guys please help recording vhs to hdd then dvd aagghhh

[moomin2005]

right i am transfering my vhs tapes to my pc via composite via tv card

i have only found 1 program that have a very good picture after recording but the problem is it is using over 100gb yes 100gb for only 1-2 mins of video

anyone any idea whats wrong

please please help


many thanks

 

[moomin2005]

anyone

 

[KraGorn]

I presume the problem is that you're recording raw video, ie. I assume it's a .AVI completely unprocessed. You need something that'l record and encode using MPEG or some other video codec that compresses the data as it writes it.

'Fraid I cant' help with any ideas, I used to use a unit from Pinnacle for transferring my old VHS collection but don't think that's available any more.

 

[ukaudiophile]

Hi,

What capture card are you using and what software? For that kind of data rate you are almost certainly recording raw video without any compression. You really need a capture card with hardware MPEG 2 compression to give you an MPEG file you can then burn to DVD.

Regards,

Dave

 

[MarkE19]

I think you must have a problem with Windows or your HDD as uncompressed video is captured as .AVI and that only uses approx 14Gb for an hour of video. 100Gb for 1 or 2 minutes means that something has got completely screwed up on your PC. Perhaps it's time for a completely clean install of Windows, and even a low level format of the HDD.

Mark.

 

[moomin2005]

the tv capture card is lifeview prime 30 and soft is mainconcept pvr

but its only doin it with this software but i have tried loads and this gives the best pic

 

[LV426]

Forgive me for asking, but how do you know it takes 100gb for 1-2 minutes? Full Hard Drive, or other reason/symptom?

And which Operating System?

 

[moomin2005]

i have a 160 gb harddrive, i recorded a couple mins of video to see if the software was anygood, i went to the saved captured video and it was just over 100 gb

using windows xp

 

[drummerjohn]

Impossible - to write 100gb to a HD in 1 to 2 minutes isn't possble. Its more likely to be 100MB.

 

[moomin2005]

hi m8 thanks for you reply i have just recorded a clip again and i was wrong bout the 100gb thing BUT...

this time i recorded a clip that lasts 2 min 10 secs but the file is 3,975,244 kb

do u know what is wrong and how i can get this to record properly because if i do the whole tape i will prob run out og hdd space or there about

many thanks

 

[LV426]

As KraGorn says, you need to use some compression. There should be options within the software you are using, to select exactly how the video is captured to the HDD. Experiment with those available. Use MPEG2 if it's there. With MPEG2, at ~DVD quality, you should get 2 hours of video into around 4gb.

 

[MarkE19]

Captureing directly to a compressed MPEG format is great for saving disc space, but it can cause a lot of problems. Direct conversion puts a lot of stress on the PC as it is not only writing to a HDD, but the conversion will hammer the CPU & RAM. Also on the fly compression tends to be lower quality as it can only do single pass compression, where a later date compression can take its time and do double pass. On the fly compression will more than likely result in jerky movement when there is a lot going on in the scene - this is a common fault with DVD camcorders.

As I said previously uncompressed AVI video files will take up around 14Gb per hour. From a DV camcorder this video will have a 5:1 compression done in the camcorder before being written to the tape, so maybe you have a software setup issue here, or as stated by Roy Mallard in the video editing forum a corrupt HDD, hence my recommendation of a low level format of the HDD.

Mark.

 

[moomin2005]

i only formatted my hdd last week

 

[MarkE19]

But I would guess that was a standard format. A low level format needs to be done in DOS I believe - it's a while since I've needed to do this.

Mark.

 

[CTID]

why would he need to do a low level format? In fact, it will probably damage his disk. You will be telling him to park his heads before he turns off next

 

[Cullea]

MainConcept have a pdf showing how to configure and set the Record Format/Quality - http://www.mainconcept.com/pvr_tutorials/configuration/pvr_configuration_en.pdf

Has presets for VCD, SVCD, DVD, MPEG2 (Custom) & AVI

I would use AVI when capturing and encode to MPEG after capture - It will use tons of disk space, but should give better results than on the fly encoding

 

[MarkE19]

why would he need to do a low level format? In fact, it will probably damage his disk.

Why would a low level format damage a disc?
In the past I have done low level formats on HDD's when friends have corrupted their PC's and a standard format has not worked. I've never killed a HDD by doing this. I know this is no real recommendation, but a low level format is a tool supplied by Microsoft with Windows and I doubt even MS would offer tools that could kill a HDD.

You will be telling him to park his heads before he turns off next

Now why didn't I think of that - that's the real reason for all these problems
Haveing worked in IT since the 80's I can remember with the mainframe systems I've worked on where this was a requirement and failure to do so could have the heads 'engrave' the surface of the HDD platters

Mark.

 

[moomin2005]

the format was a total format, and was done in dos

 

[CTID]

A low level format is dangerous and will destroy your disk. They are factory set with important drive information such as sector layout, servo, defect management, interleave settings. LLF them will destroy this and the HD. TBH I don't think you can even do a LLF outside the factory.

I think you may mean zero fill, which is a method of permantley blanking the disk.

know this is no real recommendation, but a low level format is a tool supplied by Microsoft with Windows and I doubt even MS would offer tools that could kill a HDD.

where is this, I'd be interested to see what it actually does to a disk, I've got a few HD's lying around I could try and break!