[Ham-Computers] FW: Computer...Recording DVDs (long reply)

[Hsu, Aaron (NBC Universal)]

Jim,

As for equipment, you need the following for your PC:

* An "analog" video capture card for analog sources (e.g. NTSC composite or
S-Video)
* An audio capture card (most computers have one, but a "good" card is
recommended.
* Editing software
* A *LOT* of HD space (2GB per hour in "good quality" MPEG-2 format
(4000Kbps))
* A CD-R or DVD-recordable drive (depending on what type of media you want
to make)
* Time - amount depends on how "critical" you are.

I don't know if Roxio CDC 5 included video editing.  It will burn VCD-Ready
content to a CD-R, but I don't think it has the ability to create the VCD
content.

Media Formats:

Video CD's (VCD) - If all you have is a CD-R/RW drive and you want to create
CD's playable in most newer standalone DVD players, then you'll want to
create VCD's.  This format's been around for a while and can create
acceptable quality video if done properly.  The format is MPEG-1 @ 352x480,
29.97fps.  It uses 1152KBps video and 44.1KHz/224Kbps MP2 audio.  With the
right encoding software, the video can equal or exceed VHS quality (although
fast motion is often "blocky").  You can fit one hour of content per 650MB
CD.  Very common in Asian countries (most "bootleg" videos are ripped from
DVD's and transcoded to VCD's).

SuperVCD - Similar to VCD, but at a 480x480 resolution.  Not as widely
supported as standard VCD's - most older DVD players won't recognize SVCD's.

DVD - "Playable" DVD's use MPEG-2 encoding.  Content can be recorded at
various resolutions and bit rates, but I feel that for most purposes,
720x480 @ 4000Kbps works well.  At this rate, you can fit 2 hours of content
on one DVD.  I use this rate to record TV shows and then "transcode" them to
VCD format (on CD-RW's) to watch later.  For things I intend to keep, I'll
keep them at 720x480 @ 4000Kbps and burn to DVD.

Raw video capture - if you just want to capture the video and save it, then
you can capture to AVI, MPG, or DiVX (MPEG-4) and save the file to a
CD/DVD/HD.  You won't be able to play the CD/DVD in a standalone DVD player,
but you also don't need to spend any time creating the DVD/VCD compatible
format (more info below).


Quality matters:

In short, quality *DOES* matter.  Many are now finding that those "precious
moments" they saved to CD-R's a few years ago are now lost forever.  The
"cost" of lower prices of CD-R media is lower Quality Control.  There only a
few actual CD/DVD media manufacturers on the market and all those "brands"
you see are just re-labeled media.  Imation, TDK, Fuji, and all those
"house" brands - they just sell CD-R's made by other companies.  Even if you
buy two spindles of the same "brand", there's no guarantee that both came
from the same manufacturer.  There's a lot of debate on how one can tell
"good" quality media from "bad".  In general, the only way is to use a
diagnostic program and test a sample of CD's burned in *your* CD-R drive.
Some companies (such as Plextor and Lite-on) now include such diagnostic
programs.  A couple of diagnostics are available on the 'net, but require
compatible drives.  For me, I only buy CD-R's that are "Made in Japan".  I
know of only two CD/DVD media manufacturers that are still in Japan -
Taiyo-Yuden and Mitsui-Toatsu.  Both are highly regarded companies and have
high quality controls.  Verbatim "Data Life Plus" media is the only media
I'll trust from Taiwan - the "Plus" family from Verbatim is manufactured in
their own factories with tighter controls.  The other non "Plus" Verbatim
media is outsourced crap.  Anyways...


Time and effort:

The end result of your analog to digital transfer is depends on the amount
of time you put into it and the quality of the software you use.  For every
hour of video to convert, expect to spend 3 to 4 hours.  This includes the
initial capture, any editing, and then encoding/transcoding to the final
format.  My 3.0GHz P4 system transcodes to VCD at just better than a 1:1
rate (about 50 minutes to transcode 1 hour of video) for "OK" quality (if I
were to want "excellent" quality, it takes about 4 hours to transcode the
same 1 hour of video)  It then takes me about 15 minutes to cut/edit out all
the commercials and another 30 minutes to create the DVD/VCD content using
Nero or DVD Movie Maker.  Then I burn to CD or DVD.

