hi can someone tell me the way i should capture from a vhs video tape :
do i capture it as a mpeg, dvd, e.t.c as i have just captured a tape to my pc as an m peg and when i try to burn it to a 4.7 gb dvd disc it says its to big .however it says in the properties the size of the file is only 2.7 gig but when i try to burn it back in ulead it says its to big as it is 10.1
can someone tell me what settings i should have it set on when i want to capture the vhs tape to my pc obviously i am in the uk and the tape is PAL the tape is 2hours .25mins long
hi can someone tell me the way i should capture from a vhs video tape :
It depends on what type of capture device you have...
however it says in the properties the size of the file is only 2.7 gig but when i try to burn it back in ulead it says its to big as it is 10.1
Try checking the box that says Do Not Convert Compliant MPEGs. If your audio and video are DVD compliant, the file size won't change. (Uncompressed LPCM audio can eat-up lots of disc space.)
The file size is determined by the combined audio & video bitrate and the playing time. Here's an online Bit Rate Calculator.
DVDdoug wrote:Higher bitrate = higher quality = bigger file size = lower compression = less playing time.
Lower bitrate = lower quality = smaller file size = higher compression = more playing time.
[size=92][i]Head over heels,
No time to think.
It's like the whole world's
Out of... sync.[/i]
- Head Over Heels, The Go-Gos.[/size]
There are a number of capture devices at the more expensive end of the market which allow you to connect an analogue device such as a VCR or analogue video camera, via firewire to your computer. This in turn allows you to capture in high quality DV format, which nearly always gives a good result if you also edit in the same format and only convert to DVD-compatible mpeg-2 after you have finished editing.
A similar result can be obtained much more cheaply if your digital video camera is a model which allows you to connect to an analogue device to it, and you use the camera merely as a pass-through point to convert the incoming analogue signal to digital for transmission to your computer via the camera's firewire connection. Some, but not all, mini DV digital cameras, and some Sony Digital 8 models, will do this. The camera manual will normally tell you if your camera is such a model.
Apart from that, there are a host of analogue capture devices, some more sophisticated and efficient than others, which do not allow for capture in DV format. They allow capture in uncompressed AVI format, plus DVD-compatible mpeg-2 and other formats. With these devices, if you are intending to burn a DVD, then you have little choice but to capture in DVD-compatible mpeg-2 format.
You have to be aware, though, that at least some of these devices will only work with the software which came with the device, or at the very least will produce better captures with that software. But after capturing with the other software, you can import the captured video into Video Studio for editing.
If your capturing to MPEG2 and your capture device allows you to select various quality levels, then to avoid degradation of quality brought about during editing (e.g. removal of adverts) then work out in advance the best capture settings for the individual project.
By this I mean, if you know in advance that you will be capturing something lasting 1 hour then you can use a reasonably high bit rate. If however you are capturing something last a couple of hours then capture with a lower bit rate.
A higher bit rate means higher quality but a larger file size and so less will fit onto the DVD disc.
A lower bit rate means lower quality but more can fit on the DVD disc.
I use a Hauppauge TV card which comes with its own recording software (WinTV2000) this software has various pre-defined quality levels
For more information please view this tutorial written for MovieFactory but the theory applies to VideoStudio.
