VHS to PC to CD

[MrPig]

Hello,

Not sure if this is the right forum for this question or not, but I've been asked about the possibility of copying the contents of a video cassette to CD, by using a PC - is such a thing feasible?

If so, how would I go about such things? Do I need specialist software/hardware?

Thanks for any help.

 

[kiddpete]

Vegas 4 is described in the Feb. issue of Camcorder & Computer Video Magazine as 'one of the hottest new NLE's for serious editors'. Vegas can capture, but that's not its primary function and, when it does so, it's simply calling the drivers for the hardware. Thus, capture quality depends much more on the hardware and it drivers than it does on Vegas. However, its editing functions are very powerful. The magazine I mentioned, compares it to Adobe Premier Pro, Avid Express Pro, and Pinnacle Liquid Edition 5.5. Since it also includes an advanced audio editor, its fairly impressive.

 

[cadaveca]

i use power director pro for capturing...the one thing that was not mentioned was how you were getting video from vcr to pc.....i have had best results using firewire...however...you may want to have every codec you can get and try them all....i use divx for some of my compression, and the only downside is that there is a little logo that appears just at the beginning for like 5 or 10 seconds.
As for capture cards, using a 9200 vivo has given me fantastic results....it's all in how you encode the video that dictates the final result....i was also able to get rid of alot of artifacts i was getting in my video by using a "monster cable" THX s-video cable and grounding out my pc's chassis.....remember that every piece of electronics sold in north america has to accept any unwanted interference...just like what cordless and cellphones do to a monitor while near by.
I hope this has been a little help anyway

the only right answer to "why?" is: "why not?"

 

[dakota81]

There is a good deal difference of recording quality between different software, unless you record as uncompressed avi becuase each software has it's own mpeg encoding scheme.

In regards to cadaveca's post, that divx logo is not encoded into the video, but something that is just added in during playback. If you switch to using a light-weight codec for playback (I highly recommend ffdshow) of divx files, you will not see the logo.

For ATi cards, I suppose I'm really thinking more of the tv tuner when I speek poorly of their cards, as I do more recording straight off the tv broadcasts, to which ATi really has some deficiencies in their tuner quality.

 

[cdogg]

I'm using ATI's most current MMC recording software, which gives you the ability to set your own recording options. They have a ton of presets like MPEG-1 VHS, MPEG-2 DVD-low, MPEG-2 DVD-high, WMA, AVI etc. However, you can adjust any preset and increase its video bitrate, change from CBR to VBR, or even adjust "Motion Estimation Quality". It's a pretty powerful tool really!

~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle

 

[MrPig]

Back again!

Sorry for the inconsistancy in my posting, but I'm reseaching this for someone else (You're all very helpful people though), I've had a few more questions asked though - so I thought I'd ask you all again...

"If I copy from the Video to the PC, and then burn the items to a CD (as I only have a CD/RW)is there anyway that these could be played (with visual as well as audio) on a DVD Player?"

If not, how could I convert them from Video to DVD?

Ta Muchly

 

[cdogg]

For more info on video conversion, go here:
www.dvdrhelp.com

Basically, the answer is NO. You cannot simply copy video files onto a data CD and play them on your DVD player. You have to make the CD in a certain format (VCD, SVCD, etc). VCD is the most common format playable on most DVD players when using a CDRW. The video file has to be in MPEG-1 format, so it if it's not, you'll need to convert it first. Once converted into the right format, use a tool like VCDEasy to burn the video file to CD. The proper folder structure and file format will be written so that the DVD player will recognize it. This is all explained somewhat at that site I just posted above.

Keep in mind that VCD is about equal to VHS quality (slightly under). And, you can only fit 80 minutes of video on a 700MB CDRW, regardless of the size of the video file.


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884