Need some help with settings in Virtual VCR

[CAnn]

I'm try to convert my VHS/Beta tapes to DVD. After some experiementing with some different programs & not really happy with the results (just want the end result to be equal to the DVD) I've followed a suggestion to download virtual VCR. I'm trying this program as my computer uses WinXp and the guides for capturing using Virtual VCR recommend using this program & not VirtualDub if capture card is based on WDM (which mine is). Here is my problem..I follow the guide thru and everything works out great until I get to audio.. I have No idea what to choose for box 6..? I've tried PCM and the when I hit Prop...again what do I choose? My audio computer has Realtek AC97 (if that helps). I n the Devices I set my device settings to video capture pin, but it keeps going back to audio capture filter. As my VHS tapes and Beta tapes aren't movies or programs captured on TV, but rather family stuff taken on a camcorder and dumped onto the tape to preserve for our children would this (prop) be mono mix or line in? Also what about the filters do I have to download them from somewhere or just click add from the "show all filters" list? I did try to capture some of my Beta and I only captured for a few minutes and had a high number of dropped frames. One other thing, if I'm going to encode to MPeg-2 after all editing etc is done, should I set the color space to YuY2 or RGB24? Right now I've used YUY2.
Anyway, thanks for any help you can give me!!!

[mg262]

Right, so, I'm going to assume you are referring to this guide:

http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/capture/capturing_VirtualVCR.html

... correct me if I'm wrong. I would recommend capturing to PCM (which means uncompressed) at 16-bit at 48,000 Hz (samples per second). I don't know whether your device outputs mono or stereo; someone else may be able to tell you or you can check for yourself by capturing in stereo, extracting the sound to a .wav file (using the Streams/stream list menu option in VirtualDubMod), and opening that up in any audio editor... if the two channels are identical or one is empty, you know it's essentially mono. (Actually, standard VHS is mono but you can get special stereo-VHS VCRs... *I think*. don't quote me on that. no clue about Betamax.)

In my opinion, the sound should go straight into your sound card line in (not routed through the video capture card at all... this can cause problems), and you should be recording either "line in" or "analog mix" with the microphone and all other analog sources muted in the volume controls.

You should be capturing in YUY2, preferably to a lossless codec like Huffyuv. You don't need to apply any filters while capturing and if you are trying to do so that may be the cause of your dropped frames. I believe other possible causes are discussed in the FAQ in the capturing section, which I would strongly recommend reading through.

I have used VirtualVCR, but I don't have it loaded on my system at present, so I have relied on memory and the above guide... so apologies if I have missed or misunderstood anything; please ask it again!

Edit: incidentally, I think the latest builds of VirtualDub have WDM capturing support... but virtualVCR is probably an easier program to use.

[CAnn]

Ok Thanks so much for your quick response. I will try some of you suggestions!! Again Thanks..your help is greatly appreciated!

[Cogar]

Referring to the guide cited by mg262, my recommendation would be to leave box 6 blank, as well as the compress audio checkbox (5). In other words, you do not want to compress the audio. After all, if you are going to be burning to DVD, only AC3 and PCM are formats recognized by all NTSC DVD players, and I doubt that your home video uses AC3.

I agree with mg262 that you should capture sound with your audio card. Most video cards with the exception of All-In-Wonders do not handle audio anyway. (I am not counting capture cards designed specifically for this task.) The input you use on the audio card (for example, Line-in) will determine your settings in VirtualVCR.

[mg262]

NB

either "line in" or "analog mix" with the microphone and all other analog sources muted in the volume controls.I meant all sources *other than* line in muted!