Note that quality software doesn't equal high cost!  One of the absolute
*BEST* encoders is TMPGEnc.  This little gem is shareware and only costs
under $100 to register.  The "free" version allows MPEG-2 encoding for
14-days after which you need to register.  However, the MPEG-1 use is fully
functional with no restrictions (perfect for VCD).  TMPGEnc is highly
regarded in the DIY community and does a much better job than many
commercial programs costing hundreds.  You'll also need a DVD/VCD authoring
program to create the "content" (the menus, creating the official DVD/VCD
"format", etc).  Again, under $100 (I use ULead's DVD Movie Maker 2) unless
you want some serious features.


As for Video Capture Devices:

Most current analog video capture cards are based on the Connexant Bt878
chipset (or some derivative).  The older Bt848's are OK and the newer CX
series is replacing the 878.  They all capture to AVI's natively and usually
include some software MPEG-2 encoder.  Capture to AVI, edit in AVI, then
transcode to MPEG using TMPGEnc.  If you buy a capture card with hardware
MPEG-2 encoding, then be aware that you might run into audio sync issues.
The advantage to a hardware based MPEG-2 encoder is CPU time - you can use a
slower system and not worry about skipped frames.  "Real-time" (aka
"on-the-fly") video capture using software MPEG-2 encoding generally
requires a 1.5GHz Pentium-4 or faster CPU.  A hardware based MPEG-2 encoder
can usually get by with a Pentium-II 450MHz or faster.  Hardware MPEG-2
encoders cost more though and the quality isn't as "fine-tunable" as a
software encoder.  There are also software compatibility issues with some
hardware encoder boards.  If you do get one now, go with one that uses an
all Connexant solution - aka a "Blackbird" reference design.  I recently
purchased an AVerMedia Ultra 500 card and had to return it because it uses
an NEC MPEG encoder that isn't supported by the PVR software I wanted to
use.

If you have a digital camcorder, then all you need to transfer the video is
a Firewire port (IEEE-1394).  You then download the video in "DV" format and
do your editing/transcoding on the PC.  Some newer camcorders also download
in MPEG-2 format.  Makes for smaller downloads than "DV", but at the expense
of video quality and editability.


DVD formats:

There's DVD+R (plus R), DVD-R (dash or minus R) and their respective
ReWriteable formats.  There's also DVD-RAM used by Panasonic.  I've found
that DVD-R (dash R) is more compatible in stand-alone DVD players, but +R
isn't far behind.


Wrapup:
And there's more if you want to *really* get into it.  Another simpler
option is to just buy a stand-alone DVD recorder.  Connect your old deck to
the recorder and do a deck to deck transfer.  If you get a recorder that has
a built-in hard drive, then you can also do some lite editing.  This is
probably the way most people will want to do it as it's relatively quick,
simple, and the resulting DVD can be played back in most DVD players.
Overall quality won't be as high, but the average Joe probably won't be able
to tell the difference.

Additional resources:
One of the best places for DVD/VCD creation information is:
  http://www/dvdhelp.com

Lots of links to shareware/freeware, an extensive DVD player compatibility
chart, and a huge user forum on which go ask and get answers.  There are
self-help "how-to" guides and loads of technical information.

I've taken up enough bandwidth so far.  Please let me know if you need
further details on anything mentioned here.  I may not have an answer, but I
can probably fine one for ya!

73 and GL,

  - Aaron Hsu, NN6O (ex-KD6DAE)
    {nn6o}@arrl.net
    {athsu}@nbcuni.com
    No-QRO Int'l #1,000,006
    . -..- - .-. .-   ".... . .- ...- -.--"
 

p.s.  Please note that my work e-mail domain name changed.  Update your
address books and "white lists" if you have me listed.



-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Isbell [mailto:millenniumfalcon at cableone.net]
Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2004 1:37 PM
To: Mail List for Ham-Computers
Subject: [Ham-Computers] Computer...Recording DVDs


I have hundreds of Beta and VHS tapes that I would like to record onto 
DVD and then pitch the tapes.  

I have a 1 Ghz computer with a CD that can write on both writable and 
re-writeable disks.  I am running XP for an operating system and have 
Roxio CD Creator version 5 Platinum.  I have both a Beta player and a 
VHS player.

I think I still need something more to re-record the tapes as DVDs, but 
am not sure.  How do I input the Video??  Can anyone out there help me 
with the hardware requirements, suggestions for software, etc 
etc.?????????  Is there a difference in recording video on CD-Rs and on 
DVDs??  Is it a different media??  Is the length of recording the same?? 
Is the quality the same??

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