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.

 

[dakota81]

It's a very steep learning curve, but not bad once you understand all the problems that can occur. With the much fallen price of dvd-r drives, I would highly suggest that for quality reasons. But either way, you are going to need hardware to input the video into the computer. I've used a GeForce FX5600 vivo card, an AIW Radeon 9000 Pro, and a Hauppauge WinTV PVR250 for recording, and the Hauppauge card wins out by a landslide in quality & amount of settings. The only downside to the Hauppauge card is they're paired with not-so-user-friendly software. Even so, you will appreciate the better results the Hauppage card produces.

The biggest hassle is the audio/video sync when converting the recorded file to the vcd or dvd structure. Basically you will need to cut out the bad parts in the video where maybe cuts in the vhs recording, or bad tracking. Whatever software you use to author the vcd's or dvd's should be able to take care of the cutting.

There are plenty of more detailed tuturials around the internet, search around on google for a while.

 

[kiddpete]

I have an AIW 9700 Pro, and am still struggling to get good output quality from it. The video it produces looks very good as a small picture, but you will see lots of deficiencies at full screen or in a TV. I am thinking about using a digital video camera to do a real time conversion of the VHS and capture it through a firewire connection. Editing software is needed to edit, render, and burn the captured video.

 

[MrPig]

I have a GeForce FX5900 Ultra as a graphics card, will this have the right ports for capturing from video?

Any links or personal knowledge of what I need to link to where, with what, and how?

(I've not got a clue)

 

[kiddpete]

Video comes from an external source if you are talking about TV, VHS, Digital Video cameras, etc. So, if your card has the appropriate connectors, then it can capture video. It doesn't look to me like your card has these connections, but you can look yourself. Does it have an antenna/cable connection, does it have composite or s-video input?

If not, you'll probably need to add either a card, or an external 'box' such as the dazzle device which can capture video and send over USB to the computer. Either will probably come with capture software, but you may have to buy additional software to edit, render, and burn. Carefully research the quality a device will produce or you may be disappointed with the results.

 

[dakota81]

If your video card's packaging doesn't say "vivo" then you do not have video input capabilities. Either way, the GeForce line is about the worst for video recording, as this is just not the intented function of those cards. The quality is very poor due to a software based mpeg encoding & the whole darn thing is riddled with Macrovision which conveniently puts a white bar across the middle half of your captured video, thus rendering it completely useless. There're ways around the Macrovision, but for the quality the GeForce vivo's put out, it's definately not worth the effort.

Start with looking into a Hauppauge WinTV PVR250.

 

[cdogg]

kiddpete,
The poor video capture quality you are describing has nothing to do with your card. While you are watching a live feed from your video source on your PC, maximize the screen and you should see it at excellent quality.

The problem occurs when you choose a format to record the video stream. I have an old ATI 7200 Radeon 64MB VIVO, but the card allows me to choose all kinds of formats, ranging from MPEG-1 (low resolution), MPEG-1 (high resolution), MPEG-1 (DVD low quality), MPEG-2 (DVD standard), AVI (high or low), etc... You can even customize the settings to accomodate your needs.

At decent quality for audio and sound, a 5-minute clip of video can take up as much as 50 MB. At high quality for full-screen playback, that same 5-minute clip can take up as much as 200 MB. It just depends on the format that you choose.

Mr. Pig:
I would stay away from Dazzle USB capture devices. I've heard that you don't have much control over the format or image quality. It's best to have the function built-in to the video card. Instead of scrapping your current card, there are add-in PCI cards that you can buy for video capture to compliment it. There should be some information out at Nvidia's or ATI's website.

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

 

[dakota81]

cdogg: different hardware does give drastically different quality both in just viewing the live signal and also recording the video, even at the same capture settings.

ATi cards have a grainy display with lines of varying brightness throughout the entire screen. This also translates over to the captured video file.

nVidia cards I have not used one of their new tv tuner cards, though I do know all their vivo cards are software mpeg encoding, which is in a sense, crap. You want a hardware based mpeg ending card.

Hauppauge cards have the best display & the best capture quality out of all these options, as their encoding is fullly hardware based. The only down-side to these cards is the software is not the best, but through experience you will learn how to work with it.

