First time capturing with EasyCap card... help!!
 

hi

im new in the capturing world....

i have a easycap and a JVC VCR...and i have old VHS cassettes that I want to transfer them to my computer(to a file)

i tried to work with ULEAD video studio but i did But I did not know what settings I should choose for capturing....I tried to choose a DVD (720*576) But I get a huge size video file...

My goal is to convert the cassettes (in maximum quality that I can get from the VCR )and then burn a DVD (It a present to my family:) )...

What settings should I choose to get a reasonable file size? (And not losing quality)

With what software do I need to work?

there is a guide?

As you can see I'm pretty lost .... so ill be happy to receive information

1st thing to do is throw that easyCRAP in rubbish
they are complete junk!!
it annoys me to no end to see them plastered all over ebay duping people into buying them.

get a ATI ,black magic or other good quality capture device.
what model is your JVC? - it will need to be a TBC equipped model to do a decent job
you will also need an external TBC like the Datavideo TBC-1000

do you want to capture lossless or Mpeg-2?
lossless AVI is going to result in HUGE file sizes

if the video will not need any editing and you dont want huge files just capture straight to Mpeg-2
use 352x480 for NTSC or 352x576 for PAL
around 4000 bitrate

if ill capture to avi [i dont want to loss data] can i convert the avi file to a diffrent format after capturing?
you said if i want to edit ill need to captur to avi...by editing i can improve the video quality?

I'm going to see if we can write a capturing primer this weekend. This has been asked a lot lately.

until the guide ..can you tell me how to capture to avi?
what settings I need to check if I use ulead video studio ?


Thanks

uncompressed AVI is going to be about 75GB per hour - so be prepared with some good size hard drives.
if the tapes are already good you can capture straight to Mpeg-2.

but you will need a better capture card and a good Super-VHS VCR and a external TBC no matter what.

I do not plan to buy a capture device ... I know that is not something esaycap but I had to use him ...

If I'm capture to AVI format via virtualdub ( Because I do not want to lose the quality of the vedio- i have a free space on my HDD)..what settiings i need to set in virtualdub ?

after ill finish to capture i want to make a dvd to my family i read that i can use a Compression with some filters Which filter is recommended ?

thanks

there is really no point in worrying about quality if you plan on using an easycrap.
hardware is the key to getting good captures.
no matter what software or settings you use the capture will not be good with that device.

ok i understend...last thing

i capture my wedding tape via virtualdub (my setting was 720*576 -no comprassion- i got 53GB file for a 45min video)...it to big and i whant to burn it to a DVD (a gift to my family)-what codec (or program) i need to use to Compress the video to a size of DVD (4.7GB or 8GB) video and not lose the quality (ie see the video in a good quality on a LCD TV)...

thanks for the help

you need to encode it to Mpeg-2 for DVD


http://www.digitalfaq.com/guides/video/convert-tmpg.htm

i need to capture with Mpeg-2 ?or after i capture to avi i need to convert to mpeg-2?

if you are not going to edit the video (like with Adobe Premier or such)
then just capture it as Mpeg-2
capture at 352 at around 4000 bitrate - there is no point in using 720 it will just take up more space

To capture as MPEG-2, you need a REALLY good device, with proper computer hardware, and a proper computer setup. Otherwise it will drop frames, have artifacts on the encode, and maybe even have other issues.

ATI All In Wonder cards are suggested for this, and almost nothing else.

Otherwise, capture as AVI, encode with a good encoder* next.
*Good = freeware AVIDemux, budget software TMPGEnc, or the commercial MainConcept for the best quality.