I now have Media Center and a VHS deck attached to the new computer. I somehow recorded the VHS tape to the computre but how do I now get it a DVD. The salesman said it was simple but I should have known better. As a former Pastor I have tons of material on VHS that I would prefer to move to DVD. Please help me. I am doing what Media Center says but 3 hours later and it is only at 3 percent.
It sounds like you're in over your head. MCE is (mostly) for running an entertainment centre, not encoding video for DVD. If you've managed to get the VHS onto your hard drive, then your capturing is working. Encoding the capture to mpeg-2 is what's taking the time. Then you'll need to author the mpeg, then burn it. What tools/programs are you using? Why did you undertake this project, if you weren't prepared/didn't research/learn how beforehand?
I trusted the computer salesman. I know I made a mistake. Now tell me in very simple steps, how do I do it.
I love the system I got. HP and fully loaded. It does have the DVD recorder and TV card and all. A very good VHS deck is attached as well. Now comes the time to figure out how to take the VHS tapes and put them on a DVD since the tapes tend break after a while. Can people offer advice and simple step by step instructions on what I need and how to do it? Emphasizes SIMPLE once again again. I started to call the salesman but I figure the good people here would be much better help on something like this.
First, I would turn off the MCE recording services. There's about 9 of them. Google for how to do it. Download and install some good capture software. There's a bunch of free ones that will do nicely. Once you have the VHS captured, and the quality is what you want, then encode it to mpg. There are 4 good encoders, and a bunch of rather poor ones. Try mainconcept, canopus procoder express, CCE basic or tmpgenc. There are guides to using all 4 of these if you click GUIDES at the top of this page. Once you have it encoded to mpg, you need to author it. There are a ton of programs that will do this too. I recommend you start with something like Ulead DVD movie factory, or Tmpgenc DVD Author. If you want something more professional, try DVDLab. Once authored, burn it with whatever came with your burner. There are guides on all this stuff, including recommended software for each step.
I do computer video editing as a hobby and also make safety and training videos for the bush fire brigade of which I am a member. Your problem with what you are trying to do, that being put VHS tapes on to dvd is something I do every day but unfortunately it seems to me that you have been conned in to getting a so called "media centre". A local lady here did the same thing and I spent a short time playing with it because she had the same problems that you are encountering. What I discovered from this is that the computer manufacturers have put together a very clever piece of marketing to sell rubbish to the unsuspecting public. All you have there is a basic computer with a cheap TV card and a dvd burner. This can be put together for half the cost of what they charge for these so called "media centres". All it is good for is watching tv on and I think you would agree that if you wanted to do that you would have bought a tv for a lot less. To do what you want to do you need a video editing program and a capture board. I use Pinnacle Studio and have it on two machines. Studio Plus AV/DV Deluxe International Version is what you will need. It has a "breakout box" out front which is where you plug in your video input, I use the S-Video cable for a better job. You also need big hard drives and a fast pentium 4. I have two 200 gig hard drives in each machine and one drive is partitioned with 20 gig allocated for the operating system and programs. You need a genuine Intel Pentium 4/ 3 ghz minimum with 1000 meg of ram. Regards, John Keeble.
If you bought a media center it probably has a decent processor and at least 512mb ram. Take a look at this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...41833-9415066?n=507846&s=electronics&v=glance I got one to convert family video to dvd, you will also need an authoring program (which you computer may have come with - I looked at one that came with dvd movie factory - fairly easy to use). From what I've learned you need a "hardware" encoder to convert anything quickly. Although I haven't made alot of movies yet (just got it around Christmas) it has produced good results with my cheapo computer (1.7ghz celeron and less than a gig of ram) but it did the job in around 3 hours start to finish - yours should do it much quicker. good luck
