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Guest
I just bought a Gateway 825GM. Specs are P4 550 (3.4 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 1MB L2
cache), 250 GB SATA HDD (7200 RPM, 8MB cache), 1 GB DDR (dual channel
memory), ATI Radeon X300 SE (128 MB PCI-Express Card), Avermedia M-150 TV
Tuner Card, 8.5 GB Double Layer 16X DVD+/-RW and 16X DVD Drives, 8-in-1
Digital Media Reader, 2 Firewire and 7 USB ports, Win XP MCE 2005.
I bought this unit for the purpose of capturing, editing, and converting VHS
video to DVD. Advertisement in paper and salesman said that it was just what
I needed for my desired purpose. I have spent the last three weeks
downloading driver updates for the various hardware and software that are
included with the package and trying to make them all work together. After
much aggravation and pulling of hair, (I am now completely bald), I was able
to make my first attempt at capturing and converting my VHS video.
I bought a new Toshiba VHS/DVD combo player to play my source videos on. I
used the component (yellow) video output and used an inline converter (Radio
Shack Analog/Digital A/V Signal Converter) to convert it to Svideo that would
input into the Avermedia M-150 card. I used the RCA audio (red & white) and
input those into the M-150 inputs also.
To start simple, I just wanted to capture and entire 2 hour VHS tape in
Movie Maker 2 that came with the computer and burn it onto a DVD for an
archive copy. I set the video capture format to "best available for display
on my computer" which defaulted to .wmv at 720 x 480 and 30 fps. I captured
the entire tape and choose data format for viewing on my computer when
burning to DVD. After the project was complete, I noticed a few problems. The
2 hours of captured video had been broken into over 300 individual clips even
though I had only hit start capture at the beginning and stop capture at the
end. I have since been told that there is a setting that I need to change in
Movie Maker that will prevent this from happening. I also noticed that in
both the captured video in Movie Maker and on the DVD+R that I had burned,
there were many places that had distortion in the video that was not seen in
the orginal VHS source tape. Some video looked ok, but there were a lot of
places that had distortions. There would be a horizontal band of distortion
that would appear across the middle of the screen and then go away. There
would also be vertical distortion were the outlines of characters would morph
and bend and them clear up somewhat.
My question is where do I begin in eliminating these problems. One
suggestion was that I needed to capture the analog video in DV-AVI format. I
see this option in Movie Maker but it is not available to me. Help says that
the option is only available when capturing from a digital VCR or digital
camcorder. Another suggestion is that I need to buy a digital camcorder with
pass through capability and output my VCR into the digital camcorder and then
into the Fire Wire port on my computer. Other suggestions have said to buy an
S-VHS VCR and various hardware filter devices and run the VCR output through
these before inputing into the computer.
I am new to video capture, editing, etc and am also not a computer genius. I
just want to be able to get a good a product as possible without spending any
money that is not necessary. That being said, these VHS source videos do mean
a great deal to me and I would like to do a good job. I have 20 2 hour VHS
tapes of my son that died in an auto accident a few years ago at 19 years of
age. I want to take these videos and hundreds of scanned photos and place
them on DVD to distribute to family members that I will not allow near my
original sources. I want to share without endangering my originals.
Do I have the necessary equipment for doing a good job of this or do I need
to acquire additional equipment or software? I am asking those who have
experience for their advice and suggestions. Please help.
cache), 250 GB SATA HDD (7200 RPM, 8MB cache), 1 GB DDR (dual channel
memory), ATI Radeon X300 SE (128 MB PCI-Express Card), Avermedia M-150 TV
Tuner Card, 8.5 GB Double Layer 16X DVD+/-RW and 16X DVD Drives, 8-in-1
Digital Media Reader, 2 Firewire and 7 USB ports, Win XP MCE 2005.
I bought this unit for the purpose of capturing, editing, and converting VHS
video to DVD. Advertisement in paper and salesman said that it was just what
I needed for my desired purpose. I have spent the last three weeks
downloading driver updates for the various hardware and software that are
included with the package and trying to make them all work together. After
much aggravation and pulling of hair, (I am now completely bald), I was able
to make my first attempt at capturing and converting my VHS video.
I bought a new Toshiba VHS/DVD combo player to play my source videos on. I
used the component (yellow) video output and used an inline converter (Radio
Shack Analog/Digital A/V Signal Converter) to convert it to Svideo that would
input into the Avermedia M-150 card. I used the RCA audio (red & white) and
input those into the M-150 inputs also.
To start simple, I just wanted to capture and entire 2 hour VHS tape in
Movie Maker 2 that came with the computer and burn it onto a DVD for an
archive copy. I set the video capture format to "best available for display
on my computer" which defaulted to .wmv at 720 x 480 and 30 fps. I captured
the entire tape and choose data format for viewing on my computer when
burning to DVD. After the project was complete, I noticed a few problems. The
2 hours of captured video had been broken into over 300 individual clips even
though I had only hit start capture at the beginning and stop capture at the
end. I have since been told that there is a setting that I need to change in
Movie Maker that will prevent this from happening. I also noticed that in
both the captured video in Movie Maker and on the DVD+R that I had burned,
there were many places that had distortion in the video that was not seen in
the orginal VHS source tape. Some video looked ok, but there were a lot of
places that had distortions. There would be a horizontal band of distortion
that would appear across the middle of the screen and then go away. There
would also be vertical distortion were the outlines of characters would morph
and bend and them clear up somewhat.
My question is where do I begin in eliminating these problems. One
suggestion was that I needed to capture the analog video in DV-AVI format. I
see this option in Movie Maker but it is not available to me. Help says that
the option is only available when capturing from a digital VCR or digital
camcorder. Another suggestion is that I need to buy a digital camcorder with
pass through capability and output my VCR into the digital camcorder and then
into the Fire Wire port on my computer. Other suggestions have said to buy an
S-VHS VCR and various hardware filter devices and run the VCR output through
these before inputing into the computer.
I am new to video capture, editing, etc and am also not a computer genius. I
just want to be able to get a good a product as possible without spending any
money that is not necessary. That being said, these VHS source videos do mean
a great deal to me and I would like to do a good job. I have 20 2 hour VHS
tapes of my son that died in an auto accident a few years ago at 19 years of
age. I want to take these videos and hundreds of scanned photos and place
them on DVD to distribute to family members that I will not allow near my
original sources. I want to share without endangering my originals.
Do I have the necessary equipment for doing a good job of this or do I need
to acquire additional equipment or software? I am asking those who have
experience for their advice and suggestions. Please help.