Should I go from MiniDV to VCD or wait for DVD burner ? (1 Viewer)

[anthony_b]

I have plenty of family video on Mini DV,8mm and VHS I'd like to transfer. So my question is, will burning it to VCD downgrade the quality of the original source or should I go out and get a DVD burner ?

PC specs: p4 2.6ghz 533fsb 80gbHD 384MB ddr-memory

 

[Patrick Sun]

Get the DVD Burner. VCD picture size (352x240) is 1/4 conventional DVD picture size (704x480), so you'll get more video quality with DVD in general.

 

[anthony_b]

Patrick, that makes sense...One other question: Is there a PCI video capture card that includes both FireWire and Analog AV inputs ?...Mi minidv camcorder has firewire and my 8mm and vcr are both analog.

 

[Patrick Sun]

If your PC already has Firewire input, then you just need a analog video PCI card. Otherwise, you might have to buy a Firewire card as well (I don't know of a combo card that fits your description, but it doesn't mean it doesn't exist).

For Firewire, just do a Google search on "winDV" for a little utility that will allow you to capture DV via the firewire input.

I recently picked up the Leadtek TV2000 Expert card for TV tuning and it provides analog video/audio input for video capturing (your PC is fast enough for it). I got mine at Newegg for around $55 delivered.

The Hauppage PVR250/350 is another option (more expensive, but offers hardware MPEG encoding, but seems to have audio lag problems in some systems).

 

[anthony_b]

Patrick, that product looks interesting. It looks like I could hook up a cable feed to it, save it on my HD and then burn it on DVD or CD?

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

I know at least one of the ATI All-in-Wonder cards has firewire ports built in.

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Canopus ADVC-1394.

 

[anthony_b]

I have a couple of questions:

1. What are the advantages of going this route as opposed to buying a stand alone DVD recorder for your HT ?

2. The cost of a burner plus a decent video capture card would equal the cost of a stand alone recorder right ?

I'm new to this type of stuff, so if you guys could help me on this it would be great

 

[Thomas Newton]

The advantage of a computer-based digital video editing setup is that you can more easily:

1. Edit out boring parts of your camcorder footage.

2. Break the video you do use into short, individually-selectable segments with meaningful titles.

3. Include still photos and DVD-ROM content (e.g., .JPG files or PhotoShop files of the still photos)

4. Make multiple copies of, e.g., a wedding DVD.

If you're just dumping one tape as-is to one DVD, then a standalone DVD recorder would probably be more convenient. It's a matter of picking the right tool for the job.