Those VHS to DVD USB Devices

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hamisht

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#94601 14-Dec-2011 19:30

I'm trying to convert some old tapes I have, to DVD. I can't do it through my Panasonic DVD Recorder, as some of them are pre-recorded films, so I would like to do them through my computer so I can alteast make a good menu, and edit out the credits and trailers.

I've bought a couple of those 'Easy/EzCap' devices, one a long long time ago, that couldn't do anything higher than 640x480 resolution, and another one just recently that should have been able to do it.

It was an 'EasyCap' device for the most recent one, but I could not get it to record my NTSC tape.. I changed a lot of settings, as it would only come up in Black and White, with no Audio. After a while, I eventually got Color and Audio, but when ever I went to record, it kept saying the frame size was wrong (set at 720x576 PAL when it should have been 720x480 NSTC), but everytime I changed it to the correct setting, it just changed back to PAL frame size.

I uninstalled the software (Ulead) and even chose NTSC as the default setup, but that didn't work either.

Can anyone recommend a different device? something reasonable cheap, as I don't have that many videos to justify hundreds of dollars.

I am on Vista 32bit. NTSC recording is a must. Anyone with a similar setup, and previous history of doing this would be awesome!

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hairy1

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#558051 14-Dec-2011 20:56

I got one of these for mysky and it seems to do a reasonable job:

http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=TVNHGR1518333&name=HAUPPAUGE-USB-Live2-USB-based-video-capture-device

I have an issue with the 16:9 flag on it which I haven't gotten around to sorting but otherwise it was easy to install and works as advertised.

Cheers, Matt.

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hamisht

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#558084 14-Dec-2011 22:26

Thanks Matt, I will check out some reviews and comments about that device. HAUPPAUGE is a well known brand, so that's a good thing.

What is the 16:9 problem you are having? capturing widescreen?

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hairy1

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#558117 15-Dec-2011 02:30

Yeah. For some reason it doesn't recognise the 16:9 flag on the widescreen feed and records it as 4:3. It is not a biggie as I can set it in VLC but I shouldn't have to....

Cheers.

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JimmyH

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#558491 15-Dec-2011 22:27

hamisht: I'm trying to convert some old tapes I have, to DVD. I can't do it through my Panasonic DVD Recorder, as some of them are pre-recorded films, so I would like to do them through my computer so I can alteast make a good menu, and edit out the credits and trailers.

Yes, you can.

You just need a video stabiliser to connect between the DVD recorder and the VCR, and it's a much lower hassle option than the computer capture. Plus, the Pannys do a good quality recording job, while many of the cheaper USB capture devices, frankly, don't.

I got mine from Jaycar about 4 years ago when converting all my video tapes. From memory it cost about $130. I think Jaycar still sells them, the one on their website for $109 (CAT. NO. AR1822) looks like the one I got. It says it does NTSC to PAL conversion for recording, tho' I never tried this.

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#558501 15-Dec-2011 22:52

FYI, The Hauppauge does "video stabilization"

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hamisht

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#558550 16-Dec-2011 07:48

JimmyH:
hamisht: I'm trying to convert some old tapes I have, to DVD. I can't do it through my Panasonic DVD Recorder, as some of them are pre-recorded films, so I would like to do them through my computer so I can alteast make a good menu, and edit out the credits and trailers.

Yes, you can.

You just need a video stabiliser to connect between the DVD recorder and the VCR, and it's a much lower hassle option than the computer capture. Plus, the Pannys do a good quality recording job, while many of the cheaper USB capture devices, frankly, don't.

I got mine from Jaycar about 4 years ago when converting all my video tapes. From memory it cost about $130. I think Jaycar still sells them, the one on their website for $109 (CAT. NO. AR1822) looks like the one I got. It says it does NTSC to PAL conversion for recording, tho' I never tried this.

Ah yes I have thought about that device, and it would make it a lot faster, just hit record then burn, but you lose out on any ability to add a custom menu... but I guess you could rip the DVD, then add one to it again.. I will see if my local store has one of those on special.

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SepticSceptic

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#558619 16-Dec-2011 10:31

hamisht: Ah yes I have thought about that device, and it would make it a lot faster, just hit record then burn, but you lose out on any ability to add a custom menu... but I guess you could rip the DVD, then add one to it again.. I will see if my local store has one of those on special.

That is my preferred method - rather than lugging the VCR over to the PC, or vice versa, and setting up all the video and audio cables.
Record to the DVD on the DVD recorder, pop the resulting DVD in to the PC, and use your favourite video editing tools to copy, clean up, splice 'n dice, add fades, credits, etc, and create menus. I use Nero 9.

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bfginger

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#558769 16-Dec-2011 17:41

The DVD format equals MPEG-2, which will diminish the quality more than capturing to a better format.

JimmyH

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#558809 16-Dec-2011 20:39

bfginger: The DVD format equals MPEG-2, which will diminish the quality more than capturing to a better format.

Not necessarily. It is a less efficient codec so, all other things being equal, compared to a modern codec it requires a bigger filesize to achieve a given level of quality. Recording to DVD in the Panny's standard mode (about 2 hours on a 4.3 GB disc) is fine for SD - remembering that source material from a VHS is never going to be fine to start with.

hamisht

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#559879 20-Dec-2011 11:20

Hey guys, so I went into a Jaycar store to buy one of those video stabilizer things, to just go straight to my DVD recorder, but they didn't have any, so I ended up buying another USB capture device, this time from a brand called 'Digitech'.. cost $60.

I managed to convert a PAL tape to MPEG2, but the audio was out of sync, I think caused due to a bit of tape breakup during the playback.

Can't get it to show colour with NTSC tapes (there is only two NTSC settings on the 'EZ Grabber' software provided, and neither is the correct one).

I'll try this device out some other software when I find some good ones.

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richms

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#560518 22-Dec-2011 00:53

Sure the vhs is outputting NTSC and not that bastard pal60 that so many of them do? I was never able to get that to capture properly

Richard rich.ms