Fiona …….some answers

[liamegan2000]

—– Original Message —–
From: "Fiona Hall" <fiona.j.hall@btopenworld.com>

> I have the complete first series on tape (from the last BBC showing
> in 1986) but have you any suggestions as to how I could get it onto
> CD/DVD?
>
> Fiona

Depends.

If you want series 1 and 2 on a DVD to play through a normal player to your
TV, the best way is maybe to buy them on DVD, although I think 2 episodes
are missing, Cry Of The Blackbird and Bloody Week.

If you prefer to copy your own tapes then probably the easiest way is to use
a stand-alone DVD player / recorder, although I have not seen any discs done
on them myself I am told they can produce excellent results.

If you want to do this with a computer it will need to have:
1 A DVD burner drive.
2 The PC needs to be a recent, fast machine with a hard drive large enough
to keep at least about 20 – 30 gigs of space free for the capture / editing
of the tapes.
3 Have suitable capture / TV capture graphics card.
4 Have the necessary software (and you have to learn how to use it).
I knew very little about all this when I started capturing the episodes, it
is a very steep learning curve.
Some idea of what is involved can be had by browsing this site:
http://www.videohelp.com/

I found that capturing from VHS to DVD needs tapes that are very high
quality to start with. My experiments produced all kinds of problems and
mostly produced video that looked bad on DVD although it was reasonable on
the original tape. Only the very best quality VHS recordings made good DVD,
some were very good, unfortunately my tapes of the Onedin Line are not good
enough for DVD.

I found the best trade-off for quality, storage size and reliable copies was
to adopt the mpeg file settings I found by experiment which results in a
file size of around 500 Mb per episode, this easily fits on a CD-r. Another
big advantage is that there are no difficulties with differing TV standards
around the world. Any computer anywhere will play them.

This fitted with my idea to preserve the series for myself as my tapes
degrade each time they are played, also it allows me to share this great
classic with the members of this list who have never seen the whole story.

The episodes I have encoded will only play on a PC (or Mac) using the
Windows media player, (or get the free download of the better Winamp
http://www.winamp.com ).

These are NOT DVD quality (and cannot be played using a DVD player) but look
ok full screen on small monitors (say 15") Also I am quite happy with them
on my 17" TFT computer monitor, although some people would not be I expect.

My pc has a graphics card that allows it to connect to a TV, the results on
this are almost as good as the original tapes.

I just keep hoping one day soon the whole thing will be available on DVD,
until then my mpegs will have to do!

Bill.

[fiona.j.hall@btopenworld.com]

Hello Bill

Thanks for the reply. I ma afraid that even though our PC is very
new we do not have a video/TV card in it so the option is gone.
Though I expect someone can do it professionally along the lines
of 'transfer your old wedding cine film to VHS' that was around a
few years back!

I have the DVDs of series 1 from PLAYBACK as an insurance policy as
although the vidoes were not played for several years the children
discovered the series 2 years ago and it has become standard
Christmas viewing (nothing else decent on the box etc!!). Not that I
have had time to watch them as I can't just do it in little bursts
and tend to get engrossed….

I am hoping that series 2 comes out on DVD soon so I can sort out
the videos for that as they are getting a little stretched too. I
have been wondering about these DVDs from Memphis Belle but I am not
too sure about them.

I am not sure why the entire series is not out on video/DVD as other
good series such as 'Upsatirs Downstairs' are – why has it been
forgotten?

I have passed my address to Helga so I am hoping for an exciting
letter some time, as are the kids eho want to know 'what happens
next?'

Fiona
— In shiponedingroup@yahoogroups.com, "William Whittaker"
<william.whittaker1@n…> wrote:

>
> —– Original Message —–
> From: "Fiona Hall" <fiona.j.hall@b…>
>
> > I have the complete first series on tape (from the last BBC

showing

> > in 1986) but have you any suggestions as to how I could get it

onto

> > CD/DVD?
> >
> > Fiona
>
> Depends.
>
> If you want series 1 and 2 on a DVD to play through a normal

player to your

> TV, the best way is maybe to buy them on DVD, although I think 2

episodes

> are missing, Cry Of The Blackbird and Bloody Week.
>
> If you prefer to copy your own tapes then probably the easiest way

is to use

> a stand-alone DVD player / recorder, although I have not seen any

discs done

> on them myself I am told they can produce excellent results.
>
> If you want to do this with a computer it will need to have:
> 1 A DVD burner drive.
> 2 The PC needs to be a recent, fast machine with a hard drive

large enough

> to keep at least about 20 – 30 gigs of space free for the

capture / editing

> of the tapes.
> 3 Have suitable capture / TV capture graphics card.
> 4 Have the necessary software (and you have to learn how to use

it).

> I knew very little about all this when I started capturing the

episodes, it

> is a very steep learning curve.
> Some idea of what is involved can be had by browsing this site:
> http://www.videohelp.com/
>
> I found that capturing from VHS to DVD needs tapes that are very

high

> quality to start with. My experiments produced all kinds of

problems and

> mostly produced video that looked bad on DVD although it was

reasonable on

> the original tape. Only the very best quality VHS recordings made

good DVD,

> some were very good, unfortunately my tapes of the Onedin Line are

not good

> enough for DVD.
>
> I found the best trade-off for quality, storage size and reliable

copies was

> to adopt the mpeg file settings I found by experiment which

results in a

> file size of around 500 Mb per episode, this easily fits on a CD-

r. Another

> big advantage is that there are no difficulties with differing TV

standards

> around the world. Any computer anywhere will play them.
>
> This fitted with my idea to preserve the series for myself as my

tapes

> degrade each time they are played, also it allows me to share this

great

> classic with the members of this list who have never seen the

whole story.

>
> The episodes I have encoded will only play on a PC (or Mac) using

the

> Windows media player, (or get the free download of the better

Winamp

> http://www.winamp.com ).
>
> These are NOT DVD quality (and cannot be played using a DVD

player) but look

> ok full screen on small monitors (say 15") Also I am quite happy

with them

> on my 17" TFT computer monitor, although some people would not be

I expect.

>
> My pc has a graphics card that allows it to connect to a TV, the

results on

> this are almost as good as the original tapes.
>
> I just keep hoping one day soon the whole thing will be available

on DVD,

> until then my mpegs will have to do!
>
> Bill.

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