Newbie and his first editing job

propman07 wrote on 10/26/2004, 10:51 AM
Hello-

I have been reading around this forum for a while now, but haven't seen a question like the one that I have. I have been "given" the task to convert a bunch of VHS tapes to DVD. I have a ADVC 100, and have captured the first tape (2 hours, 12 minutes with 11 dropped frames) into Vegas, and I have a question. If I want to try to clean up the video, or split it up into multiple parts, how would I go about doing that? Please excuse the "newbie-ness" of my question, but I had to start somewhere.

Thanks in advance

Comments

beerandchips wrote on 10/26/2004, 10:57 AM
Color correction tools are very good on Vegas. The "S" key will split any clips on the timeline for you. You can then move around as desired.
Jsnkc wrote on 10/26/2004, 11:21 AM
If you're going to be doing a lot of this it might be wise to invest in a set-top DVD recorder, just going from straight VHS to DVD you don't really need Vegas at all.
propman07 wrote on 10/26/2004, 12:44 PM
beerandchips-

Thanks for your reply. I'll give that a try. I was wondering if you (or anyone) could recommend a good book/tutorial on how to use Vegas.

Thanks again.
propman07 wrote on 10/26/2004, 12:46 PM
Jsnkc-

I am going to be doing a lot of videos, but the primary reason that I was planning on using Vegas was to clean up the videos. A majority of them are from the early 1980s (family videos) that I would like to be able to put on DVD, and in the process, restore/improve on some of the picture and sound quality.

Thanks.
briggs wrote on 10/26/2004, 12:51 PM
Many of us have recently purchased Spot's Vegas 5 Editing book.
See it here.

-Les
MyST wrote on 10/26/2004, 5:43 PM
Sound restoration?
Check this out...

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/Products/ShowProduct.asp?PID=14

It ain't cheap, but it's Pro quality.

Which version of Vegas do you have? 4.0, 5.0?
Vegas 4 Editing Workshop or Vegas 5 Editing Workshop. Also, many different DVD tutorials for both versions.

Mario
beerandchips wrote on 10/26/2004, 6:25 PM
I also highly recommend Spot's book/DVD's. If you try and color correct, use a good external monitor that is properly calibrated. That is key to good output.
Steve Mann wrote on 10/27/2004, 12:27 AM
No one else commented on this, but eleven dropped frames is eleven too many. If your PC and capture disk are fast enough, then you should never see dropped frames.

Steve
propman07 wrote on 10/27/2004, 6:41 AM
Les-

Thanks for the book recommendation. I'll be looking into a purchase soon.
propman07 wrote on 10/27/2004, 6:45 AM
Mario-

You're right, it ain't cheap. I'll have to think about that one for a while.

I have Vegas 5.0, and I'll look at the DVD tutorials for it as well.

Thanks for the recommendation.
propman07 wrote on 10/27/2004, 6:47 AM
beerandchips-

By an external monitor, I assume that you mean a TV? I have a cable (actually, three cables) connected from the output from the ADVC-100 in the office to the input on the back of the TV in the bedroom. I was going to look for a small 19" - 21" color TV to put in the office, so I won't have to walk back and forth to see how the picture looks.

Thoughts?
beerandchips wrote on 10/27/2004, 6:52 AM
Some on this forum might disagree, but I believe in using as high resolution monitor as you can afford. I use a JVC TM-H1375SU. Sony has some great monitors that are a litttle more expensive. Someone else can chime in on those. You need something that you can run S-Video out of the canopus 100.
propman07 wrote on 10/27/2004, 6:58 AM
Steve-

Thanks for pointing this out. I kind of figured that, after doing some reading on this forum. The capture that I did of the first video tape was for 2:12:00. I didn't know about disabling other CPU intensive processes at that time. For the next capture, I'll be sure to disable some of the tasks that I have running in the system tray. I am pretty sure that my PC and disks are fast enough, but here is my setup. Maybe someone could comment on if they think that it is sufficient or not.

ASUS P4PE Motherboard
POWERCOLOR ATI RADEON 9600PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR
Intel Pentium 4/ 3.06 GHz 533MHz FSB
CRUCIAL 1.0 GB DDR PC-2100 Memory
2 Western Digital 200 GB 7200 RPM IDE Hard Drives
1 Western Digital 160 GB 7200 RPM IDE Hard Drive
1 Western Digital 120 GB 7200 RPM IDE Hard Drive

Thanks.
propman07 wrote on 10/27/2004, 7:00 AM
beerandchips-

Thanks for the clarification. The TV that I have will accept S-Video, so for now, I think that I will look for a smaller TV that I can put on a shelf in the office near my PC that will accept S-Video.

Thanks again.
cbrillow wrote on 10/27/2004, 9:26 AM
I agree that 1 dropped frame is 1 that I don't want to see. However, when capturing from VHS tapes, it's entirely possible that the dropped frames are the result of record/pause/record jumps, sync interruptions from overlapped recordings or other flaws in the source tape. Older tapes and those recorded on earlier VCRs can present these types of problems.

Your hardware appears to be up to the task, but it would take delving into more depth to make a better-educated guess whether or not it's responsible. I'd suggest trying addtional captures while monitoring the tape and the dropped frames counter to see if there's a correlation.