VHS to PC - Easiest way?

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fxit_man

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Hey guys

Could anyone suggest a good way to convert my VHS Videos to store on my Hard Drive?

I have lots (about 100) so I need something pretty quick..

I bought the Dazzle, but I cant really use my PC when i'm capturing because it's not a hardware encoder AFAIK? That's the only thing that sucks!

Would it not be beneficial to purchase an external TV Tuner card / Capture card that has hardware encoding support?

Or what about this Pinnacle Video Converter (No PC Required)

Seems as though that would be better as it wouldnt use my CPU as much?

Thanks
 
out of interest sake, what do you have on those tapes?

(I could also do with knowing how to do it .... also have about 40 odd tapes of music videos and stuff that I'd like to transfer)
 
I use one of those external USB jobbies... with VirtualDub or even Windows Movie Maker as the capture software. I forget who the brand of mine is... I got it from Matrix.
 
Garyvdh said:
I use one of those external USB jobbies... with VirtualDub or even Windows Movie Maker as the capture software. I forget who the brand of mine is... I got it from Matrix.
Click to expand...

hauppauge? how much was it? i tried to use VirtualDub with my Dazzle, but it doesnt sync audio and video properly :(

If you could get more info for me i would aprpecaite it.. thx
 
Nanfeishen said:
You could get a dvd/video combo machine for less than the price of the Pinnacle, and copy the video's straight to dvd.
Click to expand...

Yeah i have a DVR which can do that, however, i dont want them on DVD.. I want to store them on Hard drive.. And to rip them from DVD would be an extra step for each one .. And i have about 100!!
 
fxit_man said:
hauppauge? how much was it? i tried to use VirtualDub with my Dazzle, but it doesnt sync audio and video properly :(

If you could get more info for me i would aprpecaite it.. thx
Click to expand...

no it wasn't hauppauge... I wish! No, it's more like a no-name brand.

VS-USB2800D...

must be a chipset used by various manufacturers. I have seen them at Matrix still... go for R300 to R600

I also had that synching problem with VirtualDub... have not solved it yet... rather use Windows Movie Maker for now.

Then save to high or medium def WMV... then use DVD Flick to convert to DVD (if you need to).
 
Garyvdh said:
no it wasn't hauppauge... I wish! No, it's more like a no-name brand.

VS-USB2800D...

must be a chipset used by various manufacturers. I have seen them at Matrix still... go for R300 to R600

I also had that synching problem with VirtualDub... have not solved it yet... rather use Windows Movie Maker for now.

Then save to high or medium def WMV... then use DVD Flick to convert to DVD (if you need to).
Click to expand...

Thanks! One of the only guys that has actually helped!

In Movie Maker, how do you select to capture from the Capture device? It only gives me the option to Import from Digital Video Camera

I wanna see if it works with my Dazzle.

Im on Vista btw.. Thx
 
I paid R1200 for the Dazzle, i can still take it back however.. Im thinking i might go for the Pinnacle Video Transfer for an extra R800, simply because it doesn't need to use my PC..

Ideally though, id like to have a Capture Card with on-board hardware encoding that i can use with VirtualDub without having syncing problems.. Reason being is i need to use the cropping feature in VirtualDub while capturing.. To edit the video after would again be an additional step for each video..
 
Last edited:
fxit_man said:
Thanks! One of the only guys that has actually helped!

In Movie Maker, how do you select to capture from the Capture device? It only gives me the option to Import from Digital Video Camera

I wanna see if it works with my Dazzle.

Im on Vista btw.. Thx
Click to expand...

Cool, Vista is supposed to have a better version of Movie Maker.

When you open Movie Maker, one of the first options on your far left (under "Capture Video") should be "capture from video device", but maybe that option is only enabled if you do actually have a video capture device installed (like a webcam, scanner or TV capture device).

Just select that and it will pop up a wizard asking which device and which audio source you want to use.

Those USB devices I mentioned connect to your line in, so make sure that is enabled on your mixer settings.
 
lexor said:
I used one of these babies to transfer my videos to my HD.

http://www.pcbuyersguide.co.za/showthread.php?t=4241
Click to expand...

Wow that looks like exactly what i need! Could you explain how it works?

Thanks! Also, where do you buy it from?

Garyvdh said:
Cool, Vista is supposed to have a better version of Movie Maker.

When you open Movie Maker, one of the first options on your far left (under "Capture Video") should be "capture from video device", but maybe that option is only enabled if you do actually have a video capture device installed (like a webcam, scanner or TV capture device).

Just select that and it will pop up a wizard asking which device and which audio source you want to use.

Those USB devices I mentioned connect to your line in, so make sure that is enabled on your mixer settings.
Click to expand...

Hmm i dont seem to have that option unfortunately :(

Thanks though
 
lexor said:
I used one of these babies to transfer my videos to my HD.

http://www.pcbuyersguide.co.za/showthread.php?t=4241
Click to expand...

Hey guys. Does anyone else know about this?

Would it allow me to capture movies onto my PC or just onto DVD?

Ideally what i need, is a capture card that has a hardware encoder built in, so it does not use all of my CPU..

Does anyone know of a good one?

The only one i know of is the Pinnacle one (link above). Im considering buying this tomorrow, however, im worried about quality, compression, format etc.. They dont seem to give enough info about it, so there's still some uncertainties.

Thx
 
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