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March 13, 2006 Convert Your Video Tapes To DVD
Many of us have stacks of video tapes of family and friends – birthdays, school plays, sporting events, vacations and such. Unfortunately, the quality of images on these magnetic tapes will deteriorate over time, with colors fading and noise increasing. And video tapes are linear, so if you want to see something near the end of the tape, you have to wait while your VCR fast forwards to the desired scene. Added to these problems is that the tapes are likely to have many scenes that are redundant, poor quality or mistakes (like that five-minute shot of our feet when we forgot to shut off Record). Fortunately DVDXpress DX2 (ADS Technologies, Windows 2000/XP, $89.99) provides an easy and affordable answer to all these problems. The package consists of a compact USB 2.0 external analog-to-digital capture device that includes connecting cables, a very helpful Capture Wizard and Ulead’s VideoStudio 9 SE video editing software. The capture unit is simplicity in itself, needing no AC adapter because it’s powered by the USB port. The back of the unit has inputs for left and right audio channels and composite or S-video, and the front has two lights, power and capture. Conversion to digital format is needed so your computer can use the digital format to work some video "magic."
DVDExpress uses special hardware to do the work of conversion. This takes the load off your computer’s CPU and produces superior, consistent results. The captures we did were excellent. You can capture video in MPEG-2 format for DVD or SVCD burning and MPEG-1 for VCD burning. MPEG-4 and DivX formats are also available. The Capture Wizard takes you step by step through the process of selecting your video standard, video source, and whether you want to burn a DVD or CD directly from your video source or record the captured video into a file for later editing. A link for a mini-tutorial about video formats is provided if you need help choosing a format and settings. If you select recording directly to disk, the Direct to Disk Wizard gives you several more options, such as setting a time limit for capture to disk, selecting menu templates and adding titles. Burning directly to disk is a quick and easy way to archive your video tapes and uses no additional hard drive space. When the burn is completed the disk is closed, so no additional material can accidently be added. If there are changes you’d like to make in your video, you need to capture to file so you can use it with the video editor. The included video editor is a limited version of the complete VideoStudio 9 program but has enough basic features to allow you to trim and arrange video clips and also add backgrounds, transitions, music, narrations, titles, and burn DVDs or CDs and more. There’s also an option for buying the full-featured program that adds a wealth of additional features. If you’re looking for a more comprehensive video program, consider Movie edit pro 11 (Magix, Windows 2000/XP, $59.99), an integrated video capture, editor, movie creator and CD/DVD burner designed to work with most common video formats. The program has drag-and-drop simplicity for beginners but plenty of sophisticated features for advanced videographers.
With this program, you capture video clips onto your hard drive, edit them to remove unwanted shots and trim scenes, rearrange the sequence and more. The program offers two basic editing modes: a simple Storyboard mode and a more complex Timeline mode that includes a 16-track timeline onto which you can drag and drop video, still pictures, sound, backgrounds, special effects and more. The Timeline shows the timing and relation of each element of video, sound, effects, transitions and the like. A staggering number of tools are available: an image stabilizer, image and sound restoration, split screen, chroma key (blue, green, black or white), audio stretcher (without changing pitch), audio mixing and voice-overs, 3D titling, 3D scene transitions and more. If that’s not enough, there are 1,400 templates, 70 video, image and color effects, 170 blends, 50 animations, 45 audio effects, background music and sound effects. If all this editing is too much for you, the MovieShow Maker feature will automatically optimize and enhance your video clips, recognize scenes, add music and synchronize it to the scenes, all for a professional result. Once you’re happy with your results, Movie edit pro 11 gives you several options for burning CD-ROMs, VCDs, S-VCDs, miniDVDs or DVDs. The included authoring tools and templates let you create interactive animated menu screens featuring movie and chapter buttons. You can also save the production as a streaming video file for Web or e-mail, export the production into various file formats, or record onto a VCR or digital camcorder. The default modes for Movie edit pro 11 work well for simple editing and burning. If you’re serious about your video efforts, however, you’ll need to spend some time, have patience and try the many features. But this learning can be fun and produce gratifying results. A vast amount of help is available from tool tips, on-line help, a 128-page printed manual and a much more extensive User Manual in pdf format. And, as a bonus, the printed manual provides a short course in movie making. |
Quick and easy connections and captures 
