Capturing from VHS/DVD recorder player

C

Carver

I have a combination VHS/DVD recorder/player. How can I capture video from
that combination player to Windows MovieMaker?
 
J

John Inzer

Carver said:
I have a combination VHS/DVD recorder/player. How can I capture
video from that combination player to Windows MovieMaker?
===================================
Maybe the following links will get you started:

Are your source files on VHS....

Movie Maker 2 - Capturing Analog Video
http://www.papajohn.org/MM2-CaptureAnalog.html

Movie Maker 2 - Capturing Analog Video - Dazzle
http://www.papajohn.org/MM2-CaptureAnalogDazzle.html

or DVD?

Movie Maker 2 -
Importing Video from Discs
http://tinyurl.com/n3g2b

Editing video from a dvd
camcorder
http://tinyurl.com/rdo3k

Movie Maker 2 -
Importing MPEG Files
http://tinyurl.com/eajjh

--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! -
Digital Image MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://support.microsoft.com/ph/695

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk
 
L

LVTravel

While John has given good links to help capturing directly into MM if you
are going to have to purchase any item to do it I would recommend finding
one that I use extensively. It comes with a capture program that works with
it flawlessly and also comes with Ulead's Video Studio 9SE which is just as
powerful as MM and will also burn DVDs. It comes from ADS Tech and is
called DVD Xpress DX2.
http://www.adstech.com/products/USBAV-709-EF/intro/USBAV-709_intro.asp?pid=USBAV-709-EF
Costs about $70-80 and will capture anything that can be played on your
standalone DVD or VCR machine. It will connect to the DVD part using Svideo
if available or through standard RCA cables from the device (VCR & DVD) to
the player and USB from the device to the computer.

Newegg sells them www.newegg.com & search for DVD Xpress DX2 or click here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815255011&Tpk=DVD+Xpress+DX2
and on my search they had the best combined price with shipping.

I purchased one of mine from Sam's Club and the other from Wal-Mart but
haven't seen them there for some time.

I have no financial interest in ADS Tech or any company selling the product
but I do own two of them which are fixed permanently to two of my DVD/VCR
players that I plug in one of my laptops to do the capture or conversions.
 
C

Carver

John and LVT,

Thanks to both of you for all of that good information and all of those
links. You were very helpful.

The DVD Express DX2 sounds good to me. I had an ADS USB Instant VideoMPX
device that I used to capture video from an old Super8 anlog camcorder and
from a VHS/DVD combination player. That Video MPX stopped working and is now
apparently a discontinued item. I could not find a suggested substitute for
it on the ADS web site. So I am trying to learn what to do now that I do not
have the have the Video MPX. DVD Express DX2 appears to be the answer and I
certainly appreciate that. Thank you.
 
K

Kenny

I use a Matrox G450eTV card to capture from VCR or analogue camcorder.
Works very well with the supplied software and captures direct to MPEG2.
It's obsolete now but can still be found on Ebay.
 
L

LVTravel

Kenny said:
I use a Matrox G450eTV card to capture from VCR or analogue camcorder.
Works very well with the supplied software and captures direct to MPEG2.
It's obsolete now but can still be found on Ebay.
Kenny, the reason that I like the ADS device is that it is totally USB and
can be plugged into any system, including laptops. A TV card normally is
installed inside a box and can't be used on a laptop. I used to use the
latest ATI All-In-Wonder video card to capture video but found it didn't do
as good a job as the ADS device I recommended. I have also used the Dazzle
USB device and it wasn't as good as the ADS device I recommended. JMTCW!
 
C

Carver

LVTravel,

You said, "Kenny, the reason I like the ADS device is that it is totally
USB..."
I keep reading that a FireWire connection produces much better results than
a USB connection. Why do you prefer USB (or is it that Firewire cannot be
used with analog)?
 
L

LVTravel

I can understand your confusion.

For analog capture from either my Cable TV box, DVD player or VCR, the ADS
device that I recommended does all the analog video capture within the ADS
device (it does a hardware conversion) and doesn't use processor power from
the computer to do the capture. The USB connection to the computer is
required to be USB 2.0 and this is plenty fast to take the captured material
and send that "finished" datastream to the computer's hard drive. WMM
doesn't do analog capture at all without an intermediate device of some
form.

