video capture questions

[stevejt]

Does anyone here know anything about video capturing.  My church is looking to transfer video to dvd.  DVD burning is simple.  All the video capturing I have seen either lost frames, or were not full screen high quality.  With all the movies on the the internet it is obviously possible to have full screen, full frame rate capture.  Does anyone know what type, or brands are capable.  Can a standard 2G computer with an "All In Wonder", or a "TV" card do it?  I have heard people say you need a dedicated capture card.  I have heard so many different stories, but have not seen a full quality capture.  Does anyone have any first hand knowledge or experience with this?  It must be 100% reliable.  Not looking for something that "usually" doesn't lose frames.
And please don't suggest a standard DVD recorder.  If they are going to put any money into this, they want all the options of a pc, like video editing, and seperate audio recording and editing.

Thanks!

Steve

Any links would also be appreciated!

[DaveMMR]

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/

As for capturing: I use an ATI All-in-Wonder and use VirtualDub for capturing.  The HuffyUV codec is fast and lossless, but it doesn't compress as well as others.  Also, their latest version is completely broken (so use the penultimate version).  There are probably newer, better codecs since I last checked but I haven't had the patience to start testing them out.  Huffy works so I'll leave it at that for now.  If you have the time, check around for a better one.

As for losing frames... well make sure your computers up to speed.  I don't want to throw a bunch of 'minimum specs' at you because... well.. I don't know how low you can go.  Basically get a dedicated hard drive for video capture (firewire external or AT LEAST a 7200 internal), AT LEAST 512MB Ram and a P4 2Ghz.  Disable all TSRs (virus scanners) and any and all programs (including screensaver) and you should have smooth sailing.

I think your setup is fine, just check the options to make sure it's set for the full resolution (640x480 for analog, 710x480 for digital -- someone correct me if I'm wrong).

BTW the way: crap in=crap out.  Make sure the videos you're converting are decent quality or else you are going to drop frames no matter what.  If your VHS tape has the occasional hiccup and you lose a frame here and there then don't worry about it (no one is going to miss one frame out of 1000).  But if you start dropping a bunch in a row (and    you followed the advice above) then you're tape isn't going to look good on a shiny disc.

[lcddream]

there are many solutions out there...the best place to find out wahts best for you is spending a few hours on dvdrhelp.com reading in the forums and tutorials about video capture...thats how i learned

then your gonna need to get whatever minimum spec you're research indicates...i have done editing with good results on both p4 2.4 and a p4 1.7 p4 2.4 however obviously had the edge

anyway noone can tell you exactly how the comp is gonna handle capturing...ive done mine on a ati all in wonder 7500, but if you want truly reliable id look into a hardware capture solution as opposed to software...meaning you would get a non video card capture box through usb 2.0 or firewire....dont know much about em cept that they are much more reliable than your actual cpu processing the video

anyhow minimum spec id recommend for superior result p4 2.0+ ghz processor 800 mhz fsb(front side bus), 512+ mb 400mhz ddr ram, 64+ mb pci express or agp  video card if using  video card capture no more than 16 mb would be needed if other wise (external)

again these are only my opinions....i would look deeply into it over at  dvdrhelp.com before deciding

[JDSkydiver]

Steve:

If you are using Windows XP, they have WINDOWS MOVIE MAKER.  It makes capturing video very easy.

I use my Digital Sony Camcorder with a Firewire connection to the PC to capture tapped stuff.  You can use many digital camcorders as a pass thru for say, your VCR to get the image to digital.  Image goes from VCR to camcorder via RCA plucs, and from camcorder to PC via Firewire.

HINT:
Capture at the highest resolution possible.  You can allways bump it dowm afterwards, but you can never go better if you capture average quality video.

Good luck!

[DaveMMR]

Sorry but I think Windows Movie Maker is lackluster for capturing.  It dummies everything down to the point where you have little freedom.  I still recommend VirtualDub - it's easy and free and plus you have tons more flexibility with the resulting AVI files.

P.S. - I don't know how high the resolution can go but anything more than 710X480 is a waste of disk space IMO.  Yes, you can erase it but you're also reducing the amount you can capture.

[RacerX]

DVD resolution for NTSC is 720 X 480.  As has been said, there's no point in going any higher unless you have an HDTV.  But even then, remember that you're converting from VHS, which doesn't have a resolution that high.  So your image isn't going to be in HD quality anyway.

[stevejt]

I appreciate all the info.  I didn't want to spend the money, and not have it work good enough.

Steve