converting VHS to digital

[Matthew Carpenter]

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Net Llama! wrote:

> Anyone here have any experience converting VHS videotapes to a
> digital format (divx/mpg/avi, etc)? I've got a ton of old VHS
> movies that are likely going to be rotting soon, and I'd like to
> get them converted to a digital format (in linux). I'm interested
> in the entire process, as I know zero about this sort of thing.
>
I've done this with relatively good success.

I run RCA out of the VCR to my bt878 card (ATI TV Wonder VE) and sound
card.
Then I run a script I wrote called tv2xvid to capture from the VCR.
(requires mencoder, part of MPlayer)
Then I either store the video as AVI or convert it to SVCD using
Transcode.

tv2xvid
- ------------
#!/bin/bash

if [ .$3 == . ] ; then
 echo "Syntax:  $0 <channel> <minutes> <filename>"
 echo "        Channel "c" or "C" is the Composite Input"
 exit 1
fi

CHANNEL=$1
SECONDS=`expr $2 \* 60 `
FILENAME=$3
if [ $CHANNEL == c ] || [ $CHANNEL == C ]; then
 INPUT=1
else
 INPUT=0
fi

echo "###########################$SECONDS Seconds"

/usr/sbin/alsactl -f /etc/mixersettings restore
COMMAND="/usr/bin/mencoder \
- -tv on:driver=v4l\
:input=$INPUT\
:norm=NTSC\
:channel=${CHANNEL}\
:chanlist=us-bcast\
:width=320:height=240\
:outfmt=yv12\
:device=/dev/video0\
:adevice=/dev/dsp\
:audiorate=32000\
:forceaudio:forcechan=1:\
buffersize=64\
 -ovc lavc -lavcopts\
 vcodec=mpeg4\
:vbitrate=1200:\
keyint=30\
 -oac mp3lame -lameopts\
 br=128:cbr:mode=3\
 -ffourcc divx\
 -endpos ${SECONDS}\
 -o ${FILENAME}.avi "

$COMMAND
- ---------------------------
*note: The mencoder command is a modified version of that used by Freevo.
*   If quality or resulting size is not as desired, you may modify the
"vbitrate=1200"
*   to greater (larger, better Q) or less (smaller, less Quality)
than 1200.

*note: /usr/sbin/alsactl -f /etc/mixersettings restore requires
pre-saved mixer settings stored
*   in /etc/mixersettings.  This can be created by /usr/sbin/alsactl
- -f /etc/mixersettings store and
*   then modified to only affect the Recording parameters as
required.  Or, you can do this
*   manually and comment out this line.

- --
Matthew Carpenter
matt at eisgr.com                          http://www.eisgr.com/

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