I consider myself to be reasonably IT literate but DVD authoring is new to me, so please bear with me!
I have a newish P4-3Ghz PC with 1 GB RAM, 80GB HDD, 1 x DVD-R and 1 x DVD-RW, 2 x USB-2 ports, 1 x IEEE 1394 port.
I?ve got about 30 hours of VHS home movies I want to convert to DVD-R. These tapes were created by copying from a borrowed DV video camera.
Do I need a capture device? If so, which?
I could (laboriously) copy an hour at a time from the VCR to the DV Camera then to the PC via the IEEE port.
I see there?s concern about external USB devices.
What about internal boards? Recommendations?
I?m going to buy a DVD authoring program. To achieve DV quality video I assume I want something that?ll use MDEG-2?
What about MPEG-4?
I?m thinking along the lines of Roxio?s Creator 7. Good reviews and some awards.
I?ve got Pinnacle Studio?s V7 SE (came with the Sony DV camera) but in my early attempts at authoring a DVD the quality of the DVD was terrible, even though I used the MPEG-2 settings. This experience has put me off Pinnacle?s Studio V9 but all suggestions are welcome!
First check to see if the cam has a "passthrough".
If it does, you can use it to go between the VCR and the computer, with no need for a capture card. These usually use Firewire, but USB is also possible...
Second, there's nothing wrong with Pinnacle. Problems would more likely be in the settings you used.
Please dont' buy Roxio. I won't let any of their software near my computers. There are better applications around, and you already own one.
Third, mpeg-2 is DVD standard. Everything else is unnacceptable.
If your cam doesn't have a passthrough, then the BEST you could do is get a "Time Base Corrector", such as the Canopus ADVC-100. Expensive, but worth it for excellent quality from VHS.
Second best would be a hardware encoder capture card, such as the Hauppauge PVR-250/350/500 line of cards.
Third best would be a cheap $20 card to capture to AVI, then re-encode the footage to mpeg-2 by using software and then authoring and burning.
Your other, probably the most simple option, is to purchase a standalone DVD recorder. Plug the VCR directly into it, and hit record. You cannot do any editing, nor menu creating of any sort this way, it's a simple copy process.
I'm reasonably happy with the outcome but here's what I did just in case you've got some suggestions.
I set the camera to pass-thru and captured the video using Window Movie Maker 2.1 set to DV-AVI format which created an AVI file at 2GB per 10 minutes.
I then used ULead DVD Factory 3 SE (Freeware I think) to create the DVD.
Any other suggestions re software and capture modes would be greatly appreciated.
Ulead DVD 3 should take the capture directly to mpeg-2, then author and burn.
Capturing in DV is good, actually excellent, but you lose time, because Ulead has to encode it to mpeg-2.
Your process works fine, especially if you need extensive editing, because AVI is much easier to work with.
If you don't need editing, try a direct cap to Ulead :)
Each to his/her own.
I quit with Roxio, the day they wanted me to PAY to update to use THEIR software on XP (about 3 years ago).
If it works for you, great :)
