VHS Tapes to DVD

I am currently (trying to) using WinDVR for my mpeg capture. Under the record option in setup, the record quality is set on NTSC-DVD. This setting only has a total bitrate of 7878 KBits/sec. In an earlier reply minion had said for a good mpeg burn he recommended winDVR and to record at a very high bitrate of 20,000 or so...only problem is that even where I try to edit the bitrate, the highest it will let me go is 9000 kbits/se. Does my system not allow higher or am I doing something wrong?

 

Well I have made it to the authoring part and have some trouble. I am using DVD Lab and I went in did my chapters and menus everything seemed to be fine. When I hit compile it finishes in like 10 secs. and makes a Video & Audio TS folders but there is nothing in them. I tried the Demux route first and my audio was flagged it is PCM 48000 my video seems alright it is MPeg2. I tried using Main Concept for the speed and it went fine. My size is larger than 4.7 but I thought I would use DVD2one after I authored it. I have tried not seperating the audio and video in DVD lab but like I said something goes wrong with the compile part. Any ideas.

 

DVDKid: To Capture with WinDVR at 20,000kbs you have to choose "Mpeg2 Genaric" as the Mpeg type Not "Mpeg2 DVD"....
mbanx: I don"t have a Clue why there are no Files in your Video_TS folder, I have never had that Problem, You can allways try something else...

 

In DVD lab i demuxed my file and now have a .mpv file I cannot view is there something I can get for this so I can insert chapters?

 

Well The Chapters Have to be inserted By your DVD authoring program so the only way to add chapters if for some reason DVD=Lab is haveing problems is to use a Different DVD authoring program...You can Try "Tmpgenc DVD author" it is Very easy to use...Have you Tried demuxing your Mpeg files before Loading into DVD Lab instead of Letting DVD-Lab to do it??? You can use Tmpgenc"s Mpeg Tools to demux the Mpeg file before Authoring......Good Luck

 

Minion, happy new year, I am installing a new dvd burner pioneer dvr ao6 which comes with a Ulead software suite of programs and Nero. Are these of any value or should I pass on installing them? I also have an existing dvd drive which runs off of a ATI dvd program. Is there any reason to keep it in my system? I was considering just swapping out the units and using the same bay and cables. I am installing the canopus advc 50 as well (when it arrives) so my system bays will be maxed and I am concerned about having enough available cables.

Your thoughts..gcchaser

 

Hi, and Happy New Year to you also...Cool you are getting a DVD Burner ,Is your Other DVD Drive a DVD Burner or a DVD-Rom?? If it is a DVD-Rom then I would Keep it in the PC and Use it for Reading Disks and Ripping DVD"s and you can just use the Burner for Burning cuz This will extend the Life of your Burner Pluss DVD-Rom Drives have a Faster CD/DVD Read speed than Burners...You should Put Both DVD Drives on the Second IDE port and your Hardrives on the First IDE Port and I wouldn"t worry about not haveing enough Cables because your Burner should come with an IDE Cable Pluss you can Hold up to 4 Drives on a Normal PC, 2 CD/DVD and 2 Hard drives...Well if your Burner comes with Nero6 then I would keep it for Burning CD"s and DVD Folders and as for the Ulead Software I guess it depends on what software they give you...Most of the ULEAD DVD Authoring Programs are Very Low End Consumer oriented Programs and do not support such simple things as Dolby digital audio and Importing in seperate audio and Video Tracks which Makes then Very limited in what you can do with them and the Ulead encoder Produces very Marginal results compared to other high end Mpeg encoders on the Market..So you are getting the ADVC-50 also?? Cool I wish I could afford one right now, You will also need a Firewire Input becides a PCI Slot for the ADVC-50 so I hope you have enough PCI Slots and a Strong enough Power Supply...Well when you get it let me Know how it works out and Have a Good One....Cheers

 

I thought it would be a simple task to copy/backup my old VHS movies to DVD but after reading through the forums, I am losing confidence. I thought I could simply copy them to my hard drive using All In Wonder 9000 Pro & then burn to dvd. Isn't there a program available that will burn a movie from my hard drive to dvd? I have Roxio DVD Creator, which works great with editing my home movies from 8mm camcorder tapes, but it doesn't do well with a movie-length file from VHS(audio out of sync/video dropped frames). I have copied movies from TV to hard drive (as mpeg), but when I try to put them on DVD, they will play on my PC dvd rom, but I get an "invalid disk" error when I try to play them on the stand alone player. Obviously, I am clueless about this type of project & I am not a technical person so I am more than a little confused about the processes described in this forum. What do I need yet to copy to dvd from vhs or hard drive, or what am I doing wrong? My system: Athlon XP 2500+, 1.46 Ghz, 512 RAM, Lite-On 16x dvd rom, TDK DVDRW4040N, ATI A-I-W Radeon 9000 Pro 64M, 114G hard drive with 87G free. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

Yeah, I know what you mean, machie. I'm wondering if I'll be able to transfer my tapes, but I will keep reading and learning and getting the right hardware

 

> I thought it would be a simple task to copy/backup
> my old VHS movies to DVD but after reading through
> the forums, I am losing confidence.

There's really only one simple, fool-proof, one-button-press way to move tapes to DVD and that's a stand alone DVD recorder (along with a macrovision removing cable or device). Anything else takes commitment, the right equipment, and a thorough understanding of all the processes involved.