 

[kiddpete]

cdogg & dakota81, I currently have my capture set at its highest quality (I think) which is DVD. Although the picture is better, I have not yet looked at the capture to confirm its quality. However, even in the live screen, I see artifacts in the darker areas where the picture appears to be flickering or subject to interference. I welcome any suggestions for improving this quality. If it cannot be improved, any suggestions on what I can use in its place? Remember, I already have an AIW, and its software is already in place for normal TV viewing. I don't really want to scrap it if I don't have to.

 

[oddessy]

Hi,
I've just purchased a DVD burner for my computer and started to get as much info as possible. Here is a site that I found and I hope this will be of help to everybody.

http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#4.3.4

 

[oddessy]

This is the correct web site and then click on DVD FAQ.

http://www.dvddemystified.com/

 

[kiddpete]

oddessy, could you be a bit more specific? What in your link is talking about the capture quality of specific devices such as the Hauppauge WinTV PVR250.

 

[cdogg]

dakota and kiddpete,
Yes, that was a boo-boo...should have worded that more carefully. Of course video capture quality varies from card to card. I didn't mean to say otherwise, but instead wanted to emphasize that "poor" video capture quality is normally due to the format used which is often overlooked by newbies. However, it appears that kiddpete isn't one, so perhaps it is the card itself or the video source connection.

Matrox cards are well-known to have some of the best professional results for a budget up to $1000. Just remember that if you want to also have a decent card for gaming, then ATI AIW cards are the one of the best combinations of both worlds. Stay away from Nvidia cards (pre-FX) if you care about video capture quality.

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

 

[MrPig]

Sorry for the delay in checking back.

Thanks for all the answers provided thus far though!

My next question then - If I purchased a Hauppauge WinTV PVR250, would it conflict with the other video card I have installed? And do they (as standard) come with the appropriate software?

 

[cdogg]

Most PCI TV tuner cards work fine with existing video cards. However, compatibility is far from guaranteed. You'll want to do 2 things:

1) Check your video card specs and see if it already has an analog input for video. Most have at least an analog output, but if it also has an input, the TV tuner card might not be necessary.

2) Contact Hauppauge or the vendor that's selling the card. One of them should be able to determine whether the card is compatible, or whether there will be some kind of refund policy to cover it if it isn't.

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

 

[MrPig]

Instead of a Hauppauge WinTV PVR250, would a Hauppauge WinTV PCI FM Radio Tuner (

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/companypages/products/pctv/hauppauge/ptvhauwinrad/ptvhauwinrad.htm)

do the job just as well?

 

[dakota81]

With the Hauppauge line of cards, when you drop down and get a non "PVR" card, you loose the hardware mpeg encoding, which is essential to have if you want to get a great quality recording. If you'd like to get FM radio capabilities along with advanced recording capabilities, they have a PVR-350 which includes all that as well.

http://www.hauppauge.com/html/chart.htm

 

[Netwrkengeer]

I'm using the Belkin Svideo to USB adabtor and the quality is Good...

Does any one have any suggestions for software? I was using ULEAD Media Studio Pro, but I keep getting Memory errors on the Audio Syncing.

When it does rip correctly the Audio sync's perfect with no editing.

What software are you using?

 

[kiddpete]

How much money do you want to spend? I use Sony's Vegas 4, and find it to be quite powerful. I'm capturing with an ATI AIW 9700 Pro. It also causes synching problems when frames are dropped. Interestingly, the ATI player overcomes the synch problems. I think Vegas can to by shifting the audio track, but I haven't spent enough time on that issue to be sure.

 

[dakota81]

Vegas is a good capture program for what it can do. When I had a vivo FX5600 I went to every site I could find & tried out all their demo versions to try & find something usable for capture, and they were all buggy & some had very weird issues with the recording quality. But Vegas does do a good job. ATi's TV Player that's included in their MMC 7.1 does a decent job recording (that MMC version doesn't check for ATI hardware during install). The ATi software, though, it was hit or miss whether the choice of video resolution & audio encoding would give good video/audio sync.

But there's just no comparison when getting a dedicated top-end input card with hardware encoding for quality & ease of use.