    pfh,
    I never thought of SVCD, but minion just posted that it`ll work.
    minion,
    Do you have to convert the movie to hard drive first, then run it through DVDLAB, then to a DVD disk?
    I don`t know if this is any help, but looking at this to me seem`s like the platinum edition might be needed to go with the direct to disk option.
    Go to this site
    http://webdownload2.intervideo.com/pdf/Enu/Creator2Features.pdf
     
  12. Minion

    Minion Senior member

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    Well Instead of Captureing to 480+480 SVCD which isn"t DVD Compliant Capture to 352+480 which is 100% DVD Compliant....
    You can still Put SVCD on DVD but there Might be Compatibility Issues with some Older Players....

    At 352+480 the Image will Look Tall and Skinny on your PC but it will Look Normal on your DVD Player because DVD Players don"t display Video useing the Resolution But the Aspect ratio...

    doulies: You don"t convert the File at all But you do have to Transfer the SVCD Mpeg-2 File to your PC....
    The only thing that needs to be Converted is the audio in the SVCD File which needs to be Resampled to 48000hz like all DVD Audio Must Be, But DVDLab will do that for you...Actually DVDLab will first demux the SVCD File into seperate audio and Video Files and then it will Resample the audio for you and after that you just author the Files to DVD like normal...

    DVDLab and DVDLab Pro are the Only Programs I know of that will Author SVCD Files to DVD without re-encodeing the Video to 720+480 and Ruining the quality....

    Cheers
     
  13. pfh

    pfh Guest

    Minion- you answered my question about 352x480. that is an odd res.! thanks.
    Doulies- had a succesful vhs to dvd direct transfer last night (used dvd creator) but now I've been playing with capture settings in GoCap. I'm going to capture about 5 min of the same footage at the different rates and resolutions then try out DVD Lab to get them on a disc and see how they play.

    The one thing I did find out with GoCap is it won't do mpeg1 or 4 without the proper codecs. Errors out with error message. Apperently it uses the codecs we have from the oem Intervideo s/w, however, Divx codecs aren't included so we're stuck for now with mpeg2. My guess is additional codecs can be had with a purchased upgrade package. Typical oem marketing!
    I'll keep you posted.
     
  14. doulies

    doulies Member

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    pfh,
    On your direct transfer, what type of disk did you use,DVD+R or DVD-R?
    I don`t see why the disk format would make a difference,as i use +R`s when i burn a movie off the hard drive, just curious on what you use.
    Also do you remember the setting`s you used?
     
  15. pfh

    pfh Guest

    doulies
    I use fuji dvd-r with a nec 2510a dvdrw drive. My set top player is a Panasonic av30. It plays svcd/cd/dvd. But your media (+/-) does not matter.

    The vhs I direct transfered was the classic Rudolph toon with Burl Ives so I used the 1 hour dvd setting in Creator. That tape isn't much over 60 minutes. My other successful direct burns were with 120 min. or less movies using the 2 hour dvd setting. All are NTSC.
    Also, it's not a bad idea to re-boot your computer before a capture or direct burn- esp. if you've been using memory intensive apps. At least imo I feel it flushes your memory, freeing empty blocks, and helps prevent program hangs/crashes.

    But that's one of the problems I have with Intervideo's Creator s/w, you have no real control over bitrate settings or anything else other than these "1 or 2 hour" dvd parameters. Without more control I'm not satisfied with the quality of my burns with movies of more importance (i.e. 4 & 5 star, acadamy awards, etc.) Creator sets it's bitrates based on these user inputs. Unfortunatly GoCap doesn't do direct vhs-to-dvd if you are interested in that aspect of it's use.

    But all in all, direct copy may not be that ideal. For one, you can't test run your capture and/or compiled dvd from your hard drive prior to a burn. Two, obviously no edit/author opportunity. That is IF you're so inclined to give your burns a more polished end result.

