VHS Tapes to DVD

Attractive pricing is making the stand-alone units a very good alternative for those looking for the simplest way to transfer their aging vhs collection.
As with all optical drives the WRITE speeds keep climbing, however, with stand alone units Write speeds may not be that critical. For transfers that is. Capture being equal to movie length and all.....
Keep in mind though, what a certain speed a drive can write AT does not equal what a certain disc medium is capable of excepting in terms of write speeds.

Now it's time to kick back with some John Mayer and a cold one!!

 

to samintx, pfh, and others - I am a newbie, but maybe I can throw my 2cents in to clarify the discussion, and calm the emotions. Samintx, my understanding (and I am just in the research phase) is that a 2x standalone (we understand it is not a pc version) will not support writing an 8x disc [bold]at[/bold] an 8x speed. In this way, the 8x disc speed is not supported. However, the disc manufacturers have made the discs backwards compatible. The 8x disc will appear to the 2x drive the same way that a discontinued 2x disc would appear. The recorder will burn the 8x disc at a 2x speed, and will never know the difference. To the recorder, it [bold]is[/bold] a 2x disc. The key is that the discs are manufactured to be backwards compatible and work with the older recorders. If you think about it, your manual would of course only list the current media speeds as being supported. At the time of the manual it doesn't know what is coming out in the future.

Now to my question. Hopefully, I'll get some brownie points in return for this probably redundant question (there are way too many threads on this site to review!). Between a standalone recorder (I am looking at the Panasonic DMR-ES10 for $199) and a product like the ADVC50 or 110, what would produce the best quality converted vhs tapes? Some of my tapes are in degrading condition. Note: For the ADVC products, I would probably need to updgrade by pc hard drive and ram. Would the standalone come close, match, or beat the quality of the ADVC? It has quite an attractive price. Thanks

 

Without reading further than your first sentences, NO- you cannot record 8x and DVDR985 (backward compatible) in stand alone recorders like the ones I bought in the last two years DV-1 D-R2SU Toshiba and Philips DVDR80 . You guys are talking about another animal not the units that Do NOT CONNECT TO COMPUTERS. I know what I'm talking about...you put an 8x in the unit it throws it out...

I'm not even going to enter into this discussion because I am talking about one recorder unit and the rest of you are centered on the Recorders that hook up to your computer externally.

The DVD boxes that look and act as a VCR are not backward compatible as far as X speed is concerned. The current Sony would be because it will record on 4 or 8x discs.

 

Samintx: KNOW this- we understand the units you speak of, we know the difference. But until some more research is done, I can't substantiate what you say regarding the x factor of discs and how they make a diff. with your units.

HOwever, I did find this bit of info regarding TY's to be interesting- It would tend to support some of what you are saying.

http://www.supermediastore.com/taiyo-yuden-4x-dvd-r-media-silver-matte-spindles.html

Older DVD recorders that were originally not 4x compatible require a firmware update in order to avoid potential damage.

*Pioneer A03 & A04 Drives Require Updated Firmware to Use 4X DVD Media, Failure to do so will cause damage to your drive

hmmm......since your units were purchased last year I wouldn't think they are that old....interesting. Wonder who manufac. the drives in your recorders?

 

The ADVC-110 will give you better quality...providing you use the right software afterwards, with the right settings, to make your dvd's. The standalone quality is acceptable to most, and definitely faster.

NO WE ARE NOT!

 

Not to change the subject, but, I have a question.

I upgraded my hardware with a Canopus ADVC50. My daughter who is a student, bought it for me from Studica, I think the price was great. I had WinDVR 3 already, and I bought Dr. DivX.

I am not a perfectionist, but I am getting spectacular results converting my old VHS video-cam tapes to DivX, and can play them back. I've created some DVDs, going backwards fromthe DivX AVI, and played them on a DVD-to-SD CRT-TV, and they look absolutely great. Thanks to Minion and all for recommendations.

