I need help again: home video PLEASE HELP

[becca-becca]

We are trying to:

1. get all of our old VHS (wedding, some recitals), some recital DVD's (not digital) and our video 8 mm tapes onto our computer so we can edit, add some music, burn copies to watch/give to relatives and copies to save as records/backup

2. We are having some trouble. We have Pinnacle 9.4 and it kept crashing (my husband had started this project about one year ago and I guess his files were either corrupt or too big). In the future with Pinnacle, we are going to try to save to external harddrive. Hopefully this will take care of uploading and editing the VHS and 8 MM.

3. However, I can not upload the recitals that we have on DVD to our computer. It won't work in Pinnacle, it won't work with Nero, it won't work with Windows Movie Maker. How do I do this?

4. Also, after the recital dvd's are uploaded, I want to merge them with the files on pinnacle so we can start one big master movie (or broken down into years if it is to big)

HELP. I AM very Confused and Frustrated. I don't think I have the right software, but everywhere I go I get a different name. If there are free downloads, that would be even more preferable.

THANKS A BUNCH!!!!

 

[drcandon]

I feel your pain...I have went through this myself and ended up doing this two ways..

I am sure I am going to get flamed for this, but after a LOT of frustration using various video editors on the computer I came up with this plan of attack..

1. Old VHS, 8mm even older DVD's that I want copied ( non- copyright stuff of course)..forget about the computer it is more trouble then it is worth. Yes, I know you can put fancy titles, transitions etc etc..to your old videos - and you can even merge them, but if, as in my case all you want to do is to copy them over before your VCR, 8mm camcorder , whatever bites the dust then my recommedation is simple..instead of spending a couple hundred or even a thousand dollars on a video editing program go and buy a stand alone DVD recorder, similar to ines made by Sony, JVC, LG, Pioneer etc etc etc..hook up yourVCR to the input jacks, shove in a blank DVD hit play and record - walk away for a few hours and bingo all done - no muss no fuss and no headaches. $200 or so for a decent one and your all done - use it until it burns out...

2. Dump Pinnacle 9.4 - it was buggy from the factory -Pinnacle should have been ashamed to produce this piece of crappy software. Unless you had a very high end processor - very fast HDD and LOTS of memory it would crash constantly - like you have found...now that being said Pinnacle 12 is very stable so far and I have done most of what you have said without issues.. Also Ulead has a few good NLA ( non linear video) editing programs..Now if you want to get into time line editing then Sony Video Vegas is good - of course Adobe Premier is the best - if I could afford it..but you will be reading the manual before you even start...I have never tried the new version of Adobe premier elements, but I understand it is really good and has almost all the same features as its big brother including bluray authoring.

Also watch your file formats when authoring, mixing avi files and mpeg/vob files in a weak willed program like Pinnacle 9.4 will cause it to run home to mama..Again version 12 is the better bet.

 

[thomas998]

I think I would parrot the previous poster... if you just want to archive old footage... just get a DVD recorder... The fact is your not copying high def footage...and any reasonable DVD recorder will get you copies with very little if any loss in quality from what your originally recorded.

Once you do make a DVD, I would then suggest you copy that DVD to an external hard drive as a further back-up. While commercially made DVDs can last for many many years, the ones that are recordable aren't nearly as durable. I've had the misfoturne of trying to play some home made DVDs that were little more than 2 years old only to find they were coasters.... not something you want to happen.

And once you get a copy of the old footage on a DVD you can then put it into your computer much easier and if you want, re-edit it to your hearts content...

Lastly I assume you or your husband are using a hard drive that is formated for NTFS and not FAT32... if you are trying to record to a FAT32 hard drive you will be limited to the size of files that Windows can create and it will result in crashing and locking up when you go over that limie (around 4 GBs if memory serves me).

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/products/vegasfamily.asp

is a site where you can download vegas software... the Vegas Movie Studio would likely do all you would want. Its cheap... and very stable. If you want to move up to Adobe Priemer level then Vegas Pro will serve you well. You need something beyond Pinnacle.

 

[bob100]

I'll just add my $.02 - a DVD recorder is the way to go on copying old VHS tapes, the computer card is way too frustrating. I got a used DVD recorder on eBay for $25, worked out great for transferring VHS to DVD.
(but I'm not throwing away the family tapes and old VCR at this point, you never know)