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Capturing and Editing Cartoons from VHS
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baaneral
Newbie
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24. July 2005 @ 15:00 |
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Hi all-
A while back, I bought the NVidia Personal Cinema FX 5600 AGP card for my system. While it is nice, I'm having a hard time getting it to do all the tricks I want to do. I'll list them below, and if anyone can give me helpful pointers, I'll take them all with thanx.
The project I bought the card for? I have 20 hours of Bugs Bunny on VHS, 170 different toons. I want to be able to capture and edit each individual toon into MPEG2 or MPEG4 format, then later put together mixed DVDs.
The programs I have are Nero and ULead Movie Studio
Ulead came with the card, but the only way I can capture is if it's trying to make movies. It won't do individual MPEGs , and I can't edit until I'm about to burn a DVD.
Nero was making really pretty video, very nice quality, but it crashes before it can finish a single toon. Says it has lost the source.
What I'd like to be able to do, is capture high quality video, trim it, save it, and then go on to the next toon. After all my work is saved as MPEGs and copied to disks, I can create DVD's to my own preferences without having to worry about aging VHS tapes anymore.
Since I also have a Hi8 Sony HandyCam, any knowledge I gain here can be applied to that too.
Also, I'd like to be able to convert video formats, and cut and paste bits and pieces of video together.
Is there a one size fit all program, or will take a lot of work?
Thanx in advance anyone who helps me. :-)
Baaneral~
Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.
Also wise not to meddle in the affairs of Dragons, as you are crunchy and best done Medium-Rare....
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octopi
Newbie
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25. July 2005 @ 11:16 |
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Hi Baaneral
It sounds as though the problems you are experiencing are frustrating - but don't worry - video capture can be like that at the start!
I have to say the software (Ulead) that you are using isn't the best. I personally capture a lot of VHS and use the following workflow to get some very impressive results.
My VHS Source is connected to my computer via a brand new Canopus 110 which is a superb box that takes analogue and digital inputs and turns them into a digital signal, and transmits them via firewire into your computer.
I use Sony Vegas V5 to capture the video (using their pretty good capture program). I then save the resulting (LARGE!) .AVI files and edit them using Sony Vegas Pro 5.0. This is a non-linear editing tool. The learning curve is pretty steep, but I strongly recommend getting a copy as you can do some excellent things with it. The editing features are sophisticated and will allow many different editing styles, with the multiple tools. Your cartoons will be easy to edit. I have just converted all my Beavis and Butthead onto DVD - with PERFECT results.
A few things to remember:
Video editing is highly system-stressing. You will need a LOT of diskspace (a dedicated drive is the best thing - I use 250 GB at a time often).
Your system will need to be stable. Ensure that you have scandisked, defragged and cleaned up temp files, etc.
You should free up as much memory as possible by closing any un-needed systray-based applications.
Hope these suggestions are useful.
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baaneral
Newbie
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25. July 2005 @ 12:43 |
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Octopi, does your program support MPEG files? I have a lot of space, but MPEG is so much smaller, I can get a lot more done at a time.And I've seen the difference in quality, like I said, Nero captures for a bit, then bails. What it does get is beautiful.
I run scans, clean-ups, and defrags once a week, and when I'm capturing, the system is dedicated to it, all my resources go into it, and I have a lot of those.
But still I have the glitches I mentioned above. I designed this computer specifically to do the job I want done, but the software is killing me.
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.
Also wise not to meddle in the affairs of Dragons, as you are crunchy and best done Medium-Rare....
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octopi
Newbie
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25. July 2005 @ 15:59 |
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Let us be clear here: The cartoons are on analogue source, which is fed into your machine and captured by a specialised capture programme. You will then use an editing application to prepare the cartoon and RENDER it into any format you desire - MPG, AVI, Hell, even quicktime! Of course, for burning onto DVD, you will be rendering into MPG.
Sony Vegas does all of this, apart from the burning onto DVD, for which I recommend DVD-Lab (although it is not the best, it's good for beginners).
