NEED TECH HELP! transferring media from various sources to PC

[Punk But Not That Punk]

hi...so, i recently find myself needing to transfer/capture audio and/or
video from various sources, and turn it into a PC file (.mp3, .wav, .mpg,
etc). i have no idea how to go about it, or even if these are all
possible...

the sources are:
* old cassette tapes
* old VHS tapes
* streaming video from the internet (i certainly know enough to right-click
and "save as" -- but what about when that's not an option? e.g. when the
link opens a separate window that the file plays in and right-clicking would
only save the html file...)
* flash/shockwave animations from the internet

logic tells me that:
* for the tapes, there should be some sort of card i could install, enabling
me to run regular old A/V cables from a stereo or VCR into the back of my
PC, and some sort of software to turn that input into a file; and
* for the internet sources, the media must be temporarily stored on my PC in
*some* way while it's being viewed, so there should be some way to capture
it.

i'm using a PC, about 4 years old, running WinMe (though i could upgrade to
XP soon, especially if solving this very problem gives me a good excuse to).
i have only minor tech savvy, and not a lot of money to throw around, so i'm
hoping for a solution along the lines of "buy this affordable card, stick it
in the slot on your PC, and download this freeware."

this is not any sort of piracy scheme -- i have no intention of making any
sort of profit from this, or violating anyone's copyrights.

i bow to the experts! i would appreciate it if any replies cc'd
(e-mail address removed) -- but i'm happy enough just to get some help, so i
won't push my luck!

thanks folks...
"Punk But"

 

[Juhan Leemet]

hi...so, i recently find myself needing to transfer/capture audio and/or
video from various sources, and turn it into a PC file (.mp3, .wav, .mpg,
etc). i have no idea how to go about it, or even if these are all
possible...

the sources are:
* old cassette tapes
* old VHS tapes

Use the RCA "line out" from stereo to any reasonable built-in or add-in
sound card. You probably want some hiss/noise filtering in the software?

* streaming video from the internet (i certainly know enough to right-click
and "save as" -- but what about when that's not an option? e.g. when the
link opens a separate window that the file plays in and right-clicking would
only save the html file...)
* flash/shockwave animations from the internet

Dunno how to do this. Never had the need, though I'd like to rip audio
from some of my concert DVDs so I can play the audio alone. Priorities.

logic tells me that:
* for the tapes, there should be some sort of card i could install, enabling
me to run regular old A/V cables from a stereo or VCR into the back of my
PC, and some sort of software to turn that input into a file; and
* for the internet sources, the media must be temporarily stored on my PC in
*some* way while it's being viewed, so there should be some way to capture
it.

Probably a standard Soundblaster (16? AWE?) either PCI or ISA bus.

i'm using a PC, about 4 years old, running WinMe (though i could upgrade to
XP soon, especially if solving this very problem gives me a good excuse to).
i have only minor tech savvy, and not a lot of money to throw around, so i'm
hoping for a solution along the lines of "buy this affordable card, stick it
in the slot on your PC, and download this freeware."

Should be good enough as long as you don't apply too much "eye candy"
(i.e. spectrum displays, oscilloscope displays, psychedelic displays, etc.).

I run Linux, not Windows (I can double boot to WinME, but I rarely do,
these days). I know that Audacity is a good recorder/editor for audio,
with a bunch of plugins (like noise filtering, etc.). It runs on both
Linux and Windows. There are many others. Look for noise filtering though.

this is not any sort of piracy scheme -- i have no intention of making
any sort of profit from this, or violating anyone's copyrights.

I believe you are permitted to do this "for your own use". My view is that
if I have bought the medium, that gives me the right to enjoy it in any
way that I want, including (leaving the CD in a crate in the closet) and
playing (but not "sharing") the songs from my computer. I know the
"entertainment industry" would like to sell us the same stuff, over and
over, on different media (or every time we listen?!?), but that's crazy
and greedy. I believe the law is even written (at least it used to be)
that you are allowed to make copies for your own use, not to sell.

i bow to the experts! i would appreciate it if any replies cc'd
(e-mail address removed) -- but i'm happy enough just to get some help, so
i won't push my luck!

