Video card to transfer VHS to DVD

[Skaiwalker1]

Hi, I'm trying to transfer all my VHS tapes onto DVD. Would anyone happen to know which hardware and software to get for the best quality possible? thanks.

 

[Lord Banshee]

i was able to capture movies with basicly any capture software like windows movie makes. For hardware use a rca to mic y-adapter for the sound of the output of the VCR. Then you can plug the rca for the video into a capture card such as WinTV-PVR-150.

Thats what i used to do a test on an old anime VHS tape and i was surprised that the sound was very well in sync with the video.

I think the problem isn't the hardware but getting the software settings correct.

good luck

 

[shilatoe]

Originally posted by: Skaiwalker1
Hi, I'm trying to transfer all my VHS tapes onto DVD. Would anyone happen to know which hardware and software to get for the best quality possible? thanks.

I'm seeking the same kind of answer regarding a video capture device but with the limitation that I'm running Vista Ultimate 32. My searches for such a device have found that they are not Vista compatible. Any recommendations for Skaiwalker that include Vista compatability would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,

 

[TourGuide]

I don't know if it is VISTA compatible, but I've had absolutely fantastic luck with the Canopus ADVC-100. It has all the inputs you could possibly want and the upside of capturing through this is that it makes sure the audio/video is completly synchronized. It isn't cheap though, that is your down side.

 

[Peter]

Get an ordinary PCI TV card, and use its Composite or SVideo inputs.

LifeView has released a complete set of (certified) Vista drivers and frontend software for their entire range of cards - all the way down to their $25 analog TV cards. All these cards can stream the audio through PCI along with the video, so that the sync problems that usually occur with the sound looped through the sound card don't occur.

 

[MrNeutrino]

Yep, no need for a fancy video card for what you want to do (unless you're getting a card as your primary card anyway).

I'd recommend the ATI Theater 650 Pro cards that have some of the best comb filter quality + have hardware MPEG2 encoder.

I've been a big fan of the ATI all-in-wonder family of cards until the powers that be at ATI, now AMD, stopped making them.

BTW, if you ARE indeed looking for a primary video card with this type of feature (vs. just a TV tuner type card), go for one of the latest all-in-wonder cards.

 

[Skaiwalker1]

I have a Theater 650 Pro right now but am willing to buy the Canopus ADVC-100 if I could get better quality. What do you guys think?

Also, is there anyway to disable the hardware encoding? I don't want any sort of compression in order to retain full quality.

 

[Peter]

The quality won't get any better than what the Theater card gives you. This is because the source quality on VHS tape is pretty appaling to begin with ... you'll hardly notice when watching a movie on the sofa, but from up close on a really good monitor, it shows.

 

[shilatoe]

Originally posted by: Peter
Get an ordinary PCI TV card, and use its Composite or SVideo inputs.

LifeView has released a complete set of (certified) Vista drivers and frontend software for their entire range of cards - all the way down to their $25 analog TV cards. All these cards can stream the audio through PCI along with the video, so that the sync problems that usually occur with the sound looped through the sound card don't occur.

Thanks for the info. I sent a note to LifeView to verify their Vista compatability especially for their FlyTV MCE, a cheap capture card, this was their response:

"FlyTV MCE is not support Vista.
Here is the list of the products that support Vista:
http://www.lifeview.com.tw/html/vista_products.htm

Please note that, some of the products are not available in US."

I haven't had a chance to review which of their products will serve my purpose, are in the US and are Vista ready but at least there is a chance to find a cheap capture card that works w/Vista.
Thanks again.

 

[Peter]

The MCE cards feature hardware compression as required by Windows Media Centre. All their other cards target normal OS versions, and they're all Vista certified.

Also mind that LifeView make /much/ more OEM volume than they sell own-branded boxes. Here in Germany, you'll find half a dozen TV card "brands" that are just badge jobs of LifeView gear.

 

[nyker96]

get something like haunpagge 150/250/350 etc. I use a 150 to xfer VHS to DVD myself. but don't expect good qualities, the tapes are full of noise, you need to use filters during compression stages to clean it up or else it's terrible. Use staxrip + some decent AVisynth filter to clean it and compress to xvid//equivalent format.

 

[Peter]

... and that's exactly why one should NOT use a card with onboard hardware compression engine - because these have one hardcoded filtering and compressing path. Grab the uncompressed stream from a "simple" card, and then let the CPU do any kind of filtering, in realtime if it's fast enough, or in post-processing if it's not.

The only thing worth having is a BIG and FAST harddisk. This is where a RAID0 of two Samsung 501HJ really shines

 

[Compellor]

I get very good results from my Hauppauge WinTV PVR-150. I only see a lot of noise on second generation copy tapes which is a source related issue. Tapes I recorded from TV in both SP and SLP mode turn out great. This isn't to say that every recording is consistent in quality. Some show some jitter or a slight swimming effect. The VHS deck and the tape itself need to be in good condition to get good results.

I did have some issues with this card when I upgraded to Vista 32-bit. I kept getting an DDShow error which wouldn't allow me to record anything. The fix was to use the beta driver on their web site.

 

[Skaiwalker1]

the guides on converting vhs to dvd seems to coincide with what Peter says which is why I want to disable the mpeg2 encoding on my Theater 650 Pro.

Does anyone know if its possible to disable it or will I have to go buy a card without hardware encoding?