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Minion
AfterDawn Addict
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25. July 2005 @ 19:34 |
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The Problem with Capture with Vegas 4/5/6 from an Analogue Capture device is that you can Only Capture to Uncompressed AVI which Takes up Far too much Space (about 1gb per minute) and it doesn"t have any way of Compensateing for Dropped Frames or the Audio/Video Time Lag so you will most likely have Sync problems...
Vegas is more geared for Captureing from DV Camcorders or From Firewire Analogue/Digital Video Converters like your ADVC-110....
I suggest that you Maybe use a Standalone Mpeg Capture program Like "InterVideo WinDVR 3.0" to Capture your Cartoons to Mpeg-2 format and then Get a Mpeg editor Like "Womble Mpeg Video Wizard 2005" or even "Womble Mpeg2VCR" to Edit your Captured Mpeg-2 files and arrage them in the Order you want them in and even add some effects and Transitions if you want and then You can use a DVD Authoring Program Like "MediaChance DVD Lab Pro" to add your Menu"s and Chapters and to Burn them to DVD.....
The Good Thing about useing a native mpeg editor like "Womble Mpeg Video Wizard 2005" is that it will edit the Files without affecting the Quality unlike regular editors Like Vegas Video or Adobe Premier which have to re-encode the Files when rendering the edited files ,And when useing a Native Mpeg editor it only takes a Couple of Minutes to render your File were it can take many hours with other Programs....
Also a DVD Authoring Program Like "MediaChance DVDLab Pro" is Much more Flexable and has many more features than something like Ulead or Nero and Makes really nice Looking Menu"s and you can even use Little Video Clips as Menu"s and use your Own Backround Music for your Menu"s...It is a Bit harder to learn that those other Basic Authoring programs Like Nero and Ulead but once you learn how to use it you will find it can do wonders...You can Find a 30 day demo in the Software section of This site or you can find it if you do a Google Search.....
Also if your VHS Tapes are Retail Store Bought VHS Tapes you will Run into Problems with some of them because they Are Copy Protected useing Macrovision which will Cause your captured Video to flash Dark and Bright or go Black and White or be distorted or the Capture Software will keep saying that it has Lost the Signal or say that the Tape is Copy protected or either way not let you capture..
The only way to Capture Copy Protected VHS tapes is to get a Device Called a "Video Stabilizer" which can run you from $30 to $100 depending on the Device and it"s Features...If you Want some info on these let me Know and I"ll leave you a Couple of Links to some Popular Video stabilizers.....
Cheers
P-4 2.6ghz (Overclocked to 3.2ghz)
Abit IS7
1gb Dual Chanell DDR 400mhz
Zalman CNPS7000-CU Cooler(Modded with 50cfm Fan)
XFX Gforce 6600GT 128mb GDDR3 (500/1000)
Pinnacle DV500 ADVC Editing Card
RaidMax Scorpio ATX Case + 5 Led
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baaneral
Newbie
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26. July 2005 @ 21:56 |
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Minion, Thank you, you may have hit the nail for me. I have the Intervideo WinDVR already, It came with the card. I didn't know I could set it up to capture. I still need to do some tweaking, but I think I'm going in the right direction. I also picked up a copy of the MPEG Video Wizard, and it seems to be quite the nifty editing tool. So far I've only needed it to trim the ends.
Thank You again Octopi. I was tinkering with the Vegas, but like Minion said, the file sizes were huge, and took way too many resources. I appreciate your trying to help though. It's tough to find good advice these days, so I appreciate your taking the time.
To both of you, Thanx again. I appreciated the help. If all goes well, I won't be posting on this again. Feel free to add any other pointers you may have though. And if I can get this collection to data files in less than 20 disks, I may consider passing a copy along to you both, depends on just how big it actually gets...
Thanx again
Baaneral~
Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.
Also wise not to meddle in the affairs of Dragons, as you are crunchy and best done Medium-Rare....
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octopi
Newbie
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27. July 2005 @ 06:23 |
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Minion,
I have to say that the issue of diskspace is a hurdle for many people. I run Vegas and the capturing environment on a 3GHZ, 1.5GB RAM 700 GB rig, which is explicitly designed for video editing and some storage.
