Covert VHS tape to avi or mpeg or wmv

I need to convert VHS tapes into files, not a DVD!
What is the way to turn the captured VHS footage on the PE7 timeline into an avi or mpeg or wmv and have it not fuzzy and the file small enough for one DVD?
My customer wants to edit the files using another software so can't use the DVD files I normally produce by just burning the DVD.
They said they need the files to be one of these:
.asf
.avi
.dib
.fpx
.mov
.mp2
.mp3
.mpeg
.mpg
.pct
.pcx
,.png
.ras
.stv
.tga
.wav
.wma
.wmv
the avi was GIGANTIC I tied, the wmv was grainy

For editing, you may not have both small size and high quality
DV AVI Type 2 with 16bit 48khz sound is the best there is for conversion from VHS for editing
Anything else is HIGHLY compress and designed for playback only, not for editing
Tell your customer to provide you with a hard drive to store and ship the files
Read Bill Hunt on editing a VOB/MPG file http://forums.adobe.com/thread/464549?tstart=0
Go to my notes page at http://www.pacifier.com/~jtsmith/ADOBE.HTM and click the link about editing compressed files

Similar Messages

Coverted old vhs tapes and downloaded to computer using Roxio. The audio and video don't sync.

I converted some vhs tapes to imovie with Roxie. Every project I created has video and audio that don't sync. What am I missing?

Thanks all-
This question was answered in [another thread|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1966084&tstart=0].

Assembling Montages with Scenes from Separate VHS Tapes?

I have quite a number of 15- to 20-year-old VHS tapes that I want to bring into the 21st century.
I just got a new computer, and have now transferred the tapes to a hard drive, using the ATI All in Wonder card to convert the VCR signals to Windows .mpg files.
I would now like to take snippets from each of the VHS tape files that I can save as individual scenes, which I can then recombine into videomontages that can be saved to DVD and to hard drives.
However, I am finding that Premiere Elements 7 does not seem to be designed to allow this seemingly straightforward project to be easily performed.
Each of the original tapes generated 2 mpg files. So far I have had no trouble bringing those 2 files into Pre7 to be saved as a unique project from a given tape. If, spread over the 2 files from a single original tape, there are 4 scenes of particular interest that I would like to save for use in several montage films, how do I go about saving them as independent scenes? I guess I am looking for the equivalent of a global clipboard that I can save to and from which I can pull scenes to be used in several projects.
I have no trouble using in and out markers and the scissors function to manually edit the clips (the 2 or 3 files produced from each of the original tapes) in a project to get the scenes I am looking for. But I don't know how to save those new subclips to be accessed in multiple other projects.
Is there an easy way to do this in Pre7. And if not, what alternative software might I look into using?

If you wish to use these scenes in multiple projects then you need to export each scene as a seperate video file. Best to export as DV-AVI as it is more compatible with PE7 than MPEG and should give fewer issues. To export a scene place the work area bar (WAB), the grey bar across the top of the timeline with handles each end, over the section you want top export... drag the handles to position the WAB over the scene you want to export. Then select File>Export>Movie and in Settings under Range select Work Area Bar.
If you just want to create sub-clips to be used in the project you are working on you can double click the clip in the project media bin and it will open in the preview monitor. Then you can set in and out points and drag the clip from the preview monitor back to the media bin. You will then be prompted for a sub-clip name. Note however that these are not "real" clips... they are just pointers referencing the scene.

HT1014 I'm working with imovie 08 and converted movie originally from VHS tape to .m4v files imovie wouldn't recognize it. I converted to .mov files and imovie generated thumbnails (for hours) and shows a New Event but there is nothing there. Any help?

