Hi all, I have a dilemma on my hands ? I would like to get a DVD burner for my PC (for file backups, etc.), and I would also like to back up my old VHS video tapes onto DVDs (MPEG-2 format). From the reviews I have read for most video capture devices/cards, it seems like many of them have lots of problems (especially audio sync and installation). I know there are stand-alone DVD recorders (like the Panasonic DMR-E30S), which I have heard work quite nicely, but to the best of my knowledge, none of them can also be hooked up to a PC and used as a peripheral drive to record data DVDs.
So, it appears I can go two routes ? get a DVD burner for the PC and a separate stand-alone DVD recorded for the videos, or find some good video capture device and just use the PC.
1. Are there any stand-alone recorders that can be used as a peripheral drive to record plain data?
2. What are the best video capture devices for under about $500? Do they have the audio sync problem?
3. If I am going to spend $500 or so on a video capture device anyway, would it not be better just to go with the stand-alone recorder?
4. Is MPEG-2 really necessary for backing up VHS? I read somewhere on this forum that VCD should have sufficient resolution to copy a VHS tape without loss (but I still need to be able to capture the video).
Thanks in advance for your comments. Incidentally, I do have a pretty beefy computer (Athlon 1800 XP processor, Asus K7V-333 motherboard with firewire and built-in audio card, 512 MB PC2700 RAM, GeForce 3 Ti200 video card, etc. ? I only have about 17 MB free on my HD though, so I may need to get a second HD for this).
Often the problem of video / audio sync is that of the drivers and software rather than the card. I have a Pinnacle rave-TV card which can capture video from external analogue sources (you need a sound card with line-in to capture audio), and using the software and drivers that came with it resulted in loss of sync in about 10 seconds. Switching to VirtualDub however and using the capture option eliminated all of the sync problems. I haven't tried it with long clips but short ones were fine. The card is also only about £40.
I'd imagine vcd would be fine for vhs - try both and see if you can tell the difference
If you already have firewire, then I would suggest using the Canopus ADVC-100. It's a great little external box that converts analog_video <-> firewire/DV. I use this to capture analog video on my laptop using Adobe Premiere via firewire and have never had a sync issue. I paid less than USD$200 in Japan, so you should be able to get it for something similar. It requires no software and works with 100v-240vAC which makes it real nice if you travel. Oh, there's an internal version of the unit which costs a little less as well (forget the model#).
I wouldn't really compare VCDs to VHS, especially if there is a lot of movement in the VHS video, but you can try it and see if it is acceptable to you.
Thanks, Taq, VirtualDub sounds very promising. Also, jnihil, does one also need a DV capture card to use that Canopus device? Or does the DV signal just feed straight to the computer? In any case, you seem to have gotten a good deal - the cheapest I found it for on Pricewatch is $280 or so - still, judging by the reviews, a good deal.
In any case, it sounds like DVD is the way to go, especially since I plan to get a DVD burner anyway.
video_deck in/out
|
(analog video/audio cable)
|
Canopus ADVC-100
|
(Firewire cable)
|
Your PC's Firewire port
You can output your PC's DV codec AVIs into the VHS deck, or input the VHS video into the PC (make sense?).
$280 huh? Well, I'm surprised I did rather well on that purchase. Rather uncommon when you buy things in Japan.
If you have the $$$, I would go with the DVD-R as well since you're going to go through all the trouble of capture/enhancing/editing/encoding/etc etc etc.
