TDK Indi 8x DVD Burner w/Roxio Software...?

[madmaninc]

I just purchased a TDK Indi 8x DVD Burner w/Roxio Software which includes DVD Bulider software from Roxio...not sure if I like it?
I have on many svcds' using dvd2svcd and in doing video capture from analog VHS/VCR cannot get this software to complete anything without either skipping audio or video...the quality is great in both aspects, they both just skip every so often continuously through the recording. I have tried everything I can think of including new cables, different VHS/S-VHS tapes and all...does anyone use this software accurately? I have a AverMedia EZDVD Maker PCI capture card, and the rest of my specs are below...my system can't possibly be the problem can it?

The same thing happens when I use the neoDVD Standard 4 software that came with my capture card...

Any advice would be appreciated....I am at a loss!!!

[Dimmer]

I used to have TDK Indi burner, and I must admit that all the software that came in the box except Roxio DVDMax player (re-packaged PowerDVD) is completely useless. I tried all the combinations of Roxio software modules and concluded that there is no way to perform the capture properly. Specifically, you have very litle control over capture settings like bitrate. I tried neoDVD too, and quickly discarded it for the same reasons. I had to go back to my old setup using the capture software that came with the card (I have ATI), TMPGEnc for video editing and BeSweet for AC3 conversion.

[madmaninc]

I have tried the software that can with my avermedia capture card, but it does the same thing as roxio...what software came with your ATI card? maybe i'll try it...can you post your method(s) of capturing start to finish when you use TMPGenc and BeSweet?
My captures are nearly perfect as far as A/V goes except for this skip in the A/V evry 8 seconds...???

[Dimmer]

Here's the capture method that works for me. I use ATI Radeon 64Mb VIVO card and ATI MMC v.7.7 software. I don't expect however that ATI software would work with your card. My system is Athlon 1200Mhz, 512 Mb RAM, Win2k.

1. Capture video through composite input into MPEG-2 file with resolution 720*480 (NTSC) and bitrate 5Mb/s - 8Mb/s. These are settings within ATI MMC.

2. Cut out commercials and merge segments if needed using Merge&Cut window in TMPGEnc MPEG tools.

Note: TMPGEnc used to freeze sometimes when editing video in Merge&Cut, but this problem went away once I installed PowerDVD ver.4 (the one included in Roxio suite). Couldn't find an explanation for this. PowerDVD ver.3 didn't have the same effect.

3. Demux MPEG into m2v and mp2 streams using Simple De-multiplex window in TMPGEnc.

4. Use AC3Machine (GUI for BeSweet) to convert mp2 to AC3.

That's it. Then I feed m2v and AC3 files to an authoring program; TMPGEnc DVD Author, Scenarist, and DVDit accept them without problems.

Just for a case, if you're trying to capture from commercial VHS tapes or DVDs, then Macrovision copy protection will kick in with possible results as you described. Try capturing TV broadcast through VCR outputs and see what happens.

Also, I suggest you open Windows Task Manager and monitor CPU utilization during the capture. If it jumps to 100% from time to time, this could be the reason. Disable antivirus software and all other tasks that may be running in the background. Capture is very taxing on CPU and hard drive, ensure that no other program using HDD during the capture, otherwise it would certainly lead to dropped frames and other video/audio defects.

Hope this helps.

[madmaninc]

thanks for the help...I'll give it a shot...was just hoping there was a "one-click" method that was effective, but if this works then I guess I got it. How much did you pay for your ATI card?...does it come with the software you described?

[Dimmer]

No, I don't believe you can get decent results with one-click capture solutions, especially if your ultimate goal is to author a DVD with your video material. Of course, that depends on each person's perception and requirements.

The card I use is a couple of years old, ATI Radeon 64Mb VIVO (http://www.ati.com/products/radeon/radeon64ddr/features.html). Maybe you can still find it somewhere for around $50. The card comes with ATI MMC software I mentioned, for which you of course immediately have to download an update from their site.

And here are user comments (http://www.dvdrhelp.com/capturecards.php?CaptureCardRead=ATI%20Radeon%20VIVO) on this card on the web site http://www.dvdrhelp.com that's worth mentioning as it contains a lot of useful information on the subject, including capture guides and description/comments on hardware including your AverMedia card.

Before buying a new card, you might want to try capturing to AVI using VirtualDub or other third-party program. Be sure to read Capture Guide (http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/capture/start.html) on this site.

Good luck.

[madmaninc]

I downloaded virtual vcr...can't get it to work at all...others have with same capture card...not me, so just for curiousity sake I tried capturing using the MS windows movie maker that comes with retail xp home...works like a charm to .wmv, burnt to dv+r...no skips or dropped frames...smooth...only problem I have is .wmv files seem to take up alot of space when captured to "high quality 720X480" when I use roxio dvd builder to make the discs...is there anything I can do to make these files smaller? keep in mind I want good quality can I still get close to 2 hours of capture on 1 dvd=+r?

Could I convert the.wmv files to mpeg or something?

[Dimmer]

There is a whole lot of programs called encoders that convert video formats. I take it you're not planning to play your DVDs in standalone players, so you have many choices when it comes to target format: MPEG-2, DivX, XviD and so on. Video encoding is widely covered around here. First programs that come to mind are TMPGEnc and CCE. Not sure how many programs accept .wmv files, it maybe better to save your video as .avi in Movie Maker. Keep in mind though that if you want to preserve high quality of your video, encoding on an average computer may easily take 5-10 hrs for each hour of video.

[madmaninc]

I am trying to create dvds that will play in my standalone...I have an apex and a sony that both play the ones I have already created...they all have the dropped frame and audio skip thing...cant get rid of it at all...I checked my task manager on the last one I did...was at 100%...I have an AMD Athlon 1.33ghz chip with 1 gig of pc2100 DDR ram...thought it would be enough, but am starting to think that this is my problem...never happened before when creating svcd's using dvd2svcd...I just want to go for DDVD's now...that's why I bought the dvd burner...how big of chip do you use in your system when capturing analog vids?

[Dimmer]

You right, this may be the reason. You have to watch out for HDD utilization, too. If it helps, think of the capture as if it's burning a cd/dvd copy on-the-fly - one slowdown on CPU side or IDE bus, and you get a coaster. Don't run any other program during the capture, and check that there is nothing running in the background such as antivirus. Otherwise, you will certainly get dropped frames. My chip is Athlon 1200Mhz, and its utilization is usually about 60% during the capture but never peaks to 100%. I'm sure your problem is in your system configuration, not the hardware.

[madmaninc]

Think I'm gonna buy me a AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (1.93) and try it again...never know...capture card may be ok to use with the right power...I hope...thanks for the help...much appreciated!:D