I'm working with imovie 08 on Macbook pro OS X and converted movie originally from VHS tape to .m4v files imovie wouldn't recognize it. I converted to .mov files and imovie generated thumbnails (for hours) and shows a New Event but there is nothing there. Any help?

markmc78 wrote:
.. I'm really struggling with the concept of events/clips/projects.
consider usage of a diff. editor.. iMovieHD6, you're entitled for a free downlaod at apple.com:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imovieHD6.html
but IF you're relaxed, opened your mind, follow the bright light, ommmm.. for Events & Stuff:
your intended workflow will add another step of quality-degradition (8mm>>avi>>mp4>>iM08) ..
consider the free tool Mpeg Streamclip www.squared5.com for 'chopping' that 90min beast into pieces..
rename these new chunks, follow advice given on my site:
http://karsten.schluter.googlepages.com/im08changeeventdate
there's the manual..
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iMovie08_GettingStarted.pdf
and the most recommended books from Mr Pogue's Missing Manual series..

Best way to convert home movie VHS tapes so they can be edited in iMovie HD

Please help! I'm sorry this question is going to be long, but I'm a novice at this.
My goal is to get my VHS home movies (I have about 30 of them) into iMovie so I can do two things.
First I want to burn DVD's so I'll have a copy of the VHS tapes before they go bad.
Secondly, I want to be able to extract small clips from all of the tapes and combine them in a new iMovie project.
Here's what I've done so far:
I purchased a Canopus ADVC110 and got someof my VHS tapes converted digitally but the file sizes were HUGE and eating up my hard drive space. I was down to 6 GB of space left on my hard drive and almost crashed my Mac.
I deleted all these huge files and got my Mac back up to having 111 gigs of space left. Whew!
This week I purchased a Pinnacle converter and started all over. I took a VHS tape, and it was compressed into a nice small Mpeg-4 file and went to iTunes.
Then I tried to drag and drop it from itunes to imovie. That didn't work. I then dragged the movie to my desktop and then dragged it to imovie..... looks like this was going to take a long time to get into imovie. I'm thinking this is too many steps.
Now I am importing the file into iMovie by importing directly from itunes. The file size is 1.04 GB and it is 1 hour and 54 minutes long. It is taking a loooong time to import this movie....like 100 minutes.
I am afraid I am doing this the hard way.
Plus, after reading all the discussion boards and all the problems people are having... I don't even know if I'll be able to successfully edit this movie once it's imported. Plus, after I've edited it (if I can) will I be able to transfer the clips to another iMovie project?
I'm happy with the file size that the Pinnacle converter is giving me. I'm happy with the way the movie appears in itunes.
Because I have **so many VHS tapes** to convert, I'm asking you all if there is an easier way for me to complete this task!
Thanks in advance for any advise. Keep in mind that I'm not tech-sophisticated..... just a middle aged Grandma trying to preserve memories of my family!

_Share" the highlight as suggested_
Thanks Lennart..... I'm not sure I know what you meant by the above.
Do you mean that I share the little clips I want to use in the 'best of project'?
I read the MacWorld article.... it's great thanks!
I want to keep all these converted movies on my hard drive because down the road I want to extract other clips from them so I can make a 'best of' movie for my other family members. I may want to do that next year.... or whatever..... so I want to have the imovies available for me when that time comes.
In order to do this am I going to have to buy a lot..... and I mean ALOT of extra hard drive space? That darn Canopus was really making files for me that were like 60-80GB's per one half hour movie!!
Hey, I really appreciate all the time you are spending with me on this topic. Making these imovie memories are so very important to me.

Importing VHS Tapes?

Hello,
I have a Honestech VHS to DVD converter package. It comes with a converter box that I can plug in audio and video cables, along with s-video. I don't prefer the software that the package comes with because it is Windows software. You plug the box into your computer with USB. Is it possible to let iMovie or some other Mac application import the my VHS tapes from this box? iMovie does not detect the box when I click "import from camera", so I am willing to try a different Mac application that would recognize it.
Thanks for your help.

