Reply to: VHS to DVD/MPEG card & editing software recommendations.

Re: re

I use Pinnacle Studio 9 to make DVDs with titles and menus and whatnot (even has a nifty music doo dah, which tailors the length of the music to the length of the video clip - and you can buy loads of add-on music of all genre's for it).

I use a digital camcorder (canon M600i), which has an analogue input, so can play my VHS tapes through that . Using firewire (ieee1394) I simply use the camcorder as the capture device. You don't have to transfer to another tape first.

Get a nice big, fast, hard drive & DVD+/-RW drive and you're away.

I photo & videograph airshows mainly:-

www.ramms.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

See you all a Duxford's Flying Legends display in a couple of weeks.

re

It does tend to jitter a bit at high quality and high resolution (720x568) .

Apart from that, I've got an excellent piece of kit for the price here. One of the best things about it is you can carry it about with you and plug it wherever. You can also set up a timer - so you can record TV when you're away. I can also use JMF studio with it - so I can make quicktime movs instead of mpgs/avis which are the default for the bundled software.

Re: re

I'd have thought that for £30 you end up with a video to api file converter, with mpeg done with software.

Over night probably.

But then again what do I know, praps these days you just throw a billion transistors at it, build in China and still have change from a tenner.

Re: re

Actually after I posted I checked another couple of links and they did mention PAL - most links were to non-uk sites and obviously there is no guarantee just which version will arrive.

To be honest I doubt that any £30 device is going to make a very good job of MPEG encoding from composite/svhs input - if it does, the software works, and the PAL issue is not an issue at all he's found a bargain. If not....

Re: re

Oh dear.

Standards converter required: £200...

Re: re

I see it gets some rave reviews ..

www.sitescrape.com/AM/ele...eview.html

... and I can only see any mention of NTSC video - no mention of PAL (which is what you'll get out of a UK TV)

Still I suppose you know what you're doing.

re

I've got this : www.kelkoo.co.uk/sitesear...+MAKER&orw

Just plug it into a scart socket and you're away!

Re: re

Just a Goofy thought,

what about buying a DVD Recorder (one that connects to your TV) and record your old VHS onto the DVD.

And then use that DVD on the PC to do your edits.

MG

Re: re

TV card or usb tv card.

Converting video generates humungous files.

re

Forgive me for being stupid (you should be used to it by now) but how do you physically get the video from VHS to your PC? Is it yellow phono from scart to USB or do you use a TV card or something?

Re: VHS to DVD/MPEG card & editing software recommendati

You're right, fiddle.

The N1500 was the first consumer vcr and used a lot of tape.

Despite the mildew on them, they still play, amazing really.

It's the difference between analogue and digital.

You don't really notice all the dropouts and cr*p on analogue tape, whereas on digital systems it's either invisible because of error correction or doesn't play at all.

The standard head life on a digital VHS was about 100 hrs for professional use.

Re: VHS to DVD/MPEG card & editing software recommendati

I've not done this personally but there are loads of capture cards around that will do it.

You will get monster files that need rendering to mpeg if you want them smaller/dvd player compatible and - that takes ages. VCD/SVCD/DVD are all specific formats - presumably the editing software would support them though.

Expect cr@p quality.

If you are prepared to buy a new DVD player the Yamada DVX6600 will play just about any video format you throw at it (including xvid and divx) - you can get them from Maplin amongst others.

Re: VHS to DVD/MPEG card & editing software recommendati

I'm not actually trying to archive the tapes to DVD, just get them onto one so that I can add titles etc. and view them on a domestic dvd played, pc, and make copies etc.
Anyone actually done this on here?

Re: VHS to DVD/MPEG card & editing software recommendati

How about buying a DVD recorder? They're getting pretty cheap these days, and you can record direct from VHS to DVD.

Re: VHS to DVD/MPEG card & editing software recommendati

You're lucky on the tapes. Many of my old VHS tapes are unwatchable.

I remember many years ago it was a legal requirement to keep purchase tax records for 7 years. We pulled some old tapes from the backup safe to try them - you could see the oxide flying off as they went through the tape transport (big old IBM 2400 series drives) - needless to say they were unreadable.

Having said that some of my old CD-Rs (probably only 5 years old or maybe less) are cream crackered.