My question:
After capturing with WinDVR for 1.5 hours or so, WinDVR takes another hour or so to "finish". I see a capture file in the working directory, filetype AVI. After it's done, I see another file of type AVI or MPEG, depending on my WinDVR selection. I've tred "good" and "best" settings, but not played around with any of the programmable features. I read WinDVR help, but it was pretty useless.

Is there some setting for WinDVR that will bypass the "finish" and just save the "native" WinDVR AVI format, so WinDVR doesn't need to convert into some new final output format? Then I could (probably) select that file for input to the Dr DivX and let it do it's multipass (very long time) compression, and save the WinDVR "finish" time.

Right now, selecting the "best" setting for WinDVR, I am getting 600MB file sizes after the Dr DivX compression, and I'd like to keep that size, since it's cheaper for me to send CDs to family members.

Best Regards
Jim

 

I think what's happening, is the codec you're choosing for capture.
If you use DivX or Xvid, they are often too slow to do real-time capture/encode/saves. WinDVR is buffering the capture, and this takes time to encode and save.
It's also possible the hard drive isn't fast enough to capture raw DV-AVI via WinDVR.
Either way, try a faster codec, such as Huffyuv or mjpeg, to save the captures, and it should be much faster.
Then do your DrDivX recompression on it to DivX if needed.

 

If you want to Capture to your Devices Native DV AVI format and then Encode the DV AVI files to DivX then you willl have to use different Capture Software...
There are a couple Frreeware DV Capture programs Like "WinDV" and "DVIO" which will let you capture from your Device in it"s Native DV AVI format and then after Capture to DV AVI you can use a Freeware Video Editor/Converter Like "Virtual-Dub" to convert the DV AVI files to DivX...
Just make sure you capture to DV type 2 or Virtual-Dub will not be able to Read the Captured File....

Cheers

 

Thanks for all your responses.

I followed Minion's directions, but failed. first, the WinDV software breaks the files into multiple avi's, and DrDivx could operate on only one. So I got virtualdub but it told me it couldn't use DirectShow codecs, it wanted VFW codecs. I don't have vfw codecs, so I followed a different path.

Using WinDV gave me a clue, the filesizes were huge compared to the WinDVR capture. So I went back to WinDVR and selected the largest bitrate (NTSCDV) format to record, and now WinDVR no longer takes a long time to "finish". The output avi file is recognized and converted by tmpgenc, so I can convert it to DVD. The output file is recognized and converted by DrDivx so I can convert it to DivX CD.

So WinDVR's "native mode" is the NTSCDV setting, 25000b/sec bitrate. I haven't noticed any abberations, like frame drop, but more testing is needed. I guess it won't because I guess Reboot was right, it stores in native mode then after it's all done goes back and converts using the selected codec, which takes a long time.

Regards

Jim

 

After the VHS is captured and rendered why is the VIDEO_TS file the only file used when putting on DVD what is the AUDIO_TS file used for?? I use record now max.

 

The AUDIO_TS folder is there to tell the player that it's a DVD, and not some other type of disk (that may also play in the player).
Some players require it, some do not. It's become obsolete, but is still used to insure compatibility.

 

to myhrep: The Panasonic IMO would be preferred for simplicity. Incidently I got a NEW TOshiba standalone(not to be confused as I think you are) with anything that connects to a computer...that will write up to 8X. Understand the earlier standalones have nothing to do with backward compatibility...because they do not hookup to a computer....

The old Toshiba, PHilips I have will only record up to 2x, no ifs ands or buts about it. case closed.

 

The Audio_TS Folder is usually empty so you don"t need to use it....

 

Minion - I use dvd shrink and recordnowmax. Is there a way to edit a dvd by chapter or only reauthor. Lets say if I wanted to edit a dvd that was R to make it more PG?

