Re: VHS tapes and DVDs
- From: Chrono1st <Chrono1st@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 12:54:02 -0700
Wow, thank you so much everyone for the replies. This is exactly the help I
wanted.
The VHS tapes I want to copy are very important, as I'm doing it as a favor
for a friend, as well as for myself. So, I'll probably go with the
higher-quality equipment (but none of that crazy super-expensive pro-stuff!).
So, for tuner cards, this Hauppauge 150 is pretty good? I guess I'll
purchase that one. Also, I really like the sound of these "dual-layer" DVDs,
so I'll look for a DVD burner that can do dual-layer, and then also purchase
the appropriate DVDs. I'm assuming there's no difference in quality (AKA,
maybe less quality because it is cramming more data onto the DVD)? Finally,
I think I'll probably have to buy another hard drive, since mine only has
about 40Gb of space free. Oh, you mentioned a Video ReDo Plus for editing
commercials, so maybe I'll go with that one, too...
I guess first of all I'll need to find a good piece of hardware for putting
the VHS tapes onto my computer. Aaaaaa, so many steps.
I looked around on Google and found so many options, but I have no idea
which companies are considered good, which products are high-quality, etc.
Eric Blaines mentioned a combined DVD recorder and VHS tape player is good.
I guess anything that will put the videos onto my computer 100% is okay,
right? Since once they are on my computer I can fiddle around with them all
I want. Will pretty much any hardware that puts VHS onto the computer put
100% of the data on? If there are important differences, please tell me.
Okay, I'll go and do more searching and maybe just take some guesses at what
is best.
Thanks so much,
Chrono1st
"Dana Cline - MVP" wrote:
Replies inline below....
"Chrono1st" <Chrono1st@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:F3FA2E75-8B66-4B60-AF9F-01C3C9B18B18@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Wow, I am completely and totally overwhelmed by the amount of information
here, it's scarying me. Even the mere act of putting this thread into the
correct discussion group was beyond me. I don't have XP Media Center
Edition, I think it's just the normal edition. Sorry! People in this
section seemed to know a ton about this kind of stuff, so I thought
*maybe*
it was a good place to ask my questions.
What I'd like to do is:
My friend has many, many old VHS tapes, of recorded sports events and
other
things. I'd like copies of his tapes, and told him that since we're going
to
go and copy fourty odd tapes anyway, why not covert them to a better
format?
You know, tapes go bad over time, etc.
So, I'd like to copy these VHS tapes to DVDs. I'd also like to edit them,
to perfectly cut out all the commercials, while leaving the events
themselves
intact. Also, if possible (I have NO idea if it is possible), I'd like to
improve the quality of the videos. So, covert to DVD, cut out all
unnecessary stuff like commercials, and if possible, make even better
quality.
Some easy, some not. You can record those VHS tapes to computer video
files - to do that you'll need a tuner card and the software that comes with
it. You can edit out the commercials with many programs - I use Video ReDo
Plus from www.videoredo.com. You could also do it with something like
Windows MovieMaker. Then you'll need some DVD burning software that can make
video DVDs. This is all easy - just spend some money and hook it all
together.
However, improving the quality of the videos is generally beyond what most
PC software is capable of. Some of the top-end packages might have this sort
of feature, but top end in this field could be $10k or more.
The problem is, I am almost totally computer illiterate. I tried looking
around this forum for the same question, and I found it several times.
Unfortunately, many people were responding to the questions with acronyms,
which I didn't understand at all. Anytime someone uses an acronym, I am
just
like "huh?" and become confused. Again, sorry.
Can anyone explain this to me, part by part? Please explain as if you were
talking to a small child, with overbearing amounts of details. I'm
assuming
I'm going to need to buy several different things to do this, but I don't
know what, obviously. Some sort of hardware for turning the VHS into
computer data I'd guess, but I don't have ANY idea what hardware that
would
be, which brands are best, etc. Money isn't so important, I'd rather buy
something high-quality that records the VHS perfectly. Aside from that,
I'm
The VHS is going to be of low quality to begin with. You can get a full
tuner card such as the Hauppauge 150 for maybe $65, but if you don't need
Media Center compatibility, you can get by with cheaper hardware. Visit a
local large computer store if you can and see what they have.
assuming I'll need some kind of program to actually edit the data once
it's
on my computer (for cutting out the commercials and such). Again, don't
know
which program is best. I've been hearing people mentioning something
called
Movie Maker, but I don't know what that is, or if that is what I want.
Comes free with Windows XP, should be on the start menu under accessories, I
think. Nice little program - easy to use and just enough features for the
casual user.
Finally, after transfering the VHS to my computer and editing them, I need
to
burn them on to DVDs, right? Of course, again I don't know what hardware I
need for that. Like before, I'd like to buy the highest quality hardware,
so
the DVDs turn out at the highest quality that they possibly can. Which
brand
would be ideal for this?
There are lots of them and most are quite acceptable...DVD burners have
reached the era of commodity items. The newest features are dual-layer and
light scribe. Dual layer means you can burn twice as much data (needs
dual-layer media), light scribe means you can use it as a printer,
basically, you flip your just-burned disk over and then laser etch your
artwork on the other side.
I guess you can divide my quest into three parts - VHS to computer,
editing
data, computer to DVD. Any help people can give is greatly appreciated.
Stepping me through it slowly and thoroughly would leave me unspeakably
happy. Thank you all for your time. Also, sorry I wrote such an absurdly
long post..... I guess I wanted to be thorough explaining everything.
Oh, a small thing - I keep hearing that VHS tapes take up crazy amount of
space. Some of these sporting events, even with commercials out, will be
hours long, I'd wager. Is it possible to put the entire event on a single
DVD? Do any sort of "super-DVDs" exist that hold more data or something?
The average DVD can hold 4.7Gb, which can hold a variable amount of stuff.
Things like DVD movies are compressed with much more powerful hardware than
an average PC, so they can crunch down a 2-hour movie to fit. The
compression you will get will not be as good, so you might be only able to
fit an hour on a DVD. The dual-layer DVDs I mentioned hold twice as much,
but the blanks are around $3-5 each. Normal DVD blanks are maybe 25 cents
each. And you'll want to make sure your hard drive has plenty of space -
fortunately you can get 200Gb drives for under $100 these days.
Dana Cline - MCE MVP
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