If you want to import video on the Mac, there are several options.
1) There is the EyeTV Hybrid. Like the Honetech, it accepts the RCA cables and s-video. It also accepts high definition TV signals from an antenna or cable box. It records in MPEG2 format, so additional conversion is required before editing in iMovie. I do this with MPEG Streamclip (free) and the Apple Quicktime MPEG2 Playback Component ($20). EyeTV does not make DVDs but it can output files that can be burned with Toast or iDVD.
2) Canopus makes a line of converters that will convert analog input from RCA cable or S video into DV which can be imported directly into imovie.
3) Certain miniDV camcorders and Digital 8 camcorders will allow passthrough analog conversion. You plug in the RCA cable or the video cable into the camcorder and it converts to DV and outputs via Firewire. This can be imported directly into imovie. I recently bought a Digital 8 camcorder on eBay for a price much lower than the Canopus for the purpose of importing some old 8mm camcorder tapes.

Transfer and edit of VHS tapes

I am re-starting a delayed project I began several months ago, transfering and editing VHS tapes to DVD. The support from the forum was extraordinary, and I'm recreating what I learned to begin anew.
There is one item that I never was clear on, but would be key as I manage the initial transfer process:
Would it be overall more efficient to (1) transfer each VHS in its entirety, and then select/edit digitally clips that will find their way into a final file for DVD, or (2) go thru a painstaking process of choosing and transfering individual clips directly from the VHS player? Note that I'll probably wish to transfer the tapes in their entireity anyway for archival purposes.
I have upgraded to WD Caviar Black drives to reduce latencies, etc. but am not sure that working on large files will be efficient. Also, I'm currently using PE ver 4. Is there annything in later versions that would make an upgrade compelling?
Some real-world perspective would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Julian
PS: I'm discouraged to not be able to find a record of my prior communications with all the fine advice from the forum. Am I missing something?

The one drawback to the model 55 is it is one way from tape to computer
If that is the only direction you wish to use, you don't need the more $$ two way model
Do also plan ahead for offline storage... IF you think you will ever need the AVI files again
DV AVI is about 13gig per hour, and 1 or 2 Terrabyte USB drives are a good way to store many hours of files when you are done (if not edit, due to transfer speed)
Also... use that USB external to make a FULL backup of your boot drive
Hardware crashes or virus infections happen, so you should buy AND USE software to make a full backup of your hard drive to an external USB hard drive... plus, making step-by-step backups during a new install or major program addition makes it easy to go back a step if something doesn't work
This backup and then restore is, of course, only to the same computer with a new drive (or the same drive as long as you don't mind writing over everything) since doing a restore to a new computer won't work due to Windows and many programs having activation information that is keyed to your hardware (which is why Windows will force you to RE-Activate if you change very much hardware)
The product I use is at http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/image-for-linux.htm
Image runs off of a bootable CD via Linux (the Zip you download includes a program to make the bootable CD) and it reads EVERYTHING on the drive, even the hidden registration information, so everything is restored when needed... and you may restore the image to a brand new drive in case of a crash, and not have to re-install anything
Please note that I own no part of Image, and I don't get a referral fee (that is just a plain web link) but I use the program and it has saved me a LOT of trouble when I had a hard drive die... and I was able to restore everything and not have to re-install or re-activate a single program, from Windows on up

Adobe Audition 3.0 and Pinnacle 700 USB - How to record audio from VHS tapes???

Hi Friends,
I am new to Adobe Audition 3.0. I need your help.
Actually I am having a old Pinnacle 700 USB capture card. I want to record some audio in my computer by Adobe Audition.
I downloaded and installed required driver for Pinnacle 700 USB (for Vista).
But when I tried to capture audio from my VHS tapes, It not showing proper options. I don't know how to proceed further.
Could any one please help me... Please let me know what all I need to do.
Waiting for your helpful suggestions.
Thanks,
Yash

The Pinnacle is a video capture device and as such captures the video and audio into one MPEG or DV stream. Audition can't see it as an audio card and therefore can't capture audio directly from your video source. However once you have captured a video file using the Pinnacle you can probably get to the audio by using the Open Audio from Video command in the File menu in Audition.

