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Tech Tip 119 - Transferring Video to DVD – Part I

By Chris Capelle - Sunday, April 8, 2007

Now that you’ve put your VCR in mothballs, you realize that the
closet full of VHS tapes (or Betamax,
if you bet on the wrong horse) contains
valuable memories you would
like to see again. Perhaps you want to relive your wedding, or post the video of you and your friends
lip-synching “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” from the
7th grade talent show on YouTube. But you can’t be bothered integrating antiquated technology into your home theater setup, not to mention handling and storing those bulky VHS tapes.

The solution is to transfer the analog video from the tapes into DV (digital video) format that can be edited, and eventually burned onto DVD, if you plan on watching it on your television or computer. (Similarly, if you want to post the video to the Web, you’ll have to save it as a format that can be viewed on the Internet.)

To successfully accomplish this, you will need abundant amounts of the following:

• Time
• Hard Drive Space
• RAM
• Processor Speed
• Patience

Time:

Working with video is extremely time-consuming. Converting analog video to digital and importing it into the computer is accomplished in real time. This means that a two-hour tape will take two hours to import. If you plan on editing the video, that takes more time.
When it comes to burning it onto DVD – see where this is going?

Hard Drive Space:

Of course, all this takes gigs and gigs (and gigs) of hard drive space. The good news is that hard drives are inexpensive, and many computers have the capability to add a second internal hard drive.  Also, any computer that is robust enough to handle video has can accept an external drive (or two) via the USB or FireWire ports.

RAM:

Working with video is memory intensive, so if you’re serious about this, you’ll need to crank up your RAM to the max. Upgrading your RAM is also relatively inexpensive and is usually a simple process.

Processor Speed:

Similar to RAM, the larger the number on the processor, the less painful this will be. You need a computer powerful enough to handle all this hard work without bonking.

Patience:

Along with RAM, health, good luck, and certain other things in life, you can never have enough patience. Make sure you have a comfortable chair and plenty of caffeinated drinks on hand, especially if you plan on editing, adding music or other effects, making DVD “chapters,” or incorporating artwork into the finished product. It will take a lot longer than you ever imagined it would. Trust me.

How much effort you put into this will determine the end result; you can do a straight transfer, but in that case your DVD will have the same ‘warts and all’ quality as the original source tape, with all background noise, static at the beginning and end, sloppy edits, along with interminable dead air time. One option is to edit out the mistakes as well as the embarrassing or boring parts. In addition, you can add graphics, animations, music, fade-ins, fade-outs, cross edits, and chapters for the DVD. This part of the process is accomplished with video editing software, which we’ll cover in our next installment of this series.

OK, we’ve established that you need a pretty rockin’ computer for this journey.

But what else?

DVD Burner:

If you have a high-end computer, chances are it has a built-in DVD burner. If not, there are external (USB or FireWire) models available. Compatible blank DVD media is also required.

Video Capture Hardware:

Also known as an
analog to DV converter
or a “hardware bridge”,
this is the device that converts the analog video signal to a digital format. These are available in a few different configurations;
some are internal cards that require installation in the computer, some
are stand-alone devices, and even certain camcorders are capable of
tackling the task.

Video Editing Software:

Some hardware solutions include software for video editing perfect
for the home user, while other
stand-alone software packages deliver broadcast quality results,
as well as having have more bells and whistles, along with a
higher price tag.

A quick overview of the process:

• A VCR is connected to an analog to DV converter
• The DV converter is connected to your computer
• The video data you import resides on your hard drive
• After editing the video data, it is burned onto a DVD

Now that you know in more detail what’s involved, Part II of this Tech Tip will discuss the specifics of actually working with video
on your computer.

On a more serious note:

If you go to the website LetsSayThanks.com you can pick out a thank you card that Xerox will print and send to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can't choose who gets it, but it will go to a member of the U.S. armed services. How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!

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