Totally **Legal** Videotape -> Divx Conversion, Lend A Hand!

[StinkyMeat]

Hey, I have an old drama production from high school that would be very useful as a divx file. Here's where I need your help! How would I set up my computer to record a video and what program might I get/buy to accomplish this? I'm really excited about doing this, and hope you all can help me.

Video Card:
VGA EVGA|GF4 TI4200 128M with VIVO/TV out 8X AGP RETAIL BOX.
Specifications:
Chipset: GeForce4 Ti 4200-8X
Memory:128MB DDR
Res: Max 2048 x 1536 at 75Hz
256-bit GeForce4 Ti (250MHz clock)
128MB 4ns 128-bit DDR Memory (220-440MHz effective)
8 GB per Second Memory Bandwidth
AGP 8X with Fast Writes and Texturing support
1x VGA DB-15 Connector and 1x DVI connector
Video In/Video Out support via S-Video & RCA connectors

A quick sketch of the back of my computer's card right now

I appreciate any and all help you guys can give me!

 

[fatalbert]

good question, I've got a stupid video I made in high school that I wanted to do that with as well.

sooo, free bump

cause I want to know

 

[bassoprofundo]

First of all, you need to connect your VCR to your PC with the appropriate cables. Connect the RCA video out on the VCR to the VIVO cable for your video card (I'm assuming you have the VIVO cable. If not, you need to get it.) Connect the RCA audio outs to the Line-In of your sound card. You'll need a cable with the 2 RCAs on one end and a stereo headphone jack on the other. Once you're connected, you'll need appropriate capture software. If none came with your video card, check here for a good list of programs. Once you've decided on capture software, all you need to do is play the tape from the VCR and begin capturing from the software program. You may have to play with your capture settings to find the best capture resolution and codecs and to make sure that the audio syncs with the video. A good soundcard goes a long way here (hint: Don't use the built-in AC97 audio on your motherboard). Depending on the capture software you use, you may need to convert the captured audio/video to Divx when capture is complete. You really need some serious power to capture to Divx/MP3 on the fly and have the audio and video sync correctly. If you find that they don't sync, try capturing to raw AVI or MPEG1/2 and converting to Divx/MP3 after completing the capture. Hope this helps..

 

[StinkyMeat]

I hooked up the video just to test it out, found my VIVO cable, and snatched a video cable to connect the vcr to the VIVO cable. I hooked that up, downloaded ShowShifter and PowerVCR from your suggested site. Neither of them seemed to detect any sort of video input in my system. Do I need to reinsall some drivers or something? I left those at college, but can do it in a few days. Interested in getting this up and running! Thanks for your help thus far!

 

[StinkyMeat]

bump

 

[tw1164]

I think Virtualdub is the best program to capture with. Its free too!

 

[StinkyMeat]

Still not getting any sort of capture input. Virtual dub says it can find no capture device. The vcr is playing, a video cable is on it's video out jack, the cable is contected to the bundle cable's computer in jack, and that budle cable is connected to my card. Hmmm.