VHS to CD-RW

[marlboro]

I want to transfer some family video's from VHS to mpeg so I can write to CD-RW and play on my DVD player.

Any suggestions for an appropriate video input card for my PC and software to convert to mpeg.

[FourWheelDrift]

CD-RW will not play MPEG's on your DVD player. You need to covert the MPEG to VOB format files and write to DVD discs using a DVD Writer drive.

Without going into great detail the process will go along the lines of VHS connected to "analogue in/digital out" device (either a box or camera) conected to your PC, using a capture card and cables or firewire cable and port.

Use video editing software (Premiere/Director) to edit and save the video in MPEG2 format. Then use DVD authoring software to convert the MPEG2 video to VOB files and write to DVD disc.

So you will need:-

Camera with analogue in/Digital out ports or convertor box.
PC with capture card or firewire port
Video editing software
DVD authoring software
DVD Writer
DVD discs

somebody will probably add more to this but I've tried to keep it as simple as possible for now, if you need any further help email me

[marlboro]

I was looking at this:

www.adaptec.com/worldwide/product/proddetail.html?sess=no&language=English+US&prodkey=AVC-1100&cat=%2fTechnology%2fVideo%2fVideo+Capture+and+Creation


I have an Apex DVD player that will read Mpeg(1 or 2) from CD-R and CD-RW.

[FourWheelDrift]

Oh you mean Video CD's rather than straight MPEG to CDR quality isn't that good the compression algorithm used for video CD, MPEG-1, is rather unsophisticated, a decent VHS VCR produces much better quality video. You'll also only get approx 70 minutes max on a CD.

Anway it seems after reading the blurb on that package that all the software you need will be there in the package all you'll need is the analogue to digital convertor to run from your VCR to your PC and a firewire card in your PC with cable to connect to the A/D convertor.

A/D convertor shown here - www.simplydv.co.uk/Reviews/Directors_cut.html
The IEEE slot on the back is the firewire port. (Link given as it has photo's and show's the port's on the back - you can get cheaper ones)

Unless of course you have a Video camera with analogue in and IEEE/Firewire out slots that you can use instead as the convertor, then you'll need something like this instead.

[sjg]

Those firewire bridges are nice, but to be honest the price isn't much less than a decent DV camcorder which can do the same.

I always link to it, but arstechnica have the best guide I've seen to capturing/cleaning/editing digital video, and it's all with a cheap TV card (~£35) and free software.

http://arstechnica.com/guide/audio-visual/videocapturing/vidcap-1.html
http://arstechnica.com/guide/audio-visual/video-cleanup/cleaning-1.html (part 2, there should be a part 3 soon!)

Have used that to capture a few things from VHS and got very good results.

Once you've got your footage done, there are lots of articles at www.dvdrhelp.com/ about getting it onto CD or DVD.

FWD, almost every DVD I've seen will play VideoCDs and most modern ones will play SVCD, MiniDVD and the like from CDRs which is plenty good enough for a VHS transfer.

However, DVD writers are now nice and cheap (Pioneer 106 now sub-100 quid and media well under a quid each from www.121cdr.co.uk) which would be far more worthwhile.

[FourWheelDrift]

sjg said:

FWD, almost every DVD I've seen will play VideoCDs and most modern ones will play SVCD, MiniDVD and the like from CDRs which is plenty good enough for a VHS transfer.

I know it just sounded from the initial enquiry that he thought an MPEG Avi movie file on a CD would play on a DVD player, he didn't mention Video CD. Which are crap, I should know

Besides it's not a lot more expensive to get a DVD writer these days (£120) then he'll have longer films, better PC backup and better quality footage too.

[marlboro]

I bought the Adaptec Videoh! CD package and its the dogs bits. Good cheap option for video editing newbies like myself.