I would take issue with your recommendation on workflow though. I think the route of going uncompressed then editing and rendering through Vegas, although it may be slow on some systems is the way to go for quality productions. Yes, it's slower, but remember, you capture in the uncompressed space, and the render that you produce is customizable in terms of quality. I would also question this paragraph:
"The Good Thing about useing a native mpeg editor like "Womble Mpeg Video Wizard 2005" is that it will edit the Files without affecting the Quality unlike regular editors Like Vegas Video or Adobe Premier which have to re-encode the Files when rendering the edited files ,And when useing a Native Mpeg editor it only takes a Couple of Minutes to render your File were it can take many hours with other Programs...."
I think the comparison is somewhat odd. Womble is not a fully featured NLE! The kinds of things you can do are hideously limited and your flexibility and creative flow is very much restricted. It's a bit like comparing MS Paint to Photoshop CS2! OK, so it does allow you to do limited things with native MPG files (as do a number of other applications) but I think the downsides far outweigh the positives (unless of course you have just 10gb of storage). I should also point out that if done carefully, the quality degradation when re-encoding
can really be minimised - and on a source like VHS the common man is very unlikely to notice the difference.
PS: The Canopus 110 defeats Macrovision :-) YAY!
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Minion
AfterDawn Addict
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27. July 2005 @ 12:30 |
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Well it doesn"t seem that he will be doing any Very advanced Editing as it seems he will just be mainly doing Cutting and Pasteing and a a few effects and Transitions which Womble is fully Capible of....
And I only recomend useing Womble if you are Captureing to Mpeg in the First Place because it doesn"t affect the Quality when editing and no one wants to re-encode when they don"t have to...
And sure captureing to Uncompressed AVI might be best quality wize but most Poseple don"t have enough Drive space for Captureing to Uncompressed AVI Pluss Vegas is more For Captureing from DV Camcorders and ADVC Devices and don"t have a way of Compensateing for Frame Dropps and the Time Lag between the audio and Video Capture Clocks so Captureing from an analogue Device with Vegas will usually end up with Sync Problems....
If Captureing from an analogue Device to an AVI format I usually suggest that you use a Lossless codec like HuffYUV and Capture with a good WDM Capture tool and then do any editing in a Good NLE Like Vegas 6 or Premier Pro......
Cheers
P-4 2.6ghz (Overclocked to 3.2ghz)
Abit IS7
1gb Dual Chanell DDR 400mhz
Zalman CNPS7000-CU Cooler(Modded with 50cfm Fan)
XFX Gforce 6600GT 128mb GDDR3 (500/1000)
Pinnacle DV500 ADVC Editing Card
RaidMax Scorpio ATX Case + 5 Led
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Minion
AfterDawn Addict
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27. July 2005 @ 12:31 |
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Well it doesn"t seem that he will be doing any Very advanced Editing as it seems he will just be mainly doing Cutting and Pasteing and a a few effects and Transitions which Womble is fully Capible of....
And I only recomend useing Womble if you are Captureing to Mpeg in the First Place because it doesn"t affect the Quality when editing and no one wants to re-encode when they don"t have to...
And sure captureing to Uncompressed AVI might be best quality wize but most Poseple don"t have enough Drive space for Captureing to Uncompressed AVI Pluss Vegas is more For Captureing from DV Camcorders and ADVC Devices and don"t have a way of Compensateing for Frame Dropps and the Time Lag between the audio and Video Capture Clocks so Captureing from an analogue Device with Vegas will usually end up with Sync Problems....
If Captureing from an analogue Device to an AVI format I usually suggest that you use a Lossless codec like HuffYUV and Capture with a good WDM Capture tool and then do any editing in a Good NLE Like Vegas 6 or Premier Pro......
Cheers
P-4 2.6ghz (Overclocked to 3.2ghz)
Abit IS7
1gb Dual Chanell DDR 400mhz
Zalman CNPS7000-CU Cooler(Modded with 50cfm Fan)
XFX Gforce 6600GT 128mb GDDR3 (500/1000)
Pinnacle DV500 ADVC Editing Card
RaidMax Scorpio ATX Case + 5 Led
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