Caputuring analog VHS input for conversion to DVD

[corbitt]

I'm not sure if I'm in the correct forum, but...

I've been testing a Dazzle Hollywood DV Bridge with Windows 2K FAT32. After purchasing the product, I discovered I can only capture 20-minutes of video (4GB) per capture session. Dazzle says this is a limitation of FAT32. Upon further research, I discovered other brands that add this disclaimer.

Does anyone have/use a different, successful method for converting VHS tapes to DVD?

Thanks for your time.

Jeremy

 

[dakota81]

A lot of tv-tuner cards will do mpeg compression on the fly while recording so you don't end up with a grossly oversized uncompressed video file (like 4GB / 20min).

I've got an ATI TV-Wonder, and it's not the best of tuner quality, but it gets the job done.

Then once you've got a file saved on the harddrive you can then convert the format to the size & compression required for dvd movie discs.

 

[pmonett]

I would venture that you might wish to change products.
I have bought a Pinnacle DC10 with Studio 8.4 included, and have thus far captured 3 and half hours of VHS for splicing and recomposition.
The FAT32 file size limitation is certainly of 4GB, but that does not have to translate to a product limitation.
Pinnacle has been able to string together all the files it made of the capture, regardless of FAT32 limitations. In effect, I was working on a single project that drew its source information from multiple individual files. The end product was a DVD-compatible file of 1.7GB, compiled overnight.
Your capture hardware may not be an issue, but I would think that the software that came with it is not up to the task like Pinnacle is.

 

[TrojanSquirrel]

4Gb for 20mins seem a little on the large size for the file, but the main problem lies in the limitations of FAT32. FAT32 can only cope with file sizes up to 4Gb (try ziping up loads of files in WinRar and see the error message). If you are running Win2000 with the NTFS file system on your hard drive you will be able to create files larger than the 4Gb limit of 98 and ME. I think XP is also free of this limitation.

 

[pitlover]

I'm using the Matrox RT.X100 for analog capture (for real time dvd compliant MPEG2 capture off of BetaSP), but that's out of most peoples price range. ($1000 USD) Even the RT.X10 is around $500.
I can spit out Windows Media, Realmedia, DVD compliant MPEG2, AVI's and quicktime movies, and works with both NTSC and PAL. You get what you pay for, as the stability of the system and quality of the videos is incredible compared to my ATI and osprey capture cards (and I've been at this for a few years now).

Not much you can do about the FAT32 limit of 4gb, besides back that data up on some CDR's and reinstall win2k and opt to use the NTFS file system instead.

You'll have to reformat your drive in the process, so if you are uncomfortable with this option, seek out a qualified friend and a six-pack.