recording VCR tapes to computer

[DarkTXKnight]

I have a handful of VCR tapes that Id like to record in some type of file format so that we dont lose them over time. We've only got one VCR left in the house and I dont imagine buying another, but some of these tapes have things we dont want to lose on them.
I have a hauppage PVR-500MCE that I use on my htpc box and I was oping that I could simply connect the VCR to this, hit play and record to the PC, but what software would I use for this? This doesn't have to be ultra professional since some of the tapes arent that great anyway , but Id like to knwo if there are some nice freeware\cheapwareutilities for this/
Thanks In Advance.

 

[nweaver]

what software came with ethat card?

I use the ULEAD video studio, or the winfast app that came with my card.

 

[DarkTXKnight]

You know Im not sure what came with it. I never looked at the CD's since I was using something else for the HTPC.... Im thjinking that ULEAD is probably waht had come in the box.

 

[NuclearNed]

Windows Movie Maker will do what you want. Give me a minute and I'll see if I can't find the MSDN article...

 

[NuclearNed]

Originally posted by: NuclearNed
Windows Movie Maker will do what you want. Give me a minute and I'll see if I can't find the MSDN article...

voila!

I'm using the described method to capture my old VHS home movies, and convert them to DVD. It works great.

 

[Fardringle]

I'm in a similar situation. I have a bunch of home movies on tapes from my MiniDV video camera. I've been using Windows Movie Maker to record the files from the camera into raw MPEG (AVI) format on my computer and it is working quite well. However, I need a good application to convert the raw files into DVD video format so that I can play them back on my TV. As far as I can tell, Movie Maker doesn't have this ability, the version of Nero that I have doesn't have Nero Visio (or whatever is needed for DVD authoring), and the crappy Pinnacle Studio that came with the camera records/converts video at a maximum resolution of 320x240 and 22KHz audio so I've uninstalled it and have no intention of putting it back.

The Freeware 'sticky' at the top of the forum suggests using Avid FreeDV for this, and that looks like a great option if you're willing to buy the pro version, but the 'free' version will only save files to .MOV format and that won't do me any good when I want to play the files back on a stand-alone DVD player. Any suggestions on what I should use to convert the video files from my camera to something that will burn to a DVD?

 

[NuclearNed]

Originally posted by: Fardringle
I'm in a similar situation. I have a bunch of home movies on tapes from my MiniDV video camera. I've been using Windows Movie Maker to record the files from the camera into raw MPEG (AVI) format on my computer and it is working quite well. However, I need a good application to convert the raw files into DVD video format so that I can play them back on my TV. As far as I can tell, Movie Maker doesn't have this ability, the version of Nero that I have doesn't have Nero Visio (or whatever is needed for DVD authoring), and the crappy Pinnacle Studio that came with the camera records/converts video at a maximum resolution of 320x240 and 22KHz audio so I've uninstalled it and have no intention of putting it back.

The Freeware 'sticky' at the top of the forum suggests using Avid FreeDV for this, and that looks like a great option if you're willing to buy the pro version, but the 'free' version will only save files to .MOV format and that won't do me any good when I want to play the files back on a stand-alone DVD player. Any suggestions on what I should use to convert the video files from my camera to something that will burn to a DVD?

TMPGEnc will encode AVIs into MPEG2 files suitable for DVD. It has a 30 day free trial. See www.videohelp.com or www.doom9.org for details - both sites have lots of tutorials.

Once you have the files encoded into MPEG2, I suggest you use DVDLab Pro for creating the DVD layout - it also has a 30 day free trial. DVDLab Pro is the most powerful DVD authoring software I've seen, and I've used it extensively. Again, look to the sites I listed for details. Also, this software comes with a very easy to read tutorial. I highly recommend reading it because your first impression of the software will be that it is too complicated and hard to use - nothing could be further from the truth, as the tutorial will show you.

 

[DarkTXKnight]

hmmm well i dont have a DV camera to do the pass through, are you saying that I could do this instead with my tuner card? it has inputs for the AV jack from a VCR., so do i really need a camera

 

[NuclearNed]

Originally posted by: DarkTXKnight
hmmm well i dont have a DV camera to do the pass through, are you saying that I could do this instead with my tuner card? it has inputs for the AV jack from a VCR., so do i really need a camera

I think your tuner card will probably do the trick. Basically, the DV camera is being used just for its analog to digital conversion abilities. Your tuner card probably can do the same thing.

 

[Fardringle]

Thanks for the suggestions, NuclearNed. I'm familiar with TMPGEnc but didn't even think about using to create MPEG2 files instead of encoding away from MPEG2.

I'll look into DVDLab Pro as well.