Okay, I seem to be repeating myself in several threads about this subject. But based on my experience with converting VHS to DVD, the low prices of DVD recorders these days, and the expense of getting decent video editing software/hardware, GO BUY YOURSELF A DVD RECORDER!!! Pros: - Excellent if you just want to archive lots of VHS tapes. You can always edit your DVDs later. - Capture and it's already in DVD format, ready to use. No learning editing software, etc. - Quality almost identical to original VHS tape - TIME-SAVER! No 1 hr to capture plus 3 hrs to edit plus 4 hrs to "render" for a 1 hr VHS you don't like that much anyway. - $$$$-SAVER! No more equipment to buy. I had to buy another $150 hard drive, not including the $200 MovieBox USB, and of course, it was the only reason I dumped my old PC to get a Dell P4 2.53 Ghz with all the works - DVD-burner, fast vid card, lots of RAM, etc. Cons: - Limited editing and menu-making ability. Also no special vid/sound effects. The only reason I didn't go for one myself last year was because they were $600 and up. I really wish I would have instead of wasting all these hours with Studio 8 which can't even get the sound and video to be in sync! Honestly, I'm not involved in DVD recorder sales. If you're just looking to archive lots of tapes with not much fuss about fancy menus and fade ins/outs, go with a DVD recorder. I'd like to read any arguments for or against that I may have missed.
Have to agree, unfortunatley. I say 'unfortunately' because it's taken a long time and lots of trial and error, not to mention some expensive mistakes with hardware, to be able to produce decent captures. Now along come DVD recorders which do it all better at the press of a button. Still, that's progress. You can still do all this as a hobby I guess.
There are some Problems Inherant to DVD Recorders Like: #1) You will need a Video Stabilizer to defeat the Macrovision if Trying to record from VHS Tapes or from DVD Players... #2) You can not edit out comercials with the DVD Recorder.. #3) You can not accurately Choose the Bitrate and audio formats for the Recordings... #4) You can"t add Chapters or Menu"s or Add Transitions or Filters to the Recordings... #5) You can Not choose the Resolution or Change the aspect ratio of resordings... #6) They are Still Quite expensive ,Well they are were I live in Canada, They are about $500-$800 each.. But if someone Basicly Just wants to Record from any Signal without really careing about editing or Controll over the Vidio properties or Quality then they are great...I bought a Panasonc DVD Recorder and used it for a Little over a week and the Quality was Pretty good but the Things I mentioned above Made me Bring it Back for a refund..Becides Captureing and Editing and DVD authoring Is a Lot more Fun that Letting the DVD Recorder do all of the work, That is if you enjoy working with Video which i have to because I work with it every day at work (when I"m working at the studio) so Not likeing what I"m doing is not an Option for me....Cheers
The thing is that you can do all the editing you want with the right software, simply by taking the DVD from the recorder and putting it in your PC. When you've removed the commercials and created your menus you then write it back to a - or + blank of your choice and erase the RW disc ready for reuse in your recorder. Basically, all a recorder does is remove the need for a capture card/external box and an MPEG encoder. This leaves you with the fun part to continue with as a hobbyist, if that's what you want to do.
Minion, you are 100% correct with all your weaknesses about DVD recorders, and I would have touched on some of those points too but I didn't want to write a book. #1) About the Macrovision - that's only on copy-protected commercial VHS, so my suggestion to anyone converting a VHS of "Scream 2" is to just buy the DVD or get DXDXCopy. #2) You can't edit out commercials while recording the DVD (although I heard you can edit/hide it ON the DVD LATER using the DVD recorder itself). However, for anyone wanting to do edits in detail, you can always convert your DVD (.VOB) files to AVI/MPEG and use your favorite video editing software to re-author your DVD. #3) DVD recorders aren't flexible with the quality settings either (you can't choose to record at 7500 b/s like you can with software. You only get to choose 1-hr, 2-hr, 4-hr, and 6-hr settings like VHS recorders. But the VHS recording at SLP setting isn't going to miraculously give you digital video quality with software either. And strange thing about the audio formats, the DVDs a friend made for me from VHS tapes with his DVD recorder kept Dolby Digital audio. I have no idea how to keep Dolby Digital audio on the DVDs I created with Studio 8 (which btw, had really bad audio out of sync problems). #4) As I said, the real weakness of DVD recording is in creating menus and fancing transitions like fades in/out. If you have lots of time and enjoy making these fancy cuts like a real Hollywood producer, go for it. Just remember that it takes time. With Studio 8, even after all the editing, it takes 5 hours per one hour of video to "render" your results into a DVD!!! Just remember too that with a program like ImTOO DVD Ripper, you can always convert your DVD into AVI/MPEG that you can edit. At worse, you have a $300 video capture device (DVD recorder) but you don't have to worry about buying another hard drive with plenty of room (4GB per 1hr in MPEG, LOTS more for AVI) and speed (7200rpm at least). This doesn't include a video capture card which alone can cost $200. In short, if you're just beginning and don't have the system resources or know-how of video editing, your best bet is to buy a DVD recorder. That is just my opinion. I haven't bought one yet because I'm waiting for the really good ones to come down even further in price and maybe finally include more features like stronger video editing.
Hi, I like jump in here. I have just bought a Phillips Recorder, pretty cheap I have to say, and I’m thrilled with the quality of the picture and sound. I have been to hell and back trying to get decent quality from various capture cards trying to capture directly to my hard drive but couldn’t get the quality, The recorder blows away any captures I ever did. So here my question, I want to import my vob files that the recorder has made onto my pc so I can create menus for them. Edit them and stuff Does anyone know anyone good software that will let me import vob files for editing? The thing is the recorder makes AC3 audio and ULEAD which I have been using to edit doesn’t support ac3. Please Help.
Mpeg2VCR will Edit in a Frame accurate way any Mpeg2 file with AC3 audio which is what Vob files are...Cheers
You were asking about a Program for Editing VOB files with AC3 audio were you Not???? Well that is what I was talking about...
I used this program called ImTOO DVD Ripper which rips the VOBs into AVI or MPEG2 for editing and even lets you set the sound option to AC3 (http://www.imtoo.com/dvd-ripper.html) I'm not sure if that's what you want to do, but it worked for me when I needed to edit a DVD with VOBs.
I like to capture, edit, and author DVDs, but the comments above about the process being time consuming are very true. But I'd also like to backup my home videos with a direct copy to DVD without having to capture (I can always edit later as has been pointed out). For this, a DVD recorder makes a lot of sense. One article I read said you can convert to DVD and burn your tapes (literally). I'm not convinced. I just tried a Go Video DVD recorder and found it very frustrating. In the end, I got decent quality video but the DVDs would only play on one of my four stand-alone players. So I returned the unit. A friend tried HPs DC3000 and couldn't get it to work. So he returned that unit as well. Last month, HP unveiled their new 4000 model. It should be available in April. It will write both plus and minus and at up to 8x. I'm eager to try this out but don't have any great expectations since my experience with HP in the past has not been good. Another approach I've been playing with is capturing and burning on the fly. The advantage of this is that it costs less than a DVD recorder and I can back up my home videos to DVD in real time. I also have the option of capturing to my hard drive. But I've had less than satisfactory results. Maybe someone out there has found better approach--any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I've tried ADS Instant DVD. It captures through a USB 2.0 port. I've gotten good video, but had problems with the audio being out of sync in a range of between 2 and 9 frames. I emailed ADS for advice and received no response. I've tried two versions of AVerMedia: a DVD EZMaker PCI and their USB 2.0 version. I didn't get very far with the USB version before taking it back--can't remember my exact complaints now. The PCI version has been okay. No audio sync problems, but the video quality is not quite what I'd like it to be. Bottom line, I'm still looking for an acceptable way to copy video to DVD.
Well If you want the Best Quality without any Sync Problems then you have got to spend the Money for a High quality device...I think the Next Capture Device I am going to get will be a Canopus ACEDVio from what I hear from a couple of poeple that I had recomended it to on this forum it is a Very High Quality Capture device, It is an Analogue/Digital Converter built on a PCI Card that Compresses the Video Signal to DV AVI useing a Built in Hardware DV Encoder Chip, it has Outputs for External TV Monitors so you can see what it will look like on TV after you create the DVD, It also has a feature were it Locks the audio and video into the Same stream at the Time of Capture so there is never a chance for audio and Video sync problems...It can be used with any Capture/Editing Program that can capture from a Firewire Card...It costs about the same as an ADVC-100 accept that it is Internal and the ADVC-100 is External, so about $250 US which is actually a Lot cheaper than some Graphics cards with Capture Like the ATI All In Wonder 9800 Pro or some Satalite Carture devices....cheers
Minion, Thanks for your input. I've seen your knowledgeable postings throughout the forum. I'm trying to get great quality with a real time conversion to DVD. Your information on the Canopus ACEDVio and ADVC-100 sounds like a great approach to capturing video, but can I burn a DVD with either Canopus system as the video is captured? In other words, five minutes after 60 minutes of video has been captured, can a DVD be finalized and ejected?
The Video then have to be Encoded useing a Mpeeg encoder...Hardware DV Compression is of Higher Quality than most hardware Mpeg Compression especially in the same Price range and Because DV is actually Much Less Compressed than Mpeg it can achieve higher Quality Video..You would Need to use a High Quality Mpeg encoder to Encode the DV File to Mpeg2 for DVD ...You could use one with a Software Mpeg capture Program Like WinDVR 3.0 and then Burn the captured file to DVD but you would get Much better quality Useing the Other Method...If you have a Fast PC the encodeing doesn"t take that Long and you make up for it with the Higher Quality.......Cheers
I'm also interested in the Acedvio card. I see where you can get it bundled with Vegas 4. The best price I've seen for the bundle is at www.academicsuperstore for $340; however, you need a student ID to get the academic price.
I just saw the Canopus ACEDVio Card for $175 US on EBay but it usually sells for about $225, this is Just for the Hardware and no software but Software That will work with this card is easy enough to find.. I am actually Trying to decide on weather to get this Card or get My self a new Drum set ,What a Dilema?? I recomended this device to someone on this Forum who ended up getting it and a whole bunch of other stuff I recomended to them and they said the Capture Quality with the device was Awesome so I feel it is a Good one to get especially if you can get it for the Price I seen it on e-bay for.....Cheers
I'm totally with DogBomb. It's such a waste of time to render and encode by computer. I have Easy CD creator 6. I like it's very intuitive interface and menu templates. However, you're forced to use its encoder which is garbage. Blocky artifacts. It will read VOB's encoded by a DVD recorder, but will try to re-encode at glacial 6 frames per second. The DVD recorder was a $299 Philips and it encoded nice high quality picture, no blockiness. So I'm left with the question, is there any such product that will allow you to use VOB's encoded by DVD recorder - quick, cheap, and high quality - and author custom menus around them, without re-encoding the existing VOB files. That would be the perfect way to do things.
