Converting VHS

[reminder]

I am not sure if this post is more relevant to this forum or to Software froum.

Anyway: I want to convert my VHS movies onto computers.

Whats the easiest approach. Do I need aditional hardware / software??

Can u point me to a relevant guide.

regards

[trajillo]

heres a good site:
http://www.dvcentral.org/

but i would just get a firewire card and just output you VCR to a Minidv tape using a digital video camera and then import using firwire to your computer ..

[3RA1N1AC]

I am not sure if this post is more relevant to this forum or to Software froum.

Anyway: I want to convert my VHS movies onto computers.

Whats the easiest approach. Do I need aditional hardware / software??

Can u point me to a relevant guide.

regards
you need a capture card, or an external capture device that connects to the computer by FireWire or USB2. a device containing a "hardware MPEG encoder" is preferable because it'll relieve the computer's CPU of a lot of the work and provide a smoother capture.

your options are to capture the video straight to MPEG, which requires a lot of processing power, and hence why a decent-quality hardware MPEG encoder is the better choice... or capture to uncompressed AVI (which takes up much more hard drive space initially) and then convert to MPEG so it'll fit onto CD/DVD (which adds a lot of time to the process). try videohelp.com and doom9.net for a whole slew of guides about capturing and encoding/converting. i think videohelp.com might have user reviews of capture devices, as well.

if all that ends up sounding too complicated, you may wanna consider just spending a few hundred U.S. dollars on a "set top" DVD recorder: one that's connected to your TV/VCR/Cable. that's prolly the quickest, simplest way to digitize your VHS tapes.

[trajillo]

yer wat he said

[angelique]

question: to put the mpeg onto dvd, does it need to be in mpeg2 format?

[3RA1N1AC]

question: to put the mpeg onto dvd, does it need to be in mpeg2 format?
the DVD-Video format can use either MPEG-1 or MPEG-2, but i don't think there have ever been any commercial DVD-Video releases that used MPEG-1. maybe there have been, but i've never heard of 'em.

the only reason i can think of, for making an MPEG-1 DVD-Video disc, would be to burn already-existing MPEG-1 files onto a DVD-Video disc since DVDs can hold several times more data than CDs do. for example, if you have VCD-format MPEG-1 files... they can be used on a DVD-Video disc if you convert the audio stream from its original 44khz sample rate to 48khz, then combine the new audio stream with the old video stream.

MPEG-2 is slightly more efficient, in terms of quality vs. amount of disc space required, so an MPEG-2 file should look better than an MPEG-1 file of the same size. if you're creating movie files specifically for a DVD-Video disc, then you should use MPEG-2. if you already have MPEG-1 files that you want to put onto a DVD-Video disc, then YES you can use those so long as the video stream conforms to the NTSC or PAL standards and you convert the audio stream to be compatible with DVD-Video.

[mini sparsely]

What if I have a old macrovision-ed movie. Will this work with macrovision?

[accat13]

heres a good site:
http://www.dvcentral.org/

but i would just get a firewire card and just output you VCR to a Minidv tape using a digital video camera and then import using firwire to your computer ..This method works quite well against macrovision.But its easier just to rent and rip a dvd or borrow from the library.PS but that would be illegal and we wouldn't break a law :whistling

[mini sparsely]

This method works quite well against macrovision.But its easier just to rent and rip a dvd or borrow from the library.PS but that would be illegal and we wouldn't break a law :whistling

No, I got some real old classics. Movies that I doubt will ever be released on DVD. Unfortunately VHS don’t last very long and I don’t know how much time I have left. :ohmy:

[Gre1]

What A coincedence I am about to do this now from a old Scary Movie VHS to a DVD. I just bought me a ABS DVD Express and I make them like that just connect my VCR open the program hit play on the VCR and Record on the Program Simple.

[3RA1N1AC]

No, I got some real old classics. Movies that I doubt will ever be released on DVD. Unfortunately VHS don’t last very long and I don’t know how much time I have left. :ohmy:
macrovision... it depends, sorta. i think some PC video capture cards recognize macrovision and scramble the picture, while some do NOT? as far as i know, none of the stand-alone dvd recorders will record a VHS tape that uses macrovision.

in either case, whether you have a capture card or stand-alone recorder, you should be able to get around the macrovision problem by feeding the VHS signal through a box called a "video stabilizer." try googling "stabilizer + macrovision" and you'll find plenty of these from various companies. i dunno which company has the best one though, since i only bought one many many years ago for doing VHS-to-VHS copies. haven't really kept track of 'em since then.

btw i think the term "video stabilizer" was coined merely to avoid explicitly saying that these devices were invented in order to remove macrovision protections. but aside from some of them possibly being able to make a slight improvement to the video quality overall, they really were made for the purpose of removing macrovision.