Converting VHS Tapes to Apple TV

Hi,
I'm trying to preserve a lot of footage of ballet stage performances from VHS tapes - about 120 hours worth. I've read through all of the forums about converting to DVD, so I've got that. What I'd really like to do is preserve them on an external hard drive and view them on the TV by streaming through Apple TV -- but only if I can preserve the quality.
I've imported one 50 minute tape through a Canopus ADVC-110 into DV format in iMovie. I've tried exporting to Quicktime or mp4 using numerous default compression settings with unacceptable results in quality (compared to the quality of the DV in iMovie). Now I'm trying to export to Quicktime using H.264 with a max bitrate of 4800 bps (Apple TV max is 5000 bps). I think this is as good as I can get, but the estimated time to completion is at 12 hours and keeps growing (I've got plenty of harddisk space and all other applications are closed).
So I'm guessing that in order to accomplish my goal, I need:
13 GB/hour storage = about 1.5 TB (ouch, but I can deal)
120 hours for analog to digital conversion (acceptable)
12 hours or who knows how much longer x 120 hours to compress? (unacceptable)
Am I missing something here? Is there a better way to preserve video quality as an .mp4, .m4v, or .mov file? Or should I just give up and burn everything to DVD?
Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Welcome to the forums.
A few thoughts about your desired objectives:
a) Will you want to edit the footage in future? (Keep the original tapes and/or use a digital format with very little compression - like .dv, and/or export the converted video to miniDV tape since it is full quality but smaller physical size)
b) Will you want to share footage with others? (DVDs are hard to beat)
c) Do you want maximum flexibility? (see (a)
If you're happy with the .dv option for flexibility and/or editing, then the challenge you look like you're facing is how to view your video. Obviously, Apple TV is one option, DVD is another. For video conversion, I've had good experience (speed and quality) with Visual Hub, Roxio Toast, and the free MPEG Streamclip. Processor speed is important for video conversion, so you probably want to use your fastest computer.
You might check whether DivX format is supported via Apple TV. It's a high quality but very compressed format - good for viewing/not good for editing in future.
To establish a workflow, I'd create a short test video of representative footage and then monitor how much time it takes to convert into the various video format options.
John

How best to save VHS tapes to DVDs using a Mac ?

I have over 30 VHS tapes, eight Hi-8 tapes, and a player for both formats. Would like to make DVDs of these movies. There are a few USB adapters (Elgato Video Capture for $100, KWorld DVD Maker 2x for $28) and Roxio makes Easy VHS to DVD 3 Plus for $60. Have looked through AV forums on other websites and the directions are not concise, and are aimed at the PC platform. Prefer to use a Mac.
What is the fastest, easiest, and best way to save these VHS tapes to DVDs using a Mac ?

Frank Caggiano wrote:
Are you sure neither player has a digital output? FireWire would be the most likely connector on that type of equipment.
Both VHS & Hi-8 are analog tape formats so it is extremely unlikely that VHS players or Hi-8 camcorders would have built-in analog to digital converters. That's why you need a product that includes a hardware A-D converter like the three mentioned by the OP.
Roxio's Easy VHS to DVD 3 product is for Windows -- there is no software compatible with OS X included. The Easy VHS to DVD for Mac product does include OS X compatible software but it gets poor reviews at Amazon, has apparently not been updated in some time, & the support page for the product has some "page not found" links suggesting Roxio isn't currently supporting the product very well.
The KWorld DVD Maker comes with a software driver for its A-D converter, which apparently uses a Empia 28xx family chipset. According to this that driver will not work with recent OS X versions, but for $30 one can purchase the VideoGlide driver to solve that problem. The KWorld product does not include OS X compatible editing software; for that you use iMovie (& presumably Toast or iDVD or something else) to burn the movies to DVDs. That makes the price about the same as the Roxio solution but complicates support because hardware & software are coming from different companies.
The Elgato Video Capture product should be compatible with most OS X versions (but I could not find anything specifically about at beyond the typical "10.5 & above" kind of comment which may or may not mean it supports 10.8 or 10.9) but it captures to H.264/MPEG formats only, so like the KWorld you still need something to convert that to MPEG 2 to burn the captures to a standard DVD.
So basically, there is no easy "one step" method to transfer VHS (or any of the other analog video formats) to DVD's. Depending on the version of OS X in use, it should be fairly easy to convert the analog source material to a digital format that can be used with iTunes, iMovie, etc., but editing it & particularly burning that to a DVD that will play in a regular DVD player will take more work.

