VHS to DVD

Last edited by ChrisMG on Sun Jul 09, 2006 7:23 pm; edited 1 time in total

Hey guys.

I have many old VHS tapes from the early 90's that I'd like to capture digitally and then burn to DVD. I have an old Radeon AIW 8500 that I think will do the job. Time is not important, only money...meaning I have none, so I can't buy a standalone capture card.

Anyone have any experience with the process that needs to take place or software that will help?

I'm currently researching it right now, but if you guys have any firsthand info, the more the merrier.

Funny you mention this. :)
I am soon to be doing the same thing to a bunch of VHS tapes, also.
I think I'll be using my tv tuner card, but if anyone has some good hints, I'd appreciate it, too.

Well, upon closer examination, I've found that the AIW I have is a 7500 and not an 8500 as I thought. Oh well, should still serve the same purpose.

Josh, I found a few websites on the procedure, but it looks pretty daunting. The sites are mostly just forums where someone asks \"how do I convert VHS to DVD?\" and of course, most of the answers are so stupidly backwards that I'll probably have to tinker around and find out on my own.

Let me know if you find anything though.

http://www.download.com/1200-2046-965095.html

Does that help at all?

I've got it figured out pretty much. The Radeon 7500 AIW does, in fact, have capture capability but it can only capture with composite or S-video. I have it set up with a composite coaxial cable right now (from my broadband install days), but I have S-video cables hanging out somewhere in my shop. The quality from the composite isn't really bad, but it could be better. The video/audio sync is right on and I haven't dropped a frame yet. Now...I just need a 20 Terabyte harddrive because holy crap, this takes up some serious space. I'll gain alot once I compress the original .avi though, so no big deal.

Anyway, I'm using VirtualDub with whatever codecs I felt like using (Xvid and AC3) and they work like a charm.

All in all, not super difficult, it just took a bit of time playing with the settings in VirtualDub to gain the desired effects. Originally, I couldn't figure out why I had no sound, but then I realized that \"hey...maybe I need an audio pass-through to the capture card\". Yep. See what beeing so tired does to you?