Convert home videos to DVD

[Guinfan]

I'd like to be able to plug my VCR into my PC so I can capture video and audio from VHS tapes and eventually burn them to DVD. My graphics card does not have a video in on it so I'm looking to purchase either an internal card or external device. I do have USB 2.0 and Firewire connections. My sound card is a Creative Labs Live Gamer 5.1. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[FlyGuy]

I use this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814144503

Works good on my Athy XP1800 with 512MB. The included software is OK, pretty user friendly.

 

[jamesgoddard]

I tried for some time to find a solution to this same issue, I have various PC based AV capture devices, but I was never happy with the result, the loss in quality was too much. A few weeks ago I purchased a standalone DVD recorder and this has been much better than any of the PC based kit, and once on DVD I can then just copy to the PC and edit all I want.

 

[Crashman]

Yes, I can recommend a really GREAT solution, check out the Turtle Beach Video Advantage review at Tom's Hardware Guide.

 

[Crashman]

Yes, your results were lacking, that's normal. But it seems your research might have been lacking too, so check out the review I recommended for the original questioner.

 

[slipchuck]

ATI all in wonder if hard to beat.
I am purchasing a 9600xt all in wonder.
has all the inputs you need except for digital (direct from camcorder etc)
It does have dual monitor display though which is awesome for things like homework, researching on the web, photoshop, you name it.
no more having to continually having one page pop off the screen to access another.
when you feed in your vcr signal, the signal is encoded in real time.
has fm tuner, etc, etc.

my system is just to old for the top of the line all in wonder, so this card is suited to max its potential without spending big bucks.

 

[Crashman]

None of the ATI products are adequate for capturing every kind of video, not even every kind of low-grade video. ATI's software looks for anything that resembles MacroVision and stops the recording if it sees any optical glithch that remotely resembles this form of copy protection.

 

[nobly]

ATI's stuff isn't that bad, you just need to tweak it accordingly. I've transferred VHS to DVD and I have to say its pretty good. No one can tell the difference. I capture at close to the max on the mpeg2 spec (14.5 Mbps). Regular DVD is 9ish Mbps. There's a bunch of other settings to mess around with, but I think that one is the most important.

As for Macrovision, it sure is a pain in the rear... but I've heard of ways to bypass it. If you run into it, basically your video just turns into a green screen or something like that.

Typically I find that optical glitches result in dropped frames.

I would not use the video editing software that comes w/ the 9600XT AIW because it really sucks. Its super unstable. There's nothing like rendering for 8 hours to have it crash on you.

 

[Crashman]

ATI's cards are capable of picking my Macrovision equiped signals cleanly. The problem is the driver, as soon as it sees something resembling macrovision, it kicks off the video input. I've even seen it happen with 3rd party capture programs, ATI's driver is very persistant at preventing copy-infringement, and sometimes mistakes ordinary noise as copy protection.

 

[nobly]

I guess you just have to replace the correct driver... Not to condone any illegal activities, though...

 

[ms2005]

All you need is anything with video in and software. I have video in on both my video card and happauge 150 TV card, I have the vid in set up on the 150.

Software wise i have used Pinnacle studeo 9 - good control but a hardware hog, Cyberlink Power producer - simple but basically just straight to disk with limited control and Ulead movie factory 3 which is in the middle. For general use I would try Ulead, I think there is a free trial download.

 

[slipchuck]

I guess you just have to replace the correct driver... Not to condone any illegal activities, though...

any hints on which one?

 

[Crashman]

Yes, I know about the driver replacement workaround.

 

[firefly181]

I would also like to convert VHS to DVDs. I'm debating between the ATI AIW Radeon x600 Pro, and the combination of BFG Nvidia GeForce6600GT + Hauppauge PVR-150 TV Tuner for video capture. I am considering the latter because I heard Hauppauge is better for video capture than the AIW. Is this true? I would like to get the best quality possible from VHS to DVD.

Any opinions on these cards would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Crashman]

No quality issues here with the AIW x600 Pro. But there's still that nagging problem with Macrovision-altered video, which ATI blocks from being recorded. And that prevents many of the movies you bought in a store from being recorded to digital format.

I'm not certain how the PVR-150 responds to Macrovision.

 

[g-paw]

I've been using the Datavideo DAC 100 for about 3 years now and never had a problem capturing from an analogue camcorder. Audio/VIdeo always in sync. More recently bought a digital camcorder and still use it for capturing. It's not cheap, I think I paid about $200 and it doesn't come with any software but it does what it supposed, i.e., captures video with no errors.

http://www.datavideo.us/products/dac_100_main_page.htm

 

[Crashman]

Yes, you can do that with a $19 card too. Do you even know what Macrovision copy protection is? Do you know why your camcorder doesn't use it?