Best format to save all vhs tapes for future fce

game plan....in panther i am converting all my vhs tapes to dv into fce, then cutting out any junk shots and then exporting to my huge external drive for future use in fce to make movies to idvd 5.
keeping in mind that quality is utmost important.. even though vhs is already soso..so i think a hi compression is a no no.
since fce works in qt do i just export qt movie or should i consider qt conversion to dv stream? mpeg 4 ? or ?????
plus,, 5 years from now i dont want to have it in a format that no longer is in use...

Just use the native Quicktime format of FCE. Don't use any conversion. Just the Quicktime Movie option on export.

Eyetv 250 importing to imovie from vhs tapes

Okay Guys, I need a lot of help.
I am new to mac and I love it. I used to use Pinnacle Studio 10. I have a lot of old camcorder tapes which through the use of a tape adapter I am able to play camcorder tapes in the VCR. Then connect the VCR to elgato eye tv. I use the eye tv VHS assistant and play my movie into elgato.
I want to encode these movies and ultimatly put them on DVD.
So after I did the import I tried to drag the file into IMOVIE.
I got this message..
The file could not be imported: The file “MacBook/Volumes/backup drive/EyeTV Archive/My VHS Tape - 9/10/06 9_21 PM.eyetv” can’t be imported; QuickTime couldn’t parse it: -43
I realized that the problem is the format that was imported was not compatible with imovie. I did more research and realized I that i could export the file to another format. There are several options, MPEG 4, Imovie, IDVD, etc.
What setting do I use to export the files? Also I want to combine several different sections of video. Can I do this. How can I export the section as a clip and drag the clip into imovie.
Any advice would be great.

I just imported my first clip into iMovie today and it was captured from a Hi-8 Camcorder using Eyetv250. I used eyetv2 software's export option and chose "iMovie HD" as the format. I only did this because I thought I had to, knowing that it was going to be imported in iMovie HD6. This however created a 13+gig file from what was originally a 2.5gig file ! So , I don't think that was the right choice. I am going to go back and export using the Quicktime Movie setting toward the bottom of the export format option list (within eyetv2). That setting will produce a video export of the same size as the original.
Another thing I am going to try is to go into the "package" ( a package is basically a folder ) that is created by eyetv2 and try dropping the quicktime file directly into iMovie and see if it will import that way. If you go to the folder where your .eyetv file is placed (Eyetv archive) and right click on that .eyetv file you can choose to "show package contents". When you do that you will find a number of files, including a .mpg file which I assume contains the actual video footage which I would think iMovie can import directly. I'll come back here and post what happens but go ahead and try it.
Mac Mini Intel Core Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Transferring VHS tapes

I am transferring some of my VHS tapes to my iMac and iMovie (using a hones tech converter) with the plan to make them into DVD's. I have transferred a tape, made the edit, but the only thing I see is to just "burn a dvd". This could only be played on a mac computer. Is there any way to change the format so the dvd can be played on a dvd player?
Also, when I have the new dvd, how do I delete that entire import in iMovie. It just keeps appearing.
Thanks

So, I need a converter and a DVD recorder?
No, just one or the other. If you plan to edit the files and own a DV camcorder, I would check the manual to see it it has a passthrough option than can be used as a converter. (E.g., both my Mini-DV HDR-HC3 and older Hi-8/Digital-8 TRV-DCR520 will do this.) If you need a fixed conversion station, then a DAC or EyeTV device might be better. (E.g., I keep a Canopus ADVC300 connected to my entertainment system for capturing TV/Sat programs by a very old 400 MHz Ti Powerbook.
In the past I have made DVDs that I can't play anywhere except on the TV that the recorder is connected to. I know other people who have the same problem,but I have also spoken to some who can play their recorded DVDs on anything. I have tried several different DVDs, but that didn't work either. My recorder is about 2 years old.
Once recoded to DVD, the DVDs can be played back on your computer using the Apple DVD player, the VIDEO_TS files can be copied to your computer hard drive and played back by either the DVD Player or Front Row. In addition, applications like MPEG Streamclip or VLC can play the VOB files. It is also possible to Convert the VOB files to other compression formats for editing but the quality may not be as good as converting directly from your VHS tapes to DV (or other compression format). It is all just a matter of having the right applications/components installed on your system.
So, if I purchase a DVD recorder with new technology, will this solve my problem?
It probably is not necessary to purchase a new DVD recorder -- merely having the correct software to process the DVD encoded data. Appleman's sample video demonstrates what you can expect going through MPEG-2 whether using an EyeTV device or a DVD recorder. And depending on the VHS source quality, a DAC like the ADVC300 going directly to DV might be marginally better.