 

Well what you Could do is Rip the DVD as a Single Big VOB file useing DVD decryptor and then use a Mpeg editor like "Womble Mpeg2VCR" or "Womble Mpeg Video wizard" to edit out the Parts of the Vob file you want to edit out and save the VOB file as a Mpeg-2 file(No Quality Loss) and then Load the edited Mpeg-2 file into a DVD authoring Program Like DVDLab and add your Menu"s and Chapters and author it to DVD....

There Might be a way to do it with DVD-Shrink but I wouldn"t know as I do not use Backup programs to Backup my DVD"s....

Cheers

 

Minion - How do you back up your DVD's? I use dvdshrink then recordnowmax.

 

Just buy two of each!! he-he

 

Well I usually like to put 2 or more Movies on each DVD so I have to use a Manual DVD Backup method simular to the way poeple Back DVD"s up to VCD or SVCD....

I first Rip the DVD (Usually 2 DVD"s) with Smartripper or DVD decryptor as a Single Big VOB file with One Audio track, I then Rip the DVD again but I just rip the Menu"s and any special features that I want to Keep which are usually none unless there is something really Interesting Like an alternate ending or something like that....

After ripping the DVD to a Big Vob file I run the Vob file through DVD2AVI which removes the 3:2 Pulldown and extracts the Dolby AC3 audio File and makes a D2V Frameserver File....

I then Frameserve the D2V File To CinemaCraft Encoder SP 2.70" useing AVISynth and Sometimes use some Filters like a Sharpen filter ect....

I then encode the Frameserved File to Mpeg-2/DVD useing CCE"s Multi-Pass VBR Encodeing Mode and my Custom Quantize Matrix and some tweaked settings that allow me to get extremely High Quality useing an extremely Low Bitrate....

After encodeing to Mpeg-2 the Whole Movie is usually only about 2gb for a 90 to 100 minute Movie so I can usually put 2 of these Movies on to DVD.....

What I do then Is I take the Menu"s i ripped and select the Ones I am going to use and Make JPG Images out of the Menu"s or if the Menu"s are Motion menu"s I will just use a mpeg editor to Edit the Motion Menu out and save it as a Mpeg-2 File....

I then use "MediaChance DVDLab Pro" to Author the Movie(s) with the Menu"s and Motion Menu"s to DVD...
I Make a Main Menu were you can select the Movie you want to watch and after selecting the Movie it takes you to the Main menu for the Movie were you can select if you want go to the Scene selection menu"s or if you want to play the Movie from the Beginning or from any chapter and select any Special Features ,That is If I decide to use any......After watching the Movie you can go back to the Main Menu again and select to watch the other Movie.....

I can also Put more Movies on a DVD if I want...I can get up to 3 or 4 Movies if I use the Half D1 DVD Standard or More if I use the SIF/CIF DVD Standard but there is a Sacrifice in Quality when useing these other resolutions but in some cases when useing the Half D1 Standard you can Not tell the Differance in quality from the Original DVD and that is with 3 or 4 movies on each DVD....

Well that is the Long and drawn out process I go through when Backing up a DVD and simulr to the Process that I use to Put Other Files (AVI,Mpeg,WMV ect) on to DVD.....

I do it this way because I like to be able to get as much on a DVD as Possible but without Sacrificeing Quality and I also Like the Process, So what if it takes a few of Hours to back up a couple DVD"s if I enjoy doing it and the Quality is Good?? Pluss You get to learn a Lot about Video when you have to basicly decompile a DVD and Rebuild it again from Scratch....

Cheers

 

MINION - hello!
We spoke a long time ago when i had trouble with ADVC-100... and you helped me.

Now, I would like to ask your opinion about Snazzi DV Bridge II - how is it compared to Canopus products? I know Snazzi was a part of Dazzle so that doesn't sound good to me, but i want to ask your opinion.

Thanx

 

Ah, I would be interested, also in Snazzi but the parent company doesn't have a good reputation.