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An incorrectly configured PC will put the brakes on the most capable capture hardware, so here we show you which settings need adjusting for optimal performance.
You'll find that the saying about the faster the processor the better is particularly true if you use a TV or graphics card with an S-Video input for video capturing. You should have at least a 1.5GHz processor, but external capture devices such as DV camcorders and DV converters put much less strain on the CPU and a 500MHz chip will suffice.
So that you don't strain the processor, the motherboard's southbridge should be controlled with the most up-to-date busmaster drivers. These allow data to be transferred from Ram to the hard disk and vice versa. If you haven't installed the busmaster drivers, the processor must do the work. You can get drivers for boards with Via chipsets from www.viaarena.com.
For motherboards with Intel chipsets, the Intel Application Accelerator can be downloaded from www.support.intel.com. The hard disk on which the video data will be saved needs a minimum data transfer rate that varies according to the codec being used.
DV videos are the most demanding, needing a data transfer rate of 3.6MBps, although current hard disks will not have a problem with this. However, it won't hurt to defragment your hard disk and work out the average transfer rate with a suitable benchmark utility, such as that included with VirtualDub.
An hour's worth of high-quality DV material needs about 12.7GB of storage (3.6MBps). Video capturing demands large amounts of free hard disk space.
The type of hard disk used - EIDE or SCSI - doesn't matter. A few years ago SCSI hard disks were regarded as indispensable for video-editing work, because the performance of EIDE disks was not up to the job. Improvements in EIDE performance mean there is no longer any reason to prefer a SCSI disk over its EIDE counterpart.
If anything, the opposite is true; because of the price per megabyte relationship, EIDE hard disks are better value than SCSI disks. In order not to lose performance, Direct Memory Access (DMA) mode has to be activated and the corresponding chipset driver installed.
NTFS is preferable to the Fat32 file system when it comes to saving and editing the video stream. It gives greater data security than Fat32, and the way data is organised means that access times are shorter on an NTFS partition.
As with video editing, file sizes are normally large, so NTFS is the better choice. Windows NT, 2000 and XP use NTFS as standard. Windows 95, 98 and ME use Fat16/Fat32 by default and can only be made to access NTFS partitions using commercial accessories.
Digitising Super-8 films
To transfer Super-8 films to a PC, you need a DV camcorder and it requires a greater effort than transferring a video recording. With a specially prepared projection screen, you can even improve the picture quality. The best method is to film the images projected onto a back-projection screen with a Super-8 projector using a DV camcorder.
Ideally, the projector and the camera should be set up to avoid parallax, almost on a straight line, to avoid distortion during recording. For the best results, turn off the camcorder's autofocus, or it will continually refocus in response to changes in picture and brightness. Adjust the white balance manually, and set the camera's exposure to a value in the range 1/50 to 1/60.
The closer the camcorder is to the screen, the better the recording will be. You might have to experiment to find the ideal distance between the projector and screen. If possible, project the image onto a proper back-projection screen.
To record the sound track, connect the projector's Din audio output socket to the camcorder's line-in input. Super-8 projector lamps often cause small circular light patches (hotspots) to appear on the screen. Apart from this, the film seldom appears grainless. Some help is offered by plastic sheets that are placed in front of the screen - you can buy these from specialist video shops.
Better quality can be achieved by using a product such as Video Optik Brahler's Glasscreen, which has a projection surface made of two sheets of glass with paraffin between them to remove graininess, or Hama's Video Transfer Telescreen, which costs around £50.
You can also try getting rid of hotspots with software such as VirtualDub's Hotspot filter: this darkens the centre of the frame while the Radial Luminance brightens the frame at the edge of the screen. If Super-8 films recorded with a camcorder show signs of flicker in the camera's display, the cause is a lack of synchronisation between the projector and camera picture refresh rates.
Camcorders use a refresh rate of 50 frames per second (fps) whereas Super-8 projectors deliver a frequency of only 18-24fps. To get rid of picture flicker, the camcorder and projector refresh rates need to be set at a whole-number ratio. Projector refresh rates of 16 2/3 (three-blade shutter) or 25 (two-blade shutter) give an ideal ratio of 1:3 and 1:2 respectively. If the projector cannot be set exactly to one of these frame rates, try to make at least a rough adjustment.
Some flicker will remain visible on the camcorder monitor even at 16 or 24fps, either with a three-blade or two-blade shutter. The picture will also be darker, but in practical terms this makes no difference. If the flicker can't be removed, use the Deflicker Filter in VirtualDub to removing the flicker.
Recording films
One of the most effective video-restoration tools is free. VirtualDub enables you to rework and polish up analogue recordings. To transfer analogue videos using VirtualDub use File, Capture avi to open the capture menu. Choose the video source using Video, Source. You can select Tuner or S-Video. Tuner records using the PC's TV tuner card and S-Video captures using the graphics or TV card's S-Video input.
