Help Capture VHS Video Tape

[Fraco]

Hi !

I'va got a problem to capture video on my computer. I bought a Pinnacle Miro PCTV, I captured a 80 min movie in MPEG2 without any problem. I converted this movie in Divx, ok.
After that, all my tests were weird ! I got a sound desynchronisation.
I tried with another capture card, but i've got same results.

Who could say me how to capture VHS without any problem ?

Thanks a lot.

[Batman]

I guess you could try to re-synch using Virtualdub or manually through synchronizer.

[setarip]

What audio format did you use for capture?

What software and audio format did you use for conversion to DivX-compressed .AVI?

[Fraco]

I sent the card back to the shop since.
I don't remember the format of the audio, i think i tried MP3, uncompressed etc ...

For information I've got the sound desynch before encoding the MPEG2 movie to Divx ...

Could you send me how you capture VHS, what's your card , etc ...
If there's something I didn't try, I 'll buy a capture card and try again.

Thank you very much for your help !

[johnbmx4christ]

i use a belkin usb cap card.i dont recommend it only because there is a loss of quality since it goes to usb.and its analog.
(am in process of building new system)..i cannot change my capture preferences..it caps in .avi the sync is usually good but it doesnt matter to me cause i ALWAYS tweak the sound in cool edit(PCM WAV) before editing with premier 6.i never use the original sound from the camcorder the way it is..( same with vhs or whatever i cap.. i always re-eq etc..)..so i have to resync it anyway in premier. i have win 98 se..so i cant cap more than 15 mins..but i have noticed if i just encode after the cap..it does come out of sync after a while but not by much.
setarip correct me if i am wrong ..but if i cap in the "huge" uncompressed avi and then encode to mpeg2..isnt the original avi always better? not because it is the original but because it is not compressed?so wouldnt it be better to always cap in this format and then compress to mpeg2?

[Fraco]

Well ... I tried to encode with the Huge uncompressed AVI.
But I had desynch anyway and as its name says, it's HUGE !
I don't have a 50 Billion Go Hard Drive ...
So I wanted to try to encode in Mpeg 2, my first try was a 80 min movie, it made only 4 Go on my hard drive and the loss of quality was not very significant !

But I've found someone near me who's got a capture card and who knows how to capture VHS, I'll try with her (it's a girl, I'm VERY lucky ).

If I encounter other problems, I'll ask you again

Thanks a lot for all who helped me !
May the Divx be with you...