VHS Tapes to DVD

Well I can not tell you why you are Haveing a Problems with the Gamma in Particular but I can tell you that a PC Monitor will never truely represent what the Video will look like when Displayed on a TV set..This is because a Monitor and a TV set use two totally different ways to displying the Video information on the Screen,..
When editing Video at work I have an Interlaced TV set hooked up to my Editing card so when I Preview the edited Material I can see what it will look like on TV before hand so I can adjust the Color or add filters accordingly...
If you have a TV out On your Video card you can probably use this for Preview when editing and you can get yourself a cheap 13in Color TV set for Preview so you get a better Idea what the Video will look like on TV...Just a Thought...Good Luck

 

I found that out the hard way. Titles that I thought fit nicely on the screen when viewed on my PC monitor, had parts lost on either side when viewed on a TV set when playing the DVD.
Frank-in-CA

 

hi all...can anyone please help. I am a total novice and have just bought the Dazzle DVC 80, supported by Pinnacle Studio, and I have found it reasonably easy to transfer my vhs tapes onto DVD. However, the big problem that I have is that I seem to be losing 50% of the quality when I play the DVD back, why is this? So far I haven't used the 'S' lead from VHS to box, but have used the jack plug type leads. If I use the 'S' lead will this give me superior quality? I really am struggling and would appreciate any advice. Many thansk.

darren

 

The Dazzle DVC 80 only captures at a Maximum resolution of 352+240/288-pal which is only 25% the resolution of a Standard DVD and 25% of the Resolution of Cable Broadcasts so the Quality will not be Good because of the Low resolution of the Capture device Pluss the DVC 80 is a notorusly bad Capture device because of the Limited Bandwidth of the USB Interface...A simple PCI TV Card can even Capture at over 400% the resolution of the DVC 80 and you can find one of them for as low as $20..If you want to get Better quality you will have to get a Better capture device preferably not a USB Capture device either because the cheap ones aren"t any good....

 

Hi Minnion

many thanks for your response and the advice. Could you advise as to a reasonbly priced software package that I can buy, that does analogue vhs to a decent standard and that will also let me do digicam to dvd when I upgrade. Many thanks.

regards

darren

 

Well Pinnacle Studio 8/9 will Transfer Digital camcorder footage to your PC Via Firewire port, The Problem with Pinnacle Studio8/9 isn"t really the capture quality it is it"s Mpeg encodeing Quality which is not very good and this is true will most all Editing/Capture programs so it is best to get a Standalone Mpeg encoder and export your captured/Edited files in Pinnacle Studio as DV AVI files or uncompressed AVI files and then use the standalone encoder To encode the files to Mpeg2/DVD Format...
Good Standalone encoders are Tmpgenc or the MainConcept encoder which will also capture Video in AVI or mpeg2 format.....Cheers

 

hi Minion,

i was trying to convert vhs to dvd, and as you already know vhs holds more then 2hrs. im trying to put a 124mins tape on to a single dvd. how to do that? and do you know what is the best dvd authoring software to buy? right how i have hp movie writer, and im using its software. i read also about this dvd format called "sif." how to download that format?

 

You Can get 124 minutes on a DVD Pretty easilly, I recently Put "Lord Of The Rings:Return of The King" on a Single DVD and it was 3 hours and 20 minutes long and the Quality was pretty good....
All you need to do to Fit more Video on a DVD is to use a Lower Bitrate to create the Mpeg2/DVD files..
If you used a Video Bitrate of 4700kbs and an audio Bitrate of 192kbs you would be able to exactly fit 124 minutes on a DVD....
Like I said before if you export your Video file in Pinnacle Studio as an AVI file and then used a High Quality Mpeg encoder and used the Bitrates I just said to use then you would be able to get More Video on a DVD....

The SIF Format (Sometimes called CIF) is Just one of the Available DVD Formats that can be used to create DVD"s, It is actually the Lowest Quality DVD Format But it allows the Most Video on a DVD, I would not recomend this format unless you were trying to back up Multiple DVD"s to a DVD-r because of the Low Quality.....The Sif Format uses a Resolution of 352+240/288-Pal useing either Mpeg 1 or Mpeg 2 up to a Max bitrate of 1800kbs....
As for the Best DVD authoring Program you don"t want the best DVD authoring program and you couldn"t afford it anyways as it sells for about $35,000 and is very complex....
All you need to Createing Good Quality DVD"s are good Quality Files and a Good Quality Mpeg encoder and any simple DVD authoring Program that will not re-encode your Files ,I like to use DVD-Lab because it doesn"t have a Built in encoder so it will never encode your files and ruin the quality....

 

Minion,
i've read alot of your threads and really respect your opinion. What do you think of the ADAPTEC Videoh DVD using USB 2.0, or should I settle for ATI aiw 9600 capture card. I know you would prefer Cannopus but these two are my only option. Plus, I read the specs on both of these and they don't capture in AVI, only MPEG1 AND MPEG2, does that matter. I'm new to all this, please be gentle. j/k

 

anybody know how can i download free full version authoring software? casue cash right now is running low, and i can't afford that right now. so if anyone know, please i need your help. thanks

 

If you are refering to a "cracked" version of commercial, copyrighted software, this forum specifically bans such discussions and actions.

If you are looking for freeware or shareware with a long enough life to finish a project or two, try download.com, tucows.com, or

I also did a google search on "download freeware DVD authoring software" and came up with a hundred and thirty thousand hits and a slew of specific ads.

For cheap licensed software--possibly a generation or two down, but usable--try eBay. Or, you could Google again, substituting "clearance," "overstock," "surplus," or "liquidation" for "freeware."

