Converting VHS to digital Format

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Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Hello All,

Summary: I want to convert 60 minutes of video on a VHS tape to
digital format so I can view it on my laptop/desktop. I have access
to final cut pro. What would be the best way to do this?

---

Long Version:

I have a VHS tape and I want to convert 60 minutes of it to a digital
format so I can watch it on my laptop/desktop.

I asked a friend about this and he said he has final cut pro and he
could put it into quicktime format. The cost: 12 Gigabytes for 60
minutes (he said at optimum quality).

I would really like to digitize my VHS tape but I would like it to be
compressed a little bit more (well, a lot more).

What can I do using final cut pro? Will final cut pro compress my 60
minute tape into something smaller? Is DivX good? (I have a DivX
player). How about MPEG?

Any help appreciated.

Thanks!
--
Nathan

 

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Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

in article f749d926.0407131232.692af8a8@posting.google.com, Nathan Given at
ngiven@hotmail.com wrote on 7/13/04 1:32 PM:

> Hello All,
>
> Summary: I want to convert 60 minutes of video on a VHS tape to
> digital format so I can view it on my laptop/desktop. I have access
> to final cut pro. What would be the best way to do this?
>
> ---
>
> Long Version:
>
> I have a VHS tape and I want to convert 60 minutes of it to a digital
> format so I can watch it on my laptop/desktop.
>
> I asked a friend about this and he said he has final cut pro and he
> could put it into quicktime format. The cost: 12 Gigabytes for 60
> minutes (he said at optimum quality).
>
> I would really like to digitize my VHS tape but I would like it to be
> compressed a little bit more (well, a lot more).
>
> What can I do using final cut pro? Will final cut pro compress my 60
> minute tape into something smaller? Is DivX good? (I have a DivX
> player). How about MPEG?
>
> Any help appreciated.
>
> Thanks!
> --
> Nathan

If you can stand having the film at half size (360x240 pixels), your friend
can reduce the 12 gigabytes to 2-3 gigabytes without compromising quality.
Otherwise, you get into quality issues with further compression. MPEG
compression is great, but the Final Cut Pro/Quicktime encoder isn't the best
to my eyes. Do a short test to see if it's good enough for your purposes.
Otherwise, it takes either a software or hardware encoder (I use BitVice on
a Mac) which costs time/money or both. With MPEG your 12 gigs will become
2-3 gigs without substantial quality loss (depending on the quality of the
encoder, your settings, and the nature of the material), and with a DVD
authoring program you can have it on a DVD which will play on practically
any DVD player and (fairly recent) computer.

If that's still too large a file for you, Final Cut Pro offers a dozen other
compression possibilities--all under the general "Quicktime" umbrella--do a
short test on a typical 1-minute segment and see if you like the results and
see how large a file it creates. For web stuff, which demands HEAVY
compression, I like the Sorensen codec, but again, it depends on the
material.

With BitVice (around $80, I think) it would take 20 hours to encode your 60
minutes to MPEG, but the results are terrific. Hardware encoders, which do
similar quality in real time, start at $500.

Not sure why you want the film on your computer full time--it's not really
the most efficient way to store and watch video.

Hope this helps,

Dave Eisenstark

THE WEDNESDAY NIGHT SAVE-THE-WORLD SOCIETY
http://www.smartindiefilms.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Nathan Given wrote:

> Hello All,
>
> Summary: I want to convert 60 minutes of video on a VHS tape to
> digital format so I can view it on my laptop/desktop. I have access
> to final cut pro. What would be the best way to do this?
>
> ---
>
> Long Version:
>
> I have a VHS tape and I want to convert 60 minutes of it to a digital
> format so I can watch it on my laptop/desktop.
>
> I asked a friend about this and he said he has final cut pro and he
> could put it into quicktime format. The cost: 12 Gigabytes for 60
> minutes (he said at optimum quality).
>
> I would really like to digitize my VHS tape but I would like it to be
> compressed a little bit more (well, a lot more).
>
> What can I do using final cut pro? Will final cut pro compress my 60
> minute tape into something smaller? Is DivX good? (I have a DivX
> player). How about MPEG?
>
> Any help appreciated.
>
> Thanks!
> --
> Nathan

Greetings Nathan,

First thought is.. Do you have a bridge on that FCP system you have
access too? VCRs have RCA out, and FCP takes input from Firewire. You
can either use a Canopus ADVC-100/300 or if permitting a camcorder as
the bridge.

Second is "sure" you can compress anything down so that's it's watchable
on a computer? Is a computer going to be your only target? Target
meaning what is it going to be designed for?

- DVD target? Use FCP to make a Mpeg-2 file.
- Computer viewing of the movie? a) DivX sure, b) medium compressed
Quicktime. sure c) mpeg-4.. sure. Quicktime Pro can even make a avi file.
- Web site target? Use FCP to make a highly compressed Quicktime file
Sorenson as the CODEC.

-Richard

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Thank you all for your responses, they are quite helpful...

I would be working on this right now but currently I don't have anyway
to get the final file from the mac (my friend's computer) to mine...
So that is on hold... (he is going to install FetchFTP so I can
transfer the final file to my computer).

anyhow... It turns out my dad has a video capture card and he can't
figure out how to use it so he is going to give it to me. After I get
it installed I'll probably ask some more questions about how to get
everything up and running...

Thanks again for all your help!
--
Nathan