Topic: Transferring vhs to dvd - Having problems

[Orchid]

Hey,

I have a vhs that I want to put on dvd. I'm recording the vhs onto my Sony DCR-TRV330E digital camera, then plugging that into my computer using firewire. I'm using Adobe Premier to capture the video, however it always stops in random places... I've set the in time and the out time, so it's not that. Is it a problem with the cable perhaps, or the firewire port... Or is it something else? Any help would be great. Thanks!

[firmdragon]

preimere will stop captures if any other programs interrupt it.  most likely this is the problem.

turn off any other existing programs. 
turn off your screen saver.

hope that helps.

[Orchid]

Ahhh right, thanks. I'll try it

Thanks again!

[spyder9]

Dude, you may need a time base corrector.

[dklein]

This is a cool little transfer app that I use with my Sony camera.  What I really like about it is that it can use the timestamp to name the files on capture (when you're doing transfers from tape).  Freeware.

http://windv.mourek.cz/

[hyperplane]

Hey,

I have a vhs that I want to put on dvd. I'm recording the vhs onto my Sony DCR-TRV330E digital camera, then plugging that into my computer using firewire. I'm using Adobe Premier to capture the video, however it always stops in random places... I've set the in time and the out time, so it's not that. Is it a problem with the cable perhaps, or the firewire port... Or is it something else? Any help would be great. Thanks!

ok, i know this is my first post here, but i'm certainly not a newbie with vhs>dvd conversions. i've done hundreds of hours of conversions from s/vhs, minidv, hi8, dig8, 8mm, etc. to dvd.

what you want to do is this: use your camcorder (TRV330E) as the analog-to-digital converter. there is NO need to record from VHS onto dig8 (or hi8  or 8mm) tape and then capture that onto your hard drive. you can do it all in ONE playing by setting up the analog-to-digital pass through on your camcorder.

here's how you set up the pass-through:

1) turn on your camcorder (set the power switch to VCR)
2) set the A/V -> DV OUT to ON in the menu settings (page 79 of the user manual, which i have in PDF format if you need it)

once you have that ready, make sure you have your VCR on, and make sure your camcorder is hooked up to your computer via i.Link (a.k.a. Firewire/IEEE 1394 cable), then start up your capture software (Adobe Premiere will work, but it hogs up system resources... Scenalyzer Live is much better as far as conserving your RAM). go ahead and start capturing video and hit the play button on your VCR (in either order, depending on how you want to do it).

then all you need to do is edit the footage (maybe trim off the dead space at the beginning/end of the video caputre), encode it to MPEG-2 and use PCM (or, if you must, AC3) audio and author it to DVD.

this is the most straight-forward way to do it with your setup, and it will cut your vhs>dvd conversion time in HALF, at least, since you are cutting out the step of recording vhs onto dig8 tapes (or whatever media)... and this will save you some blank dig8 tapes, too.

hope this helps.

[edgar]

Hey,

I have a vhs that I want to put on dvd. I'm recording the vhs onto my Sony DCR-TRV330E digital camera, then plugging that into my computer using firewire. I'm using Adobe Premier to capture the video, however it always stops in random places... I've set the in time and the out time, so it's not that. Is it a problem with the cable perhaps, or the firewire port... Or is it something else? Any help would be great. Thanks!

ok, i know this is my first post here, but i'm certainly not a newbie with vhs>dvd conversions. i've done hundreds of hours of conversions from s/vhs, minidv, hi8, dig8, 8mm, etc. to dvd.

what you want to do is this: use your camcorder (TRV330E) as the analog-to-digital converter. there is NO need to record from VHS onto dig8 (or hi8  or 8mm) tape and then capture that onto your hard drive. you can do it all in ONE playing by setting up the analog-to-digital pass through on your camcorder.

here's how you set up the pass-through:

