old guy needs help w/ video capture

[wayne kerr]

OK, so sure I first used an Apple II in 1977. I know this is before many of you were even born! But I'm kind of a stoop when it comes to this stuff - all computey and whatnot.

I need a suggestion for video capture - I want to go from my VHS S-Video out straight to hard disc and then burn DVDs. I have a TON of... ahem... home movies that I need to archive. So whaddya say TapeOp crew????

CM

[MichaelG]

PC or Mac?

If PC, you'll need an analog capture card, a DVD burner, and software. This version of Pinnacle Studio 9 includes a card (you'd need to make sure it has an S-VIDEO port) and everything you need to edit and create the DVD format video. Add a burner and you're good to go.

http://www.pinnaclesys.com/ProductPage_ ... angue_ID=7

[spiral]

Using your computer is good if you want to edit stuff. If you want a one-step solution and don't need any advanced editing, DVD recorders are coming down in price.

[housepig]

check out the guides & forum at DVDRHelp.

you can actually do most of this with freeware tools. tons of guides on the site. it also has ratings of most capture cards and dvd burners, and links to most of the relevant software.

personally, I've had good results with an Aver EZ DVDMaker capture card (as low as $10 if you wait for a rebate offer, around $40 normally), iuVCR capture software, TMPGenc for encoding to dvd-spec mpegs, and DVD Lab to author.

I like this method over set-top dvd recorders for a couple of reasons

- I like the flexibility of encoding my own stuff for maximum quality
- I like the authoring capabilites with computer-based solutions

so if you want push-button ease, and you don't care about nice looking menus or any advanced authoring, grab a set-top recorder. If you want something a little more custom (not to mention much cheaper) go for the software methods.

[jajjguy]

You've gotten some good answers, but I just want to thank you for taking me back to my first computer experiences, with the Apple II+ in 1983 or so. That thing rocked so hard. Olympic Decathlon anyone? How about Lode Runner?

[cgarges]

Man, where's ProgNerd?

Chris

[wayne kerr]

PC or Mac?

PC, of course. Macs are for rich housewives aren't they?

If PC, you'll need an analog capture card, a DVD burner, and software. This version of Pinnacle Studio 9 includes a card (you'd need to make sure it has an S-VIDEO port) and everything you need to edit and create the DVD format video. Add a burner and you're good to go.

With this analog capture card, could I just leave the vids on a hard drive then and play them w/ WinDVD? I have the DVD burner, but really what I want to do is essentially copy my vast VHS collection to disc so I can load 'em into my laptop and watch movies on the plane - which seems to be where I'll be living for the next few months

CM

[wayne kerr]

Using your computer is good if you want to edit stuff. If you want a one-step solution and don't need any advanced editing, DVD recorders are coming down in price.

Yeah, but I really want to have the stuff on my drive. Pluis I already have a DVD burner on my desktop... seems like I should be using it!

CM

[wayne kerr]

so if you want push-button ease, and you don't care about nice looking menus or any advanced authoring, grab a set-top recorder. If you want something a little more custom (not to mention much cheaper) go for the software methods.

That sounds about right!

CM

[wayne kerr]

You've gotten some good answers, but I just want to thank you for taking me back to my first computer experiences, with the Apple II+ in 1983 or so. That thing rocked so hard. Olympic Decathlon anyone? How about Lode Runner?

Hah! Loderunner - now that was some advanced shit! We had Oregon Trail (text version!), Raster Blaster and States and Capitols. Back then a meg was a girl's name!

CM

[stillafool]

Starting at the bottom, you can get a basic usb 1.1 video capture box for under 100 dollars, but the quality isn't going to be that great -- 600 x 400 pixels or less. For a bit more money (around 250-300), you can get a firewire or usb 2.0 interface. At circuit city they had a pinnacle or something like that for around 250. I think the maximum pixel resolution is around 800 x 600. The current ATI radeon all in wonder graphics card can also capture at about this resolution, but I think it's a bit more money. But you get a card with a shitload of ram (good for video editing). There are more expensive/more professional options but I haven't really looked into them. I think Pinnacle sells a complete package -- the firewire capture interface, and pinnacle dvd video editing software -- but I can't remember how much it costs. It looked like a pretty cool little package.

[spiral]

PC or Mac?

PC, of course. Macs are for rich housewives aren't they?

Oh man. I have to change my gender AND financial status!?

[NewYorkDave]

Don't feel old. The first computer I ever used was a Motorola training breadboard in the late '70s. After entering tedious strings of hexadecimal code, your reward was a flashing display of LEDs. Fun!

[housepig]

With this analog capture card, could I just leave the vids on a hard drive then and play them w/ WinDVD? I have the DVD burner, but really what I want to do is essentially copy my vast VHS collection to disc so I can load 'em into my laptop and watch movies on the plane

yes.

If that's the case, I would say capture to a lightly-compressed .avi format, use VirtualDub (freeware, and fast) to convert to some flavor of Divx (decent quality and small file sizes), and use a software player like ZoomPlayer (also freeware) or WMP to play them.

If you play around with the settings, you can get 90 minute movies in about 700mb.

[wayne kerr]

Oh man. I have to change my gender AND financial status!?

CM