Topic: This is probably not the right forum to discuss this, but...

... it would not be the first time I got it wrong. I need to add a video to a client's web site so others can view it through the web site. He has this video in VHS format and can get it on DVD too. Since I have never done this before, I could use some help. How do I convert it to a digital format for the web? What format is the best to use? Is streaming video the way to go? Kudos for the help.

I don't have any suggestions, but I am very interested in what answers get posted here. I will be trying to hurdle this same obstacle later next month with a football coach's site who wants game clips.

I know somebody who has a DVD-RW drive, and he makes VHS into DVD using a Mac and I-Movie. I am sure that somewhere along the line you can opt for .avi or .mpg before it gets burned onto a DVD. Just some thoughts.

~N

Well, if you have the right hardware you could capture from the VHS tape but I'd recommend against that. VHS quality is quite poor indeed and even though streaming media it likely to be low quality it's best to source from the highest quality material you can.

Get the DVD and get your hands on some DVD ripping software. There are plenty of apps around for this kind of thing, hell, if you have a decent video editing suite you should be able to source the video and audio from a DVD with but a few mouse clicks. Rip it to a QuickTime format (hope you got a big HDD) and with any decent Video editing app you should be able to get what you want from there.

If your not sure how to deliver it online the I'd recommend sticking with the QuickTime format. Just optimise it for the web (re-sample it to a smaller size and compress it). QuickTime it probably your best bet as it's quite widely supported. You could also go with a DivX format but for all round web compatibility and user friendliness, go with QuickTime or MPEG.

Edit:
If you want true "streaming" media embedded into the web page then you might have some issues. I haven't done a lot of embedded streaming media work before so I can't be of much help here.

Hopefully I got that right... If not I'm sure Izz will be along shortly to rip me a new one and show everyone how it's meant to be done. Anyways, best of luck with it.



[This message has been edited by Dracusis (edited 03-04-2003).]

Check out these sites, for DVD ripping:

Some Tuts
DVD Ripping Apps
Region Free Tools
Conversion/Encoding Tools
DVD Authoring Tools
DivX Encoding Guide
Streaming Video Tut

I've ripped a couple of movies...It took about 20 hours on my old 350mhz K6-2.

CladDVD is a very nice tool for ripping, I used it twice, and liked it over the other programs available.

Some "Specials" might not copy right, and will take some experimenting.

General Info: Ripping Widescreen/Fullscreen combo disks is uber-time consuming, because it tries (about half the time, I've rad) to rip both movie files at one (encoded ones), and will switch every frame between wide and fullscreen.

[This message has been edited by counterfeitbacon (edited 03-04-2003).]

[This message has been edited by counterfeitbacon (edited 03-04-2003).]

[This message has been edited by counterfeitbacon (edited 03-04-2003).]

I agree that VHS converted to an avi or mpg or whatever looks a lot worse than a dvd. How you stream it depends on what server tech you will be using. We have had to do the same for clients before and because they were an MS house it was relatively straightforward .asf conversion.

Chances are, VHS is the original format and the DVD was made from that so the highest quality material there that Drac's talking about may very well be the tape, and possibly the easiest to get the source from depending on what kind of equipment you have at your disposal, or vice versa =D

The solution to all this is going to depend on the equipment you have. Can you tell me what you have (or can beg borrow or steal) in the way of:
? camera
? VCR
? DVD player
? capture device(s) including capture card, firewire card, usb etc
? drives (DVD-ROM, CD-ROM etc)
? editing/rendering software

I can mebbe help if you can supply those answers

Jason

Since you are putting video on a website, you have to consider the bandwidth. If very many people will be accessing the video, then I would recommend streaming it in RealVideo or Windows Media Video.

Both the encoders are free.

If you have a LOT of people accessing it, then you will want to lower the quality and it will not matter what the source is (VHS or DVD). Otherwise, as Dracusis said, you should use the highest quality source possible.

SOLI DEO GLORIA

I am JK's bitch and thusly shall move this to the multimedia forum at his smallest whime....

:::krets.net:::

Sorry Krets, thanks for the move. OK, well, I have access to VCR and DVD players. I can get any app I need to rip from a DVD. I think I will try that and let ya know how that goes. Thanks for the suggestions guys!