It all depends on whether you find this stuff fun to do for its own sake. If not, I suggest you get a recorder (and macrovision buster). It'll save you a lot of headaches in the long run.

Watcher.

 

I'm in for the fun and interest of this myself. Watcher, what can you tell me about Macrovision protection on VHS movies, and recording them on the computer? Is there some filter I can install? Thanks

 

Hi Guys Just a quick question i hope someone out there will maybe able to help me with .

Im completley confused in regards to file size of captured files. A dvd disc will allow me to put 4.7gig on it. Im capturing analog from my HI8 camcorder. File sizes of me capturing 30mins is about 4 gig so far.

I want to alteast get an hour and a half to two hours on a blank dvd. From what i have read people are saying that the program used to put the project together with (im using ULEAD DVD WORKSHOP/VIDEO STUDIO)will compress your captured files to make it fit on the cd despite the fact you have more that 4.7 gib on the project>?

I realise (havnt seem to master it yet) that when you capture thats when the compression takes place right? Or am i completley or the chart ?

Just really want to get into this but not getiing the results i had expected. Was much easier 5 years ago when i was 15 and had just a crappy capture card.

DANG TECHNOLOGY

 

> Watcher, what can you tell me about Macrovision protection on VHS movies, and recording them on the computer?


Macrovision is used on most commercial VHS tapes and is intended to ruin any attempts at analogue copying, either via standard composite or S-Vid. It messes with some of the timings of the luminance signal and makes the brightness go up and down on the recording.

To overcome it you usually need some external device that will stabilise the image. They can be bought quite easily over the internet if you want to do a Google for such a device. Some manufacturers even squeeze the electronics into a cable, making for a tidier installation. I believe they have been outlawed in some parts of the world, so you need to check if you're legally entitled to own or purchase such a thing. I do know I recently saw a build-your-own kit from a company in Canada. Which might be interesting just for the challenge of making such a thing.

Some PC video cards can be hacked or flashed to ignore it too. Again that's the sort of information that you can obtain from Google.

A side effect of digital standards conversion will be to remove it also, but they're expensive items to purchase if you're not into making PAL/NTSC conversions, or whatever.

Watcher

 

Thanks for the info, Watcher

 

well i did all my converts the hard way on the pc with good results
my sister wanted to convert all her tapes to dvd to and i did not want to spend endless hours doing it for here so she bought a panasonic DVD-R RECORDERD WITH 40 GIG HARD DRIVE and i sat with her for about 2 hours going over a few things and she is now turning out perfect dvd-r with no problems and they have great quailty when 1 hour per dvd is used and seam to play on a wide range of of set top players
the only bad thing i can say is that editing is very limited and there is almost no menu abilty
but if you want to convert vhs or dv it has a firewire port also it gives great results

tommays
also i use a sima image stablizer which is sold at bust buy and on the net and it lets any thing be copyed

 

Well folks I have finally found a suitable method for video capture(for what I am doing). I am attempting to capture with WinDVR @ 20,000kps, 29.97fps, 720x480 then editing in vegas 4.0 and then authoring in DVD-lab.
I have encountered my first problem:
My captured file's audio plays fine, then I attempt to preview the file in vegas and get no audio. Then I attempt to render and get no audio in the render.
any vegas help would be much appriciated

 

I used WinDVR (Minion's recommendation) to transfer a VHS Star Wars (original 1977/1997 widescreen tape) to 6000kbps 720x576 PAL DVD. Seems to have copied okay. I guess I can crop the image afterwards (though the subtitles are just slightly below the main frame).

 

Well What audio format did you capture to In WinDVR 3.0???? Because if you chose Dolby digital AC3 as the audio Format Vegas Video will not recognize the audio because it and all other editors of this Type do not recognize AC3 audio, You could Demux the audio then decompress it to Wav then Import the Original Captured file into Vegas and then Replace the Blank audio track with the Decompressed Wav audio track and then edit ,You can render the audio in Vegas as AC3 if you wanted to keep the Dolby digital...You would Probably get Better results if you edited with a real Mpeg editor like Mpeg2VCR and then Just re-encoded the Video to DVD Bitrates with a Good encoder Like Tmpgenc or Mainconcept which will produce better results than the Vegas encoder which is a Fairly good encoder but the others are a Bit better...Cheers

 

Minion I would like to know how to get AC3 audio. When I capture in uncompressed AVI i use PCM or when i capture straight to MPEG2 it uses mpg2 audio. Now I don't see an option for AC3 or at least I do not know if I do, I am looking for exactly AC3. Is it a codec I can download or something I really have no idea. Also I tried capturing in the 2 previous formats I mentioned could you tell me what the benefit is in capping in AVI and then encoding and will this method help with Macrovision problems. Thanks

 

This is in WinDVR 3.0 in the DVD audio format selection, It says "Dolby Digital" which is AC3...
It is better to Capture to a Low Compression AVI format because it is a Low compression AVI format, Any Time you capture to a Compressed Format you Loose Quality and especially with Mpeg Capture Programs because they are not very efficient with the Bitrate so you will allways get Better Quality if you capture to AVI useing Uncompressed AVI or the HuffyUV Lossless Codec and then encodeing with a High Quality encoder which are Much More efficent and are Just better encoders than Capture programs....