Video Capture newbie question(s)

External Since: Jun 30, 2003 Posts: 1

I would like convert several VHS tapes to, I guess, mpg for burning to
CD. VCD or SVCD. I want the quality to remain high and full screen if
possible. It will go into a 1600+ Athlon running Win2K pro. The Video
card is a good one although I don't recall which one offhand. Likely a
128mb AGP4X with TV output but, unfortunately, not input. A good gamer
card.

First thing I need is some kind of card that does take input. I can
play the tapes back on a VHS-S but the tapes themselves are on regular
VHS tape so I don't think that it matters. I also don't care about
having a tuner since I only care about the VHS output but I guess they
all will have it.

Is it best to dump the existing card and get a similar model that does
have input? Or, should I get a stand-alone card? I guess it would have
to be PCI since there is only one AGP slot. My MB does not have 8X
AGP.

I also don't know squat about burning VCDs or SVCDs. I use Nero on
basic settings and it seems to work but I don't understand how
chapters or menus work, etc. Any pointers to a quick tutorial are
greatly appreciated.

Thanks for any suggestions and comments.

External Since: Jun 25, 2003 Posts: 5

On Mon, 30 Jun 2003 14:56:09 -0400, dgk
<sonicechoes.DeleteThis@hot-nospamp-mail.com> wrote:

>Is it best to dump the existing card and get a similar model that does
>have input? Or, should I get a stand-alone card? I guess it would have
>to be PCI since there is only one AGP slot. My MB does not have 8X
>AGP.

I would suggest adding a dedicated video capture card in a PCI slot.
There are plenty of these available, and nearly all of the cheaper
ones use the Bt848 chip, which gives a good quality captured picture.
You may encounter audio/video synchronisation ("lipsync") problems if
you use a separate soundcard for the audio capture - if this is a
problem, the only real way around it is to buy a more expensive video
capture card that has on-board audio. Although you can "hack" it in
software, it is not an easy thing to do, and the results are usually
less than perfect.

For standard VHS tapes, there is no real advantage in using the
S-Video input on the card. If your playback deck has a Timebase
corrector, make sure it is switched ON.

>I also don't know squat about burning VCDs or SVCDs. I use Nero on
>basic settings and it seems to work but I don't understand how
>chapters or menus work, etc. Any pointers to a quick tutorial are
>greatly appreciated.

VCD quality is quite a lot worse than VHS tape - Stick to SVCD as a
minimum. You only get about 30 minutes on a single CD, but the picture
quality is worth it. If you need more on a single disc, upgrade to a
DVD writer.

Using Nero's built-in MPEG encoder won't give you the best results,
although they are OK for most purposes. I would recommend using
TMPGEnc for optimum picture quality - <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.tmpgenc.net" target="_blank">http://www.tmpgenc.net</a>

Sorry, I can't advise on chapters and menus - never use them -
although Nero does make a basic but functional menu screen.

HTH