Help building a comp for photo editing & transfering VHS -> DVD

[ArkiStan]

A friend of mine has asked me to build him a computer. The computer will be used mostly for two purposes:

1. Digital Photography work
He often has several 5-6 Megapixel files open at a time in Photoshop, and wants enough RAM to allow quick image editing of these large files.

2. Recording VHS to DVD-R.
The family has a large library of VHS home videos. They would like to transfer all the tapes to DVD to watch on their TV.

What kind of hardware would be suitable for task 1, and what kind of hardware does he need for task 2? So far, price isn't too critical of a factor. He doesn't need a professional level system, but he's willing to invest in a decent machine that at least won't be outdated in a month or two. The monitor should be at least 19". TIA.

[ceeka]

I've seen a gadget (i think it was at Best Buy)that has a vhs and dvd-r built into it. Makes it real easy to transfer tapes to dvd.

[ribitch]

Originally posted by chosenfool
get a G5? :hehehmm:
actually that wasnt such a bad idea - its best for photoshop, and it comes with a superdrive, and the necessary tools to turn VHS home-made movies to DVD (via firewire).
BUT
youre building it, so get:
a CPU running at least 3GHz,
1GB of RAM should do it, but if you can get 4 512MB sticks for a nice fat 2GB RAM, preferably 2 x 512MB sticks (most chipsets now have dual-channelling for pairs of DIMMs),
Get him an SATA RAPTOR drive. For what he intends to do, 10,000rpm will do him well. Get the 37GB since its cheaper now (you can get him the 76GB version, but its WAY too expensive and really not worth the money) and use that for his OS/primary drive. That will serve him well with photoshop. then get a 250GB drive for file storage. he'll need it once he starts converting the VHS tapes to digital format.
get him an 8X DVD burner, theyre cheap now. NEC makes one that burns both +r and -R in 8X speeds (if you have an 8X disc, that is).
of course, he'll need firewire which is far more reliable than USB2.0 (even if USB2.0 is a bit faster). i say that only cuz in almost all the video editing software ive seen, its all firewire equipped, or uses firewire connection (even bundles a firwire card with it). Get him an Audigy2 - its a good sound card to begin with, and includes firwire already built in.
everything else, i think is pretty straight forward. get at least 350W PSU. and make him choose the CASE, so he knows what it would look like. lots of places to look for great looking cases (i use colorcases.com as a reference, but theres quite a few more that may be cheaper).
and graphics card? thats a tough one. Nvidia makes pretty good cards, even if the top card these days is an ATI Radeon (for gaming, anyway). For graphics design software, its pretty much a toss up with them fast cards - the software is more CPU and memory-intensive. Of course bandwidth with a 128MB card is also nice (if he ends up tired with work and decides to play some 3D games - he'll be ready for it).
and a monitor? get one that can do 1600x1200 with at LEAST 75Hz, 85Hz is ideal. make sure you get an extended warranty - trust me on this.

i agree with choosen. For the video card though, you may want to consider an all in wonder. I believe the all i n wonders all for video importing, but i could be wrong on this one.

[ArkiStan]

Thanks for the detailed advice Chosen. I can't wait to see the quote for that! This is great cause I get to have fun making a kickass system without worrying about the cash. Now if only the computer became mine in the end, it would be a perfect world.

One question: So how does the VHS->DVD data transfer actually work? Does he plug in the VHS directly into the video card? Is this where the firewire comes into play?

[bachviet]

Originally posted by ArkiStan
Thanks for the detailed advice Chosen. I can't wait to see the quote for that! This is great cause I get to have fun making a kickass system without worrying about the cash. Now if only the computer became mine in the end, it would be a perfect world.

One question: So how does the VHS->DVD data transfer actually work? Does he plug in the VHS directly into the video card? Is this where the firewire comes into play?
If you have a TV tuner/capture card, just plug the VHS straight into the card and capture/transfer.