1) turn on your camcorder (set the power switch to VCR)
2) set the A/V -> DV OUT to ON in the menu settings (page 79 of the user manual, which i have in PDF format if you need it)

once you have that ready, make sure you have your VCR on, and make sure your camcorder is hooked up to your computer via i.Link (a.k.a. Firewire/IEEE 1394 cable), then start up your capture software (Adobe Premiere will work, but it hogs up system resources... Scenalyzer Live is much better as far as conserving your RAM). go ahead and start capturing video and hit the play button on your VCR (in either order, depending on how you want to do it).

then all you need to do is edit the footage (maybe trim off the dead space at the beginning/end of the video caputre), encode it to MPEG-2 and use PCM (or, if you must, AC3) audio and author it to DVD.

this is the most straight-forward way to do it with your setup, and it will cut your vhs>dvd conversion time in HALF, at least, since you are cutting out the step of recording vhs onto dig8 tapes (or whatever media)... and this will save you some blank dig8 tapes, too.

hope this helps.

wow, quite the knowledgeable n00b :-)

welcome and +T

[NewHomebrew]

Dude, you may need a time base corrector.

those things are pretty handy in this situation.

[BobbyHurley]

Can the VHS > videocamera > firewire > pc setup (eloquently described above) work with a Sony MiniDV handycam ?

Also, I want to swap out my USB ports for firewire. Can someone recommend a good firewire card? Also, do I just need to remove the USB card/ports, and install the new firewire card/ports?

[hyperplane]

Can the VHS > videocamera > firewire > pc setup (eloquently described above) work with a Sony MiniDV handycam ?

Also, I want to swap out my USB ports for firewire. Can someone recommend a good firewire card? Also, do I just need to remove the USB card/ports, and install the new firewire card/ports?

yes, the VCR > camcorder > firewirew > PC setup works with all miniDV camcorders that have the "analog pass-through" feature.

as far as i know, there shouldn't be any difference between firewire cards. all a firewire card/port does is input the digital audio/video data into your PCI bus. i know with *some* capture devices (not camcorders), that Texas Instruments chipsets on firewire cards don't work well... but as i said, that's with certain capture cards, not camcorders.

if your USB cards are normal PCI cards, then yes, just remove them and put the firewire card in its place. that is, unless you have any open PCI slot, then you don't need to take ou tthe USB card.

[BWolf]

what are you using the convert to MPEG-2 and PCM....also, is there a program that will give you the actual DVD files (.ifo, .vob, etc)

thanks for all the knowledge, and +t

[hyperplane]

what are you using the convert to MPEG-2 and PCM....also, is there a program that will give you the actual DVD files (.ifo, .vob, etc)

thanks for all the knowledge, and +t

as with most things video, there are lots of options to do the things you asked.

for MPEG-2 encoding, Cinemacraft Encoder (a.k.a. CCE) is the way to go. if you can't find it, TMPGEnc or MainConcept are okay. but CCE rules as far as MPEG encoding.

for PCM audio, again, several ways to go about it. if you use a program like Scenalyzer Live to capture the DV .AVI file, it has a checkbox under Options to "write separate .WAV file." voila, that would be your audio track, ready to import into the authoring program (unless you want to edit it some before using it as the audio track on the DVD).

otherwise, VirtualDub will extract the WAV file from DV .AVI files. Adobe Premiere will as well.

when you say, "is there a program that will give you the actual DVD files (.ifo, .vob, etc)," are you asking if there's a program to compile an MPEG-2 video and PCM audio into "DVD standard format"? if so, yes, there are lots of them. if you want some easy to use that has decent capabilities, Ulead DVD Workshop is fine. i've heard good things about TMPEG DVD Author, but have never used it. if you want to dig in and learn all about the DVD specifications and technicalities, DVDMaestro or Scenarist will let you do pretty much anything you can think of.

[BWolf]

h vargas, thanks for all the info, you for sure are a newbie on the site but obviously have a ton of experience in this field....truthfully, people like you who share all the knowledge they have learned over the years is the main reason i still come here and poke around

+T