Not an expert, but I hope it's helpful.
I'm sure you'll get other suggestions, too.

 

[Robert Baer]

hi...so, i recently find myself needing to transfer/capture audio and/or
video from various sources, and turn it into a PC file (.mp3, .wav, .mpg,
etc). i have no idea how to go about it, or even if these are all
possible...

the sources are:
* old cassette tapes
* old VHS tapes
* streaming video from the internet (i certainly know enough to right-click
and "save as" -- but what about when that's not an option? e.g. when the
link opens a separate window that the file plays in and right-clicking would
only save the html file...)
* flash/shockwave animations from the internet

logic tells me that:
* for the tapes, there should be some sort of card i could install, enabling
me to run regular old A/V cables from a stereo or VCR into the back of my
PC, and some sort of software to turn that input into a file; and
* for the internet sources, the media must be temporarily stored on my PC in
*some* way while it's being viewed, so there should be some way to capture
it.

i'm using a PC, about 4 years old, running WinMe (though i could upgrade to
XP soon, especially if solving this very problem gives me a good excuse to).
i have only minor tech savvy, and not a lot of money to throw around, so i'm
hoping for a solution along the lines of "buy this affordable card, stick it
in the slot on your PC, and download this freeware."

this is not any sort of piracy scheme -- i have no intention of making any
sort of profit from this, or violating anyone's copyrights.

i bow to the experts! i would appreciate it if any replies cc'd
(e-mail address removed) -- but i'm happy enough just to get some help, so i
won't push my luck!

thanks folks...
"Punk But"

For video capture, i use an "ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon AGP video card
with video capture" card.
However, be advised that the CPU clock speed should be about 2Ghz or
better.
You play your video tapes into the RF input and the audio out from the
card needs to be patched to the Line In of the "sound card" part of the
ATX combo board; make sure the audio control is open when recording.
Software comes with the video card for capture, and allows a rather
wide range of formats, sizes and resolutions, some are too intensive for
a 2GHz systen to handle (those eat too much HD space anyway), some are
so crude as to be worthless, and you may find groups of formats that the
visible resolution all look the same (i pick the one taking the smallest
space per minute of recording).
I found that Win98Se and Win2K both can support the recording, but
have found that Win2K is more robust and seems to have more "headroom"
(faster, less likely for dropout notices), so i wouldexpext that WinMe
to be as good as Win2K.

 

[Clive Savage]

For video capture, i use an "ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon AGP video card
with video capture" card.
However, be advised that the CPU clock speed should be about 2Ghz or
better.

Works fine with 1.3Ghz here.

You play your video tapes into the RF input and the audio out from the
card needs to be patched to the Line In of the "sound card" part of the
ATX combo board; make sure the audio control is open when recording.

You can use the RF input, but for better results use the composite
(phono) video input.

If you have an Svideo output from your video recorder this will give
best results.

Most TV cards have a capture function, check that the files are
encoded in Mpeg format.

Software comes with the video card for capture, and allows a rather
wide range of formats, sizes and resolutions, some are too intensive for
a 2GHz systen to handle (those eat too much HD space anyway), some are
so crude as to be worthless, and you may find groups of formats that the
visible resolution all look the same (i pick the one taking the smallest
space per minute of recording).
I found that Win98Se and Win2K both can support the recording, but
have found that Win2K is more robust and seems to have more "headroom"
(faster, less likely for dropout notices), so i wouldexpext that WinMe
to be as good as Win2K.

I have found that WinXp is the better (most stable) OS for this app.

You HD must be formated to NTFS file system or your output files will
be limited to 4Gb in size.

Hope this helps.


Bye for now.

Clive.