I use IEEE1394 (firewire) to get data from my digital video camera (miniDV)
to the computer. With the digital capture, that WMM is good at doing from a
miniDV device, there is an enormous amount of data being transmitted from
the camera to the computer, therefore, the sustained speed of firewire is
required and USB isn't appropriate for this transfer.

I use both methods for getting data from my supply device to the computer,
depending on the device supplying my video, so that I can use either WMM or
one of my other video editing programs (remember ULead's Video Studio is
included with the device) to create my final product for either computer or
DVD output.
 
J

John Hanley

Since you have a combination VCR/DVD Recorder, I just thought I would
mention the way I get my VHS video into my computer. I can put my VHS tape
in the VCR side of the combination player, hit the Dubbing button and the
VHS video is copied to and digitalized for the DVD disc. I then 'Finalize'
the DVD. The resulting files on the DVD have a .vob extension. Then I put
the DVD into my computer DVDRW and copy the .vob files to my computer hard
drive. Then I convert the .vob files to .wmv files using Windows Media
Encoder; the reason for that is that Windows Movie Maker does not handle
..vob files. Then, of course, I import the .wmv files to Windows Movie
Maker.

Just an alternative.
 
C

Carver

John and LVTravel,

Thanks to both of you for taking the time to explain. You were both very
helpful.
John, I did not know that I could dub the VHS to a DVD on my combination
player. I had a completely different notion of what "dub" meant, and have
ignored it completely. I look forward to trying that.

LV, thank you for the detailed explanation of how/why you use USB and
FireWire. I appreciate that. I will be getting that ADS USB device. I
decided that when you first told me about it. I was hoping to buy it locally
so I could walk into the store and get it, but it does not seem to be
available in any of our local stores such as Best Buy, Circuit City, Staples.
So I may well have to order it from the link that you provided. Thanks for
your help.
 
G

Graham Hughes

Copying to mpeg2, the vob, then converting to wmv will lose quality.
Another option is the advc range from canopus grass valley www.canopus.com
you can get one with will connect via firewire, then you can use any
software, such as MM, and capture as a dv.avi file.
 
C

Carver

LVTravel,

I ended up getting the DVD Xpress DX2 at WalMart ($59.95). For some strange
reason it is not shown in the WalMart online search engine but is available
in their stores.

I am sure that I will be happy with it once I get using it. Thanks for
pointing me towards this device.
 
L

LVTravel

Carver said:
LVTravel,

I ended up getting the DVD Xpress DX2 at WalMart ($59.95).
For some strange
reason it is not shown in the WalMart online search engine
but is available
in their stores.

I am sure that I will be happy with it once I get using
it. Thanks for
pointing me towards this device.
I really hope you enjoy the device and the two programs that
come with it. Make sure that once you have installed both
programs on the computer you go to the ADS Tech web site and
download the latest patches for both programs. There
weren't any issues that I had before the updates but the
updates seem to make both programs run smoother.
 
C

Carver

LVTravel,

I am having problems using my new DVDXpressDX2 capturing from a VHS tape in
my VCR to my PC using the CapWiz program that came with DVDXpres.

(There is a composite video cable between the VCR and the DVDXpress. And, I
select MPEG 2 format each time.)

When I capture and burn directly to DVD, the finished DVD will not play in
my stand- alone DVD player. I get the message that the disk cannot be read
and cannot be recorded on. Yet that disk will play on my computer using
Intervideo WinDVD player.

When I capture the VHS to a file on my PC and then use Ulead MovieFactory 5
to burn a DVD, the sound on the finished DVD is poor, although the sound on
the original VHS is excellent.

When I try to use Ulead VideoStudio 8 to burn the disk, I get the message
that there is a "File Mismatch."

I have done each of the above several times. Can you suggest what I am doing
wrong.

John, Kenny and Graham, thank you for the helpful suggestions that you made.
I appreciate them. However, since I now have DVDXpressDX2, I want to learn
how to use it properly.

Many thanks to all of you.
 

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