Before you can work on the material captured from DV camcorders using VirtualDub, there are two more hurdles: capturing via the FireWire interface is not possible with VirtualDub and, because of the old Video for Windows interface, the program only recognises DV movies in Type 2 DV-AVI format (see Codecs and programs above).
With Windows XP, Microsoft provides free DV-editing software, Movie Maker, which you can download here. You can use Movie Maker to save DV material transferred by camcorders in the DV-AVI format. Commercial programs such as Ulead Media Studio 6 will do the same thing. Ulead's free DV Converter can convert the DV-AVI formats from Type 1 to Type 2 or vice versa.
You can choose which codec to use from VirtualDub's Compression menu item (under File, Capture avi). You need to have installed the codec on the system first. To record the video material in high quality using VirtualDub, make sure you set the resolution (Format menu) as high as possible.
Take care though; in general, capturing should not be carried out at full Pal resolution (768 x 576 pixels), but at DV or DVD-compliant resolution (720 x 576 pixels). This is because if the source format and the capture format do not have the same dimensions, the size has to be recalculated in a processor-intensive operation. In the case of conversion from Pal to DV this reduces the resolution, causing a loss of quality.
If the resolutions are the same to start with, however, the conversion is much quicker, as VirtualDub simply converts the video from one codec to another. If picture dimensions have to be recalculated as well, the conversion takes five times longer.
Restoration
The quality of Super-8 films that have been copied over is usually poor: the video picture is often spoiled by noise, flickering, washed-out colours and shakiness. VHS films that have been copied over often need restoration work too, and this is one of VirtualDub's specialities.
This freeware program has a large number of filters for improving the film material's picture quality and it performs better than some commercial software. Magix Video 2.0, for example, is designed for editing high-quality source material and is suitable for restoration only to a limited extent.
A large selection of free VirtualDub filters is available for download at http://neuron2.net. You can add them to VirtualDub using the Video, Filters, Add menu command. As there are often several filter solutions to the same problem, the filters mentioned here are just examples.
When you are restoring a film, the order in which you apply the filters can make a real difference to the final picture quality. First, remove large irregularities such flickering, noise and shakiness, for which you can use the Deflicker, Noise reduction/Cropping filter and Deshaker.
Afterwards, it's a matter of fine tuning. For example, you might use the Temporal cleaner filter to minimise colour noise. Washed-out and shifted colours can be refreshed with the Chroma noise reduction filter. On VHS tapes recorded from TV, the channel's on-screen logo is often annoying and it can be removed with the Delogo filter. Finally, use White balance to adjust brightness and contrast as well as the white balance.
Saving videos on DVD
Tmpgenc is a great tool for converting edited DV videos into DVD-compliant mpeg2 format. Its mpeg2 encoder is a 30-day trial version bundled with the download. VirtualDub saves movie data in an avi file. However, it uses avi files only as a container format to hold the DV stream. If the avi file is loaded into Tmpgenc, the program recognises the underlying format.
Tmpgenc uses any installed video codec to convert not only between avi and DV but also asf, DivX, mpeg, mov, wmv, Xvid and other formats. Tmpgenc includes templates for DVD, VCD and SVCD. By default, the program starts with an easy-to-use wizard that guides you through all the settings. These can also be adjusted manually by clicking on the Settings button.
Before clicking the Start button to begin the conversion, you have to specify the audio and video data sources. Use Video source to select the movie file to convert. If the video material is in DV, Huffyuv or mjpeg format, the video and audio tracks are already linked, so you don't have to specify a separate audio source. The output file will be a single mpeg2 file with the mpg file extension.
Finally, to create a DVD disc you need some authoring software. This transforms the mpeg2 file into the correct file structure for burning to a DVD+/-R/RW disc and lets you add features such as menu controls and backgrounds.
DVD recorder manufacturers often bundle an authoring program with their drives, for example Pinnacle's Movie Studio 8 (about £40) is included with the Teac DV-W50E and Traxdata RW 1100 four-speed drives. Sony's multiformat DRU-500A includes Sonic My DVD.
For absolute beginners, Cyberlink's Power Producer Gold is an easy-to-use program that can be downloaded from for $49.95 (£27).
Standard software such as Nero Burning Rom or Easy CD Creator cannot use an mpeg2 file generated by Tmpgenc as the source for a DVD. If you can put up with slight reduction in quality, use Tmpgenc to create files in VCD or SVCD format. Nero Burning Rom and Easy CD Creator have no problems with these formats. In contrast, VCD or SVCD quality is fine for archiving Super-8 film material.
Digitising your old video content doesn't have to cost a fortune, and once you've mastered the basics it can be a very satisfying hobby.
See also:
DVDs offer loads of advantages when it comes to storing data. We expain all the ins and outs of writing DVDs, disc compatibility and DVD-writing software 30 Sep 2004
Tape and film degrade each time you play them, but there is a way to convert your analogue memories into digital format. We show you how 24 Sep 2004
Buying branded recordable CDs and DVDs could hit your pocket hard. We ask whether it's worth paying for a name 14 Jul 2004All Software Applications
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