I want to construct a birthday video to play on TV using Pinnacle Studio 10.6.  I have no problem dealing with still photographs but am stuck with capturing VHS tape. 

I have a device called Xpert DVD Maker USB 2.0 connected from a VCR to a PC running with Power Producer Gold 2 software to capture the old VHS tape content and it works well but it capturers it in Power Producer 2 format and I can not get it into Pinnacle Studio 10.6.

Can anyone help?

 

I did a quick google search for the Power Producer Gold 2 software and it appears that it's software designed to go directly from VHS to dvd. If that's the case then the files being created are VOB, IFO, and BUP files, the standard ones seen on any dvd.

Studio 10 should have an option to Import DVD titles.  Using that it will convert your VOB files to mpeg-2 files that Studio can use. btw, VOB files ARE mpeg-2 files so expect to get some loss of quality.

IMHO, if you intend to do any editing of these VHS videos (I'm assuming you do since you want to import into Studio) you would be better off to import them as AVI files using a firewire port and a pass-thru device to convert the analog VHS to digital AVI.

Joe

Many thanks, it is my intention to do some editing of these VHS videos in Studio but I have no idea how to import them as AVI files using a firewire port and a pass-through because I don't think that the Xpert DVD Maker has that facility.

I did try connecting up a grand old Panasonic VHS camcorder to the computer using the Xpert DVD Maker with PS in the Capture mode showing a camcorder but a warning box came up saying, "If you have an analog camcorder or VCR:

1.  Click on Set up then capture source and select the correct video capture device.  The only problem is that all PS set up shows is "DVD Camcorder.

I wonder if I would be better of buying the PS capture hardware?

Some camcorders have what is called a pass-thru feature. That lets you hook up an analog source like your VCR for the input. For the output it has a firewire connection. If you don't have a firewire port on your computer you can buy a card for around $20 with 2 or 3 firewire inputs. That's what I had to do.

I have a simple little program called WinDV (it's free) that takes the output from the VCR and creates AVI type 1 or 2 files. Keep in mind that a VCR signal is not very high quality, maybe 240 lines of resolution, and you want to save as much of that as you can. Especially if the tapes are important family videos that are essentially irreplaceable. If you capture the VHS signal as mpeg files those files will be highly compressed and not particularly suited to editing. 

Also, Studio will probably re-render those mpeg files again, further reducing the quality. 

Honestly, I don't know a whole lot about other capture hardware because I've been using my camcorder and WinDV since I first started doing that type of thing. But I would still suggest that you capture as AVI. The files will be huge but you'll be better off in the long run. You can google for more info or perhaps someone will come along and suggest the best hardware for your needs.

Joe

Many thanks Joe, I've cracked it and the answer is in "Setup" the only problem is that in working my way throgh the process I did not do as my wife so often advises me to do which is to note down each step.  Intuitive software is all very well but it is sometime worth taking notes.  When I have finished this project I will go back into "Setup" without changing anything and note the settings for this process.