VHS to digital

[Oscar11]

I've been reading old threads here for the last hour or so, trying to piece together what the best way of going about this would be..

From what I've read, going from VHS directly to a DVD recorder will produce the best quality, and that going through a PC via video capture card would decrease the quality. But the downside to the DVD recorder option is that you can only record (can't edit parts, add transitions etc..)

So I'm thinking that I'll go directly to a DVD recorder, then I'll take the burned DVD, rip it, and play around with the video on my computer from there. Then I'll burn the final product.

Would this method still produce a better quality result?
Also, if you have any other suggestions, please let me know... I haven't bought anything yet, so I'm still open to suggestions =)

Thinking about grabbing a dvd recorder tomorrow.

[ah802]

The DVD combo unit you buy has to potential for the best PQ in IMHO, most of the grabbers and capture cards are not optimized for the specific component's, while the combo unit probably is. Once on a disk as digital information, and you maintain that information's integrity, then you can do with it as you wish without loss..... keep in mind most of the editors require a re-rendering (it's at this point you lose).

Good luck, leave quick message about your experience, so we can all benefit.

[Oscar11]

Ok, well I went out and got an LG DVD recorder. I have about 50 unmarked tapes, so its been alot of work, but I'm almost finished going through them all. The quality of the recordings is very good.

Anyone have any suggestions for video editing software? I just want to be able to cut certain sections out, split files, and name clips (for the dvd menu)

[Cough]

TMPGEnc DVD Author

[jadoocian]

windows movie maker..?

[stevethewheel]

I use Womble Video Wizard DVD (http://www.womble.com/products/dvd.html) and like it a lot.

Extremely good interface, allows "volume levelling" across the DVD, good ways of making "clips" so that you can for instance, customize DVD's for family members (eg all would want the gramma clips, but otherwise focus on their branch of the family). Can do chapters with custom music on the menu, etc etc.

Like you, I did a lot of research first, and TEMPGEnc DVD Author also gets high marks, though I didn't use it myself.

I used a video encoder card, because I wanted control over the quality, especially the sampling rate on conversion to MPEG, and application of noise filters. Standalone is definitely faster though, and sometimes it can be a pain to overthink choices....