Suggested setup to capture VHS for DVD project?

[XOR42]

Re "VS":
Should have thought Video Studio. I have an old version. Duh!

Re Canopus DV Protocol:
Makes sense and makes me hopeful I'll have a decent experience if and when my 300 arrives.

MSP 8 Trial:
I am having less trouble than anticipated converting my MSP7 project to MSP8. The most common issue is that the transparency option of transparent v7 titles is turned off when opened in v8. Seems that could be fixed very easily. Probably just a code bug. And the audio tracks are a little pesky. Some WAV's won't load. Had to find alternate sounds effects and replace existing ones. Luckily they have not been important audio segments -- so far, at least.

Thanks for all the input.

[VelcroFace]

Most capture cards advertise only 640x480 at 30 fps as their highest setting. I have a LeadTek TV/FM/Capture. I dont think it can work at 720. If it's a factor of the card, any suggestions for one that captures at high res and full framerate that won't break the bank?

I have a LeadTek WinFast 2000 XP Deluxe card, and use it to capture VHS for burning to DVD's. Instead of LeadTek's software I use iuVCR to capture with the PICVideo Motion JPEG codec. And yes, with iuVCR you can capture at 720 x 480. The combo will set you back about $70. Go to http://www.iuvcr.com and http://www.pegasusimaging.com.

--
Michael

[ten18]

For some reason, I couldn't get the ADVC300 to work with MSP7, but then again, nothing really worked with MSP7 (actually, my issue with MSP7 was hardware related, but by the time I got that all straightened out, MSP8 was available).

Keith
ten18

[XOR42]

I have a LeadTek WinFast 2000 XP Deluxe card, and use it to capture VHS for burning to DVD's. Instead of LeadTek's software I use iuVCR to capture with the PICVideo Motion JPEG codec. --
Michael

I was eventually able to capture from the LeadTek NTSC input at 720x480 using MSP8's decent MPEG & AVI codecs but it would still drop some frames and there was zero video conditioning so the image was, to be nice, crude/ugly VHS. Ah, where's BetaMax!!!! Since I'm seeking maximum stability and speed from an NTSC capture into MSP to allow touch up, editing, and DVD creation, I'll wait for my early XMas gifts of MSP8 and ADVC300. Will report on how they work.

[ten18]

I finally had a chance to plug my ADVC into my video workhorse. MSP8 recognizes it just fine (just like Devil said it would). Shows up as "MSDV Unknown." I'm very happy with it. I've dubbed one tape already, and it was very nice to be able to do a little bit of signal processing (sharpness/brightness, etc.) during the capture. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Keith
ten18

[VelcroFace]

I was eventually able to capture from the LeadTek NTSC input at 720x480 using MSP8's decent MPEG & AVI codecs but it would still drop some frames and there was zero video conditioning so the image was, to be nice, crude/ugly VHS.

You need a fast codec to avoid dropping frames. The PICVideo MJPEG codec is very fast, requiring less CPU cycles than most DV codecs. The colorspace is 4:2:2, instead of the 4:1:1 of DV, so you're likely to get better color rendition. I've been able to capture VHS video on a PIII machine running at 1 GHz with no dropped frames. I do any necessary editing with MSP 7, then frameserve to TMPGEnc, so I can take advantage of the excellent noise reduction that encoder offers (at a sacrifice in speed). The DVD's I burn actually look better than the tapes.

[ten18]

I also think that the TMPGEnc MPEG encoder is superior to just about anything else I've tried. The filtering and enhancement features are very powerful and simple. I just wish they had an HDV version available. I still use TMPGEnc DVD Author for all of my DVD authoring. It's plain, but very simple.

Keith
ten18