 

There are a Bunch of DVD authoring Programs that have 30 day demo versions, so many in fact that you could use a different one for every month and probably never have to buy one..Like Tmpgenc DVD author has a 30 day demo and so does DVD-Lab and so does Ulead DVD movie Factory and Ulead DVD workshop and the List goes on...

 

i converted my vhs tape to dvd, but on the finish dvd is the loudness. i tried to cut my volume down on my t.v. and still it was loud. a regular dvd movie doesn't do that...but why everytime i transfer my vhs tape to dvd i get loudness on the finish copy?

 

Well you probably have your Recording Volume up too high when captureing the Video....I have the same Problem sometimes when Capturing From VHS and have to lower the Capture volume in the Capture software And in your Windows audio settings.....

 

i have a question... i have a hp dvd movie writer, and its hooked up to my usb on my pc. now i tried to download softwares like; dvd lab, pinnacle studio 9, dvd maker, etc. i hooked up my vcr to the hp dvd movie maker, but the software wouldn't read it. do i need to hook up a firewire cable from the hp movie writer to the pc in order any authoring software to work?

 

dvdman24 Wrote:

"I have a hp dvd movie writer, and its hooked up to my usb on my pc. . . do i need to hook up a firewire cable from the hp movie writer to the pc in order any authoring software to work?"

Does this mean you have both interfaces?

"now i tried to download softwares like; dvd lab, pinnacle studio 9, dvd maker, etc."

By "tried," I assume you succeeded or the resty makes no sense.

"i hooked up my vcr to the hp dvd movie maker, but the software wouldn't read it."

Software uses drivers. Make sure that the software you are using supports that Drive.

Read themanual on the drive and make sure that your cables are hooked up correctly for video capture to your system.

Use the software that came with the drive to *capture* the video to hard disk *before* you try and author it.

"do i need to hook up a firewire cable from the hp movie writer to the pc in order any authoring software to work?"

I prefer Firewire to USB whenever it's available. The manual should tell you how to hook it up.

 

Hi everyone- I'm new to all this and just purchased a Sony 530ul burner. I want to transfer my old VHS tapes to DVD and am considering the Dazzle DVC150, but not sure if it's a good one. There's also the AverMedia DVD EzMaker. Anyone can steer me in the right direction I would appreciate it before I spend a lot of $ on something I find I can't use.

I have a Dell Inspiron 8100 (laptop) P-III 1G, 512MB of RAM, 19GB of free HDD, running XP Pro. Thanks in advance.

 

Hi there, I am hoping that someone out there can help me. I am after a program that comes with the Sony VAIO, its called Click to DVD which allows you to create your own home videos. It was removed from my laptop and I am desparate to get it back. I can't retrieve it off my recovery disc and to get it back from Sony I would have to reformat my laptop which I would like to avoid. Do you have the program and is it any good?

 

You didn't mention when or how it was removed or what has been done since. "Removed" programs could still reside in the trash can if it wasn't emptied. They could also be stored on the hard disk if you have one of the many "undelete" programs installed.

If it was actually *UNINSTALLED* (rather than deleted) any files in the trash would have to be put back in the proper directories and registry entries may be lost (unless you back up your registry).

First thing I'd do is use System Restore to return to a date where it was working.

Why can't you retrieve it off your recovery disk? Isn't that what it's for?

Also, check with Sony tech support. *MOST* "System Restore" CDs come with an "overwite" or "Restore in place" option that DOES NOT wipe out existing programs or data--it merely replaces missing files and settings.

bob

 

First off, hats off to many helpful users, but it's obvious Minion that you stand out! Bless you for your willingness to take time and help us out here!
I have read 5 of 10 pages in this thread, and have been abstaining from asking questions until I read further, figuring the answers may well be unread by me. But, I'll risk it and ask now. I hope you are still willing to answer.

1. You've shared that Canpous ADVC100 does take care of the macrovision protection...but did you say that ACEDVio does not? ACEDVio is the more expensive and internal capture card...so why wouldn't it also handle it like the ADVC100? My intent is to be able to handle the macrovision with the device I buy, as I will capture my own footage as well as VHS tapes that may or may not have such protection.
2. After capturing video (with one of the two devices above) from analog VHS or from VHS/S-VHS VCR, into .avi files, I will encode into MPEG-2, having first calculated the bitrate so as not to recompress later, to avoid losing video quality as you've stated. But what about MPEG-4? and does it allow longer duration per DVD?
3. Another need I will have is to edit some DVD video for my wife. She is getting the DVD "masters" from her producer that films it, and I will need to then edit, start/end, transition, captions, andthe like...for which she has Premier 6. My questions on this are:
a) Can Premiere be the software I use to capture analog video from my camcorder?
b) How do I get the video footage from her DVD into a format that I can work with in Premiere, i.e, how do I "import" it into Premiere?
c) Once I finish the editing, I need to encode the audio into MPEG2 (or MPEG4?) and to encode the audio...does Premiere encode into AC3 (the compressed sound/aka Dolby)?, or it can only do into "uncompressed" format?
d) Last, for authoring, indexig, menus,e tc before final burn, what would you recommend, shareware or freeware or retail, to go best with Premiere? I read the pros and cons on Premiere vs. Vegas and others, and liked that Vegas can author/burn, but her producer likes and works with Premier, so I'll need to learn it and go with it.
Your help is appreciated IMMENSELY; thanks in advance.
After these answers, I will probably just need to do a similar "step outline", to ask you to verify I've extracted the right info from your previous answers, to minimize repetition, etc. Again, thanks; my wife and I take time to help and answer others in our forums, like you do here, so it's nice to see you do this and give of yourself. As you say
"Cheers", and yes, TigerDirect and ebay save lotsa money!