I’ve seen this topic danced around, but I couldn’t find a (recent) thread on it.
I have all these decaying VHS Tapes that I want to save in another format.
I do NOT have an Apple Computer (I’m guessing someone’s going to suggest that)
I do have a fairly new PC with a tv tuner and XP - Media Center Edition.
So, if I record to my computer, then I have DVR-MS file types to deal with.
Would it be easier to do simple editing to those files or should I convert them first?
When I say simple editing, I’m mostly talking about things like removing sections of the video to throw away (i.e. I thought I was quite the videographer, and taped my son’s entire soccer games, even when you can’t tell where he is on the field).
What are your recommendations for a free or low cost video editor?
Right now I’m thinking I’ll save the files to CDs (I don’t have a DVD Burner yet). I seem to remember a recent thread that CDs and DVDs don’t have much of a shelf life either.
How true is that? Please expand
What are the pros and cons of the different video formats? i.e. mpg, avi, etc.?
I know that saving a jpg file over and over will degrade the file over time.
What concerns do I need to be aware of in relation to degradation to video files? Is that a result of saving a compressed file?
I’m sure there’s more to ask, but right now I’m in information gathering mode.
Thanks, everybody.
E3
It probably stretches your definition of “low cost,” but I use NeroVision, which comes with the Nero Ultra Edition suite, which has an MSRP of something like $79, but is regularly available (around here anyway) discounted into the $35 range.
One thing I like about it is that it will edit those dvr-ms files directly. The suite also has a program that will let you handle the digitizing without relying on Media Center, though, so you can go either way.
My PC came with software (Roxio I think, but I can’t swear to it) to do simple editing, but I was used to Nero Burning ROM’s tools already and went ahead and stuck with something I knew, even though it meant an additional cost. The only thing I don’t like about NeroVision is that you can’t truly edit frame-by-frame. The finest I seem to be able to tune it is about 3 frames at a time. This could be user ignorance, though.
As far as video editors go, that is fairly cheap. The other ones I’ve heard of are Magix, Pinnacle, and (I think) Ulead in the sub-$100 range, as well as Vegas Movie Studio and Premiere Elements, which are stripped down versions of Sony Vegas and Adobre Premiere, at roughly $100 each, maybe a bit less. VMS also comes with a DVD authoring program, if that interests you. Try out the free trials before buying one though, to make sure you get one you’re comfortable with. You also probably have Windows Movie Maker already, but it’s not one I reccomend–it tends to be buggy and you’ll probably see a drop in video quality as well. But it’s there if you choose to use it.
I have no idea if any of these will work with DVR-MS files, having never run into them myself. If they don’t, I’d suggest transcoding the scenes you need into a lossless codec like HuffyUV or Lagarith using Virtualdub (which is free, but again for all I know it might not handle that filetype). These will be larger than your source files, which is why you’ll want to transcode only what you’re keeping, but video editors handle them much better than lossy codecs, which I think your source probably is (don’t quote me on that).
As far as pros and cons of filetypes, XviD has been commonly used for a few years now, and I’d suggest using that codec in the .avi container. It’s an MPEG-4 variation, and should compress much better than your source. XviD is lousy for editing though, as the software has to do more work to figure out how to display most frames.
Nero 7 Ultra Edition Enhanced is $89.00 at Staples; is that what you were talking about?
Anyone have any links where it’s less expensive?
I’ve given up searching best buy’s website. Every time I try, I get something so totally unrelated it just ticks me off.
It’s $10 cheaper if you get the downloadable version from the Nero website.