Importing VHS tape into iMovie.

I am importing VHS tapes into either imovie 09 or 06. When I play back in the program, it has good quality. But when I save it, no matter what format: mp4, .avi, .mov, etc. The quality is very poor when played back on DVD player.
Any suggestions as to what I am doing wrong?

I am importing VHS tapes into either imovie 09 or 06.
Use iMovie 06 with iDVD 09.
iMovie 09 and 11 uses 'single field processing' meaning every other horizontal line of the video is thrown out, which reduces the sharpness of the footage. iMovie 06 uses ALL of the image to form the video.
Your workflow is editing DV clips and making DVDs, so iMovie 06 is better suited. Your movie will arrive at iDVD in DV format, which is an ideal match for making a DVD: same resolution, same pixels aspect ratio, and original quality. If you share your movie from iMovie 09, it gets re-rendered at 640x480 or less, and then iDVD upscales it back to 720x480. The end result is obviously not as good.
iMovie 06 and iDVD 09 is a "lossless" combination.

Import VHS Tapes to DVD and iMovie

I have many old VHS tapes I want to finally digitize so I don't lose them. Most are old football games, generally between 1-2 hours per tape. I am working off of a new iMac - 27inch 3.1gHz 1TB hard drive.
I want to do 2 things:
1 - Backup each tape to a high quality DVD for backup purposes - to be played in a DVD player
2 - Store lower quality versions on my iMac hard drive to be viewed/ edited/ possibly uploaded to YouTube or other web based video sites
I have iMovie, and would like the ability to edit if possible - nothing major, ading scores, dates, etc...and possibly manipulating video (cropping of scenes, etc...) but not much.
I have researched and found a few different options. Most threads I have read seem to indicate the need for one of the following:
Canopus ADVC300
Canopus ADVC55
Elgato Eye TV Hybrid
I am willing to spend $100 - $200, but this I'd rather not go crazy. At a certain point it would just be easier to sed them away to be professionally archived to DVD.
Any advice?

I have many old VHS tapes I want to finally digitize so I don't lose them.
I have done lots of that.
To get your VHS video into iMovie, use the Grassvalley ADVC300. With the ADVC300 Audio and Video go in, FireWire comes out. It also comes with a nice Macintosh application that works flawlessly with iMovie 06 and iDVD 09/11 (I have used it a few times with iMovie 11).
The program that comes with the ADVC300 has some nice filters that can improve video and audio of the source material. The ADVC300 will take Audio and Video from any source (VCR, Tivo, Satellite Receiver) and convert it to FireWire (iMovie will treat it like a camera).
http://www.grassvalley.com/products/advc300
I would use iMovie 06 with iDVD 09/11, why?
iMovie 09/11 uses 'single field processing' meaning every other horizontal line of the video is thrown out, which reduces the sharpness of the footage. iMovie 06 uses ALL of the image to form the video.
If your primary workflow is editing DV clips and making DVDs, iMovie '06 is better suited.
Your movie will arrive at iDVD in DV format, which is an ideal match for making a DVD: same resolution, same pixels aspect ratio, and original quality. If you share your movie from iMovie 09/11, it gets re-rendered at 640x480 or less, and then iDVD upscales it back to 720x480. The end result is obviously not as good.
iMovie 06 and iDVD 11 is a "lossless" combination.

Covert VHS tape to avi or mpeg or wmv

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