Setting everything up

[Miskatonic]

I just bought a WinFast TV 2000 XP Deluxe card, and now I need some help with getting everything hooked up.

I want to rip DVD's to my hard drive, as well as capture VHS on to my hard drive. The instruction manual only shows how to hook up the card for watching DVD or VHS on the computer, and not how to hook it up for ripping. From what I understand you have to have the DVD player hooked up to the tv and the computer, so you can start the DVD when you rip. Is this the case? Or do I just need to hook the DVD player straight to the capture card, and that's it?

The only way I can think of hooking up the DVD player to both the capture card and the tv is with a splitter, and like three different cables.

Any helped is appreciated, and if there are any sites that show how to hook all this stuff up then please let me know.

[Quality's Proof]

It seems nobody wants to touch this thread with the proverbial "ten-foot pole". I have no experience with the card you mentioned, but dvddecrypter is the dvd ripper and dvdshrink 3.0 beta 5 and 'Shrink 3.1 is the compression/ripper for dvd's. The minimum hardware requirement for ripping and burning DVD's is 1 DVD writer, though if you intend to backup a few hundred or so dvd's, you might want to purchase a dvd-rom drive to rip most of the dvd's with.

If you have XP O.S., there is a movie maker program which you can use, though I do not understand its workings, though many persons claim it works well with some "tweaks". There are some software programs that should work with your card, though you really should visit the card makers website for instruction in its use (if its a capture card), if its not a capture card and you purchased it as a capture card, you could ask for a refund and try something else. The windows movie maker software is the "free" solution and may be the best solution. Try finding a tutorial.

Hauppauge has a terrific reputation, though their support is almost non-existent (in actual results) and their capture cards, don't work nearly as well as avertised (software problems). If you do buy another capture card, visit dvdrhelp.com and look at the capture card postings for what really works and is the simplest to use and doesn't require you to purchase additional software, such as tmpeg, etc..

Higher quality tv capture cards and software (which are simple and easy to use) will cost several hundred $$$'s, try dvdrhelp.com's capture card's postings. Bill Gates has to do something to enhance his O.S. (XP) and he knows that backing up vhs and capturing tv to dvd is very popular, so look for a solution soon from M'soft.

[ormonde]

"From what I understand you have to have the DVD player hooked up to the tv and the computer, so you can start the DVD when you rip. Is this the case?"

No. You really need to have either an "Internal" or "External" DVD (ROM, Write) drive connected directly to your computer to effectively "Rip" DVDs to your HD.

"I want to rip DVD's to my hard drive, as well as capture VHS on to my hard drive."

Again, DVD (ROM or ROM/Write) drive connected (or installed in) to your machine. (not a standalone–unless it's a standalone DVD recordable). For capturing, There could be many different options to choose from. Ulead Studio 7 is a good application, but you need to check certain programs that are compatible with your "WinFast TV 2000 XP Deluxe card".

[Miskatonic]

For how cheap DVD-rom's are I'll just shell out the money and buy one. How about VHS though? Do I just hook it up straight to the card?

[Quality's Proof]

"How cheap dvd-roms are