TV/VCR to HD to DVD...

Hello.
I want to be able to record a movie from a TV channel (through antenna) on my HD, save it as any valid video file type and then play it on my pc using any media player.

I also want to be able to connect my video VCR to my pc and convert a movie from tape in my HD.

Once this is achieved, I’ll want to burn these from my HD onto DVD-Rom and play them on my DVD player or Sony PS-2.

What hardware/software will I need to carry out this formidable task?
Video Quality of the final result is very important in my book.

Any links will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

I live in Europe.

My multi-system SHARP VCR has RCA Input & Output (Yellow, Red, White), Antenna IN & RF-Out

My PC:
P4 2.4GHZ
768MB RDRAM 400MHZ
GeForce4 Ti4200 128MB + TV-Out
120GB SeaGate HD
SB Live 5.1
WinXP SP1 + All updates


Some of my VHS tapes are in SECAM. My VCR does support them, but I don’t know if this TV-Tuner will be able to capture them.
My PAL & NTSC tapes & TV antenna channels, wont have any problems hopefully…

I'm thinking about buying this:

Terratec Cinergy 400 TV

The price is ok for what it offers.

http://productsen.terratec.net/modul...d=136&menu=400

Just get a tv card, plug it in via coax and then find a program to record with ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shogun

Just get a tv card, plug it in via coax and then find a program to record with ;)

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Yeah ;) That's another way of putting it!

Most tv cards come with programs so you can record straight from the arial in socket. Just get a card and fiddle with it :) Want me to recommend you a card?

yeah.
Why not?

Virtual dub has a captur utility, and its freeware too. However, you do need a TV capture card to get from tape to PC.

Once you have captured the footage, use TMPGEnc (More free software) to encode it to DVD format. That is a sound rate of 48Khz(?) and you can define the video stream bitrate.

Then seperate the video stream and the audio stream, also by using TMPGEnc.

then use DVD authour (another freebie) to create the IFO and VOB files from the seperate audio and movie stremas. Burn to DVD using Nero.

The easisest method is to buy a set top DVD-Recorder... then you can record all your TV programs or VHS's to DVD+/-RW, then rip said DVD's to your PC, edit as needed (adverts, etc), then author and burn to DVD.

Secam :E shouldnt be a problem though, most tv cards will support it and some vcr's will convert it to there native format before output aswell.

You wont be able to record in decent quality from VCR to tv card becuase of macrovision copy protection (assuming you want to record vhs tapes you bought prerecorded... - ones recorded yourself are fine), unless you have a certian tv card, you will have to test it yourself as I dont know which will and wont work.


Consider a freeview/digital tv card and forget recording from your vhs tapes if you can, digital is broadcast in a dvd compatable format, using an analog card you will have to reencode it which will take a lot of time and a fast pc.

*or*
Get a tv card like this one which is one of the better ones, supports secam and mpeg2 encoding.

I would forget the above ideas - virtual dub is utter crap for recording from 97% of tv card chipsets, it just wont work, and if it did, still better to record striaght into the final format - preserves quality and much much quicker, and just not possible to record long stuff in AVI format uncompressed. Use the supplyed software or read [site has been closed :(] for alternatives.
set top stuff is just too expensive, by 4 or 5 times what a pc based solution will be.

The Leadtek WinFast DV2000 supports all the major signals, including SECAM.
http://www.leadtek.com/multimedia/winfast_dv2000_2.html

It looks good.

But if I bought the Terratec Cinergy 400 TV Stereo instead & connect it to a multi-system SHARP VCR which has RCA Input & Output (Yellow, Red, White), Antenna IN & RF-Out and supports SECAM, will the VCR convert the SECAM VHS tapes to PAL before Output, in order for the Terratec card to recognise it? It only supports PAL/NTSC, but I've read that it gives a better picture quality than the Leadtek Winfast DV2000.

http://productsen.terratec.net/modu...id=136&menu=400
http://www.m-e.dk/shop/

Max. Resolution: 1600x1200
Standard: PAL / NTSC
Interface: PCI/ IR remote
Record: SVCD / VCD / DVD
Nicam Stereo TV Tuner/ Text TV / DivX support

I’m confused.

Could anyone that has tried these 2 TV tuners, tell me which one can achieve the best picture quality, either from TV antenna or VCR signal?

Terratec Cinegy 400TV
http://productsen.terratec.net/modul...d=136&menu=400

Leadtek WinFast DV2000
http://www.leadtek.com/multimedia/winfast_dv2000_1.html

Thanks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by |SilentDeath|

Secam :E shouldnt be a problem though, most tv cards will support it and some vcr's will convert it to there native format before output aswell.

You wont be able to record in decent quality from VCR to tv card becuase of macrovision copy protection (assuming you want to record vhs tapes you bought prerecorded... - ones recorded yourself are fine), unless you have a certian tv card, you will have to test it yourself as I dont know which will and wont work.


Consider a freeview/digital tv card and forget recording from your vhs tapes if you can, digital is broadcast in a dvd compatable format, using an analog card you will have to reencode it which will take a lot of time and a fast pc.

*or*
Get a tv card like this one which is one of the better ones, supports secam and mpeg2 encoding.

I would forget the above ideas - virtual dub is utter crap for recording from 97% of tv card chipsets, it just wont work, and if it did, still better to record striaght into the final format - preserves quality and much much quicker, and just not possible to record long stuff in AVI format uncompressed. Use the supplyed software or read [site has been closed :(] for alternatives.
set top stuff is just too expensive, by 4 or 5 times what a pc based solution will be.

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OK.
I’m thinking about buying this card today:
Leadtek DV2000
http://www.leadtek.com/multimedia/winfast_dv2000_1.html

If I use Huffyuv codec and VirtualDub, I’ll be able to capture Videos as AVIs half the size of the regular AVIs and all this without any quality loss?
http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=197#comments

If I use VirtualDub without Huffyuv codec, I’ll capture large RAW AVIs which are considered “uncompressed”

Once I capture AVIs with the Huffyuv codec & VirtualDub, what’s the best method to encode them into MPEG-1/MPEG-2/MPEG-4/WMV/VCD/DVD, while achieving the best video quality & frame rate?

I want to burn them onto DVD and play them on My SONY PS-2.

But your opinion is that it’s best to use the programs that come bundled with the card & capture directly into mpeg2 (DVD), rather than capturing into Raw uncompressed AVI and then encoding into mpeg2?


Thanks in advance.