[ceeka]

Originally posted by ArkiStan
Thanks for the detailed advice Chosen. I can't wait to see the quote for that! This is great cause I get to have fun making a kickass system without worrying about the cash. Now if only the computer became mine in the end, it would be a perfect world.

One question: So how does the VHS->DVD data transfer actually work? Does he plug in the VHS directly into the video card? Is this where the firewire comes into play?

CF did a great job telling you what you need, but he forgot the part about the VHS tapes. You will need either a video card that comes with vivo (video in/video out) or a tv tuner or video capture card. With any of these you would connect a VCR to it just like to a TV. ATI and Matrox video cards do have the rep of having the best 2D quality. CF is probably the best person to ask about TV tuner cards if you go that route. The firewire that CF was talking about was for most digital camcorders. They use firewire to directly transfer digital video to a computer.

[kimchicowboy]

the ATI AIW has all the necessary inputs to put VHS onto your computer. :)

[johnnymk]

Transferring analog info is not very demanding. I have a very early 8 MB ATI video card which works well. Make sure that you select the highest video quality when capturing from VHS tapes.

[ArkiStan]

One new question has been brought up while discussing this project with my friend.

All my friend's VHS tapes are regular Hollywood movies. Considering the somewhat limited video and audio quality of VHS tapes, wouldn't it be possible to record the VHS movies as VCD's rather than DVD's? I know that VCD movies are typically 2 disc sets. Would fitting a VHS movie (With decent 2 ch stereo audio) into a single disc VCD require sacrificing the video quality? If so, he'll just go DVD, but otherwise making VCD's would save some money.

[billxp]

I personally would never bother converting a vhs movie to dvd UNLESS it was not available any longer or not available on dvd.

You could join netflix rent the dvd version of the vhs tape you have and maybe ;) legally make a backup copy with your dvd burner. Since you already purchased the viewing rights it might fall under fair use. But hey I'm not a lawyer.

[Cubsfan]

I've heard good things about this, never used it though. Looksl ike it makes the process very easy.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/cgi-bin/hpdirect/shopping/scripts/product_detail/product_detail_view.jsp?product_code=Q2114A%23ABA&AOID=85&cat_level=1

[kimchicowboy]

maybe your friend could turn that PC into a HTPC and convert the VHS into divx? that would fit on one disc.

[ribitch]

Originally posted by kimchicowboy
maybe your friend could turn that PC into a HTPC and convert the VHS into divx? that would fit on one disc.

sure it fits on one cd, but a vhs can also fit on one dvd at a higher resolution. i would stay away from divx and stay with dvd's

[ice]

Once thing I would not get if I was building a comp for that kind of task is an ATI AIW. If I were him, I'd definitely want to take the video capabilities with me when I upgrade and not have to deal with an outdated video card. Hauppauge makes excellent cards for this purpose.

[ArkiStan]

Thanks to everybody for the continuous flow of ideas!!

One question: Since VHS is analog, would recording one VHS tape onto a hard drive require playing the whole VHS at normal speed during the recording?

[billxp]

Originally posted by ArkiStan
Thanks to everybody for the continuous flow of ideas!!

One question: Since VHS is analog, would recording one VHS tape onto a hard drive require playing the whole VHS at normal speed during the recording?


Thats a YES :)

[ArkiStan]

one more question:

Does anybody know about copy protection on VHS tapes? I used to remember seeing soe tapes with copy protection that smack a black bar across the screen when you try to dub it VHS->VHS. If many tapes have this feature, how would I get around it?

[billxp]

Originally posted by ArkiStan
one more question:

Does anybody know about copy protection on VHS tapes? I used to remember seeing soe tapes with copy protection that smack a black bar across the screen when you try to dub it VHS->VHS. If many tapes have this feature, how would I get around it?

Search the forums at www.dvdrhelp.com

This also might help http://www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=212012&highlight=vhs+tape