    In any case, to get good quality use the GoCap tool-->Capture to HD. When finished capturing you can use WinDVD Creator to finish compiling and burning that mpeg2 file.
    GoCap settings that I've played with:
    720x480 @ 6000000 b/s with peak bitrate 9800000
    Good quality but large size that may need shrunk
    720x480 @ 4000000 b/s with peak at 9800000
    Good quality and a just a little smaller
    720x480 @ 2000000 b/s with peak at 9800000
    So-so quality, too much loss during motion
    480x480 @ 4000000 b/s peak 9800000
    Good quality, not much smaller than 720x480, not
    dvd compliant
    480x480 @ 2000000 b/s with peak 9800000
    Fair quality but still shows loss in motion scens
    620x480 @ 2000000 b/s peak 9800000
    Terrible! lot of loss, not dvd compliant
    320x480 @ 4000000 b/s
    Good quality, roughly 1/4 smaller, SVCD compliant

    I just started trial of DVD Lab and burned a test disc with some of the above settings to try on tv. Funny thing happened with non dvd compliant test clips- when i fast forward then hit play button the picture gets divided on screen. Part of the screen shows a part of the movie and part shows still background image! Might be something I did wrong in dvd Lab cause it takes a little time to learn and I just did a real quick burn.

    So far I think dvd Lab better suits my need vs. Womble mpeg Wizard. I haven't a lot of time with them but Womble looks more suited to personal clips and images and compiling personal dvd's. I'm still evaluating and may end up keeping both.

     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 3, 2005
  16. Minion

    Minion Senior member

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    The "Womble Mpeg Video wizard" isn"t for Makeing DVD"S it is Strictly for editing Mpeg files....

    There are only certain Resolutions that will Work to make DVD"s with and they are...

    720+480_Fully Compliant
    704+480_Fully Compliant
    352+480_Fully Compliant
    352+240_Fully Compliant
    480+480_Non-Compliant but should work especially in players that support SVCD....

    And you should select what bitrate you use to Capture your Mpeg-2 files Based on the Length of the Movie you are Captureing because the Quality will be lower if you Capture at too high of a Bitrate and then use DVD Shrink to Shrink the File than if you just used the Correct Bitrate in the First Place and didn"t re-compress with DVD-Shrink....

    To Find out what Bitrate you should use you should get a Bitrate Calculator which will tell you the correct Bitrate based on the Length of the Movie so it Fits on a DVD-R...The one I use is called "PowerBit" and it works Very well...

    Cheers
     
  17. roryoss

    roryoss Member

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    i got a Plextor PX AV100U which is supposed to do the same stuff as the 402 but my problem is i cant get the drivers loaded to recognize the convert x digital video converter!!

    many tries and many different ways to reinstall and reboot cannot get this thing recognized in the device manager!!! how do i get GO CAP ,, do i need special codecs ......help !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    my system is

    Computer:
    Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
    OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
    Internet Explorer 6.0.2900.2180
    DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0)

    Motherboard:
    CPU Type AMD Athlon 64, 2000 MHz (10 x 200) 3200+
    Motherboard Name Biostar K8NHA-M / K8NHA Pro
    Motherboard Chipset nVIDIA nForce3, AMD Hammer
    System Memory 1024 MB (DDR SDRAM)
    BIOS Type Award (09/13/03)


    Display:
    Video Adapter NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600XT (256 MB)
     
  18. pfh

    pfh Guest

    You say you've tried differnt installs so the only thing I can think of is-
    Download the latest driver from Plextor:
    Download the uninstaller from Plextor as well:
    Execute the uninstaller to get rid of current one:
    Disconnect your convertor 1st and foremost:
    Reboot computer and check USB configs. in BIOS. Make sure they are ENABLED:
    Install new driver:
    Plug convertor in to the primary usb port (the ones next to the mouse&keyboard connectors):
    At this point Windows should recognize new hardware and show a pop up balloon saying so:
    The GoCap app. is downloadable on the same page as the drivers BUT I'm not sure if it works with your unit- never used the AV100.
     

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