VHS Tape To DVD

[PinkFloyd43]

I can find the hardware but was wondering if this was something that
could be built by a hobbyist? Googled for a schematic with little luck,
if it can't be built any recommendations on the hardware that goes
between VHS player and Computer/DVD burner?

Thanks!

 

[Impmon]

On Wed, 28 Nov 2007 00:15:44 GMT, PinkFloyd43
<pinkFloyd43@hotmail.com> wrote:

I can find the hardware but was wondering if this was something that
could be built by a hobbyist? Googled for a schematic with little luck,
if it can't be built any recommendations on the hardware that goes
between VHS player and Computer/DVD burner?

While you can use the PC and a video capture card like ATi TV Wonder
series, setting it up can be a pain in the butt. The cheap internal
hardware tended to rely on PC too much. External USB hardware is
mostly crap because USB is very chatty, if you use other USB devices
like keyboard and mouse, the captured video can stutter and drop
frames. If you get external device, get the firewire version, they
work much better than usb for high bandwidth use.

If you choose cheap internal video card or USB capture device, and if
you have slow or bogged down system, you'll suffer a lot of dropped
frames so a fast PC would be needed. For initial capture you need to
use codec that has minimial CPU load like Mjpeg or Huffyuv to reduce
the chance of dropped frames. Then run the captured video through
MPEG encoder like TMPGEnc to convert to MPG2 (MPG2 is NOT free, you
can use MPEG-1 instead for DVD but the quality suffers)

Finally you need a DVD authoring program to properly format the final
video file, add in menu and such.

In the long run, it may be easier to pick up a decent stand alone DVD
recorder and hook the VCR to it. Let the recorder burn the DVD
automatically off the tape, then you can rip the burned DVD on your PC
to edit out commercial breaks and unwanted scenes and author them for
final DVD.

For more on VHS to DVD capturing, I would suggest an all free web site
www.videohelp.com which offers link to many guides, many downloaded
tools (some free!), and has message forum to help you out. I am not
getting paid for this plug it's done very well for me in the past.

 

[Meat Plow]

On Wed, 28 Nov 2007 00:15:44 +0000, PinkFloyd43 wrote:

I can find the hardware but was wondering if this was something that
could be built by a hobbyist? Googled for a schematic with little luck,
if it can't be built any recommendations on the hardware that goes
between VHS player and Computer/DVD burner?

Thanks!

You want to build a video capture device? Have a look at what the
Brooktree BT848 video capture chip does.

<www.ai.mit.edu/projects/VariableViewpointReality/DataSheets/l848a_a.pdf>

 

[David L. Jones]

On Nov 28, 11:15 am, PinkFloyd43 <pinkFloy...@hotmail.com> wrote:

I can find the hardware but was wondering if this was something that
could be built by a hobbyist? Googled for a schematic with little luck,
if it can't be built any recommendations on the hardware that goes
between VHS player and Computer/DVD burner?

Thanks!

There is nothing to "build". The VHS VCR will have a composite video
output. Simply connect that to any PC video capture card and record
using whatever software came with the card. Or connect the VCR
directly to a DVD recorder.

You could in theory build a "black box" yourself, but you'd have to
basically build a complete computer system to capture the video,
process it, and burn to the DVD drive. This is essentially what a DVD
recorder is.

Dave.

 

[ChairmanOfTheBored]

On Wed, 28 Nov 2007 00:15:44 GMT, PinkFloyd43 <pinkFloyd43@hotmail.com>
wrote:

I can find the hardware but was wondering if this was something that
could be built by a hobbyist? Googled for a schematic with little luck,
if it can't be built any recommendations on the hardware that goes
between VHS player and Computer/DVD burner?

Whatever it is, it won't change the fact that DVDs are poor video
quality, and VHS even worse, so the end result will be pretty damned bad.

Next thin you know, you'll be wanting to record them onto an HD format.

It's real simple. Feed your VHS composite out or S-VHS out to your
video card's (must be a tuner type vid card usually) S-VHS or composite
in. Record using a DiVX codec, and then all the mush that you have
recorded on tape can then be burned onto a DVD. Then you need a DVD
player that will play DiVX files/discs.

 

[ChairmanOfTheBored]

On Tue, 27 Nov 2007 20:28:17 -0500, Meat Plow <meat@petitmorte.net>
wrote:

On Wed, 28 Nov 2007 00:15:44 +0000, PinkFloyd43 wrote:

I can find the hardware but was wondering if this was something that
could be built by a hobbyist? Googled for a schematic with little luck,
if it can't be built any recommendations on the hardware that goes
between VHS player and Computer/DVD burner?

Thanks!

You want to build a video capture device? Have a look at what the
Brooktree BT848 video capture chip does.

www.ai.mit.edu/projects/VariableViewpointReality/DataSheets/l848a_a.pdf

Nice chip, but not something a home "hobbyist" will be cranking out a

full utilization of any time soon.

 

[Oppie]

Stand-alone DVD recorders with digital tuners are now below $200. Wonder how
good a transfer would be to go from the output of the VCR to input of DVD
recorder?

I used to work in a studio and when we made any dubs, it was always through
a Time Base Corrector and Proc amp. Was nice but very expensive, in those
days at least (1980's).


"PinkFloyd43" <pinkFloyd43@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:Qq23j.37588$Xg.12181@trnddc06...

I can find the hardware but was wondering if this was something that could
be built by a hobbyist? Googled for a schematic with little luck, if it
can't be built any recommendations on the hardware that goes between VHS
player and Computer/DVD burner?

Thanks!

 

If they are "commercial" VHS tapes (pre-recorded when you bought
them), you will need one of those gadgets to remove the copyguard.

 

[Paul Hovnanian P.E.]

Oppie wrote:

Stand-alone DVD recorders with digital tuners are now below $200. Wonder how
good a transfer would be to go from the output of the VCR to input of DVD
recorder?

I don't know, but for a few dollars more, a good dual VHS/DVD
player/burner with a copy function can be had.

--
Paul Hovnanian mailtoaul@Hovnanian.com
------------------------------------------------------------------
Sleep is for wimps. Happy, healthy, well-rested wimps, but wimps
nonetheless.

 

[RST Engineering (jw)]

We got one on sale last week for $60. Excellent video quality.

Jim

I don't know, but for a few dollars more, a good dual VHS/DVD
player/burner with a copy function can be had.