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Old 2007-03-10, 07:29 PM
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katnapz katnapz is offline
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Re: VHS to DVD capture

Quote:
Originally Posted by nibbles
Cut nibbles quote
My 300 captures to whatever the software interface I use at the time...meaning I "could" capture to MPEG2, however, I capture to lossless AVI initially and then use whatever editing software....could be Vdub, Vegas, etc...for conversion to DVD. The 300 does have some nice simple built in features for balance and video correction. Regardless, it'd be out of Crotchy's price range, but I didn't want others to be put off of it.

Additional thoughts:
-Don't use a cheapie VCR. A S-VHS player sounds out of your budget, but please don't use that no name brand model that your parents bought 20 years ago.
-LEARN about different conversion/filters/bitrates methods. If you aren't, you can really take a decent tape and produce a subpar end result if you don't know what you're doing.
-Don't over process.
-Don't throw your tapes away and truly believe that you're going to go back to the first couple projects and redo them after some experience.
-Practice on short sections initially. Hope your DVD player can take DVD-RW's or you're going through a bunch of discs. (This is assuming that you have to do any modifications to the video picture to make it look better-you'll need to watch your corrections on a TV as a computer monitor won't cut it.) -or have a tv hooked up to your computer for checking. I'm guessing nibbles watches his shows on his computer by his comment, but produce your end product with the mindset that the majority of people will watch it on a tv (or so I believe). There is a difference enough that you'll want to compare as there will be overscan and color balance/contrast that won't be the same.
-Worse case, grab somebody's standalone VHS>DVD unit. Most hobbiests don't give them much credit, but considering the practice/patience it takes to really do a credible job on some (i.e., worn/multi-gen) tapes, the machine will probably do the job better than you would on regular tapes. Of course, if you do have really difficult tapes, it's probably best to find a fellow trader with experience to do it for you. Heck, just for S&G's, try to find a standalone to convert a couple tapes over and compare that to your final results...should give a watermark to practice against if nothing else.
-Lots of other comments, but you can check videohelp/Doom9...

I probably sound a bit harsh...sorry,...Just trying to make sure you start out right and think the process through.

Good luck and do your research.
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