VHS to avi then DVD

[wjl11]

Hello,

I'm capturing all my home videos on VHS tapes to avi files using Studio9.
Obviously they wont all fit on my hard drive. So, my plan is to copy each avi to DVD.

Now if I understand this right, 1 hour of avi is about 12gb. So, if a DVD can hold about 4gb, that means a normal 2-hour VHS tape would require 8 DVDs worth of avi files.

Assuming thats the case, whats the best/easiest way to do this with Studio9? If I create one large avi file on the HD, how would I break it into 8 parts?

Thanks,
W

[Jason Dunn]

Welcome to Digital Media Thoughts! :-)

You're thinking of DVD in terms of data-based video, not time-based video, so that's where you're running into trouble. Remember that when you create a DVD, it converts those huge AVI files into a compressed MPEG2 file. At normal DVD bit rates (quality) of about 8000 kbps, you can fit about 2 hours worth of video onto a single DVD.

What you should do is copy one or more VHS tapes to your hard drive, edit the video into a two-hour piece, then burn a DVD from it. If you want to make a DVD based on ALL of your footage, you'll need to get a much bigger hard drive. :-)

Hope that helped a little!

[wjl11]

Jason,

Thats what I want to do, create a data backup of my uneditted stuff in avi format. These avi files will become my masters from which I will edit and eventually create the DVD's for the family to watch (in MPEG2 format).

So I basically would be using the DVD as a backup device. Or maybe it would make more sense to backup these files to hi8 tape?

Thanks,
W

[Jason Dunn]

So I basically would be using the DVD as a backup device. Or maybe it would make more sense to backup these files to hi8 tape?

Ah, ok, now I understand what you want to do. Yes, making the backups to tape is a more economical solution, then when you're ready to edit them, dump from Hi8 to DV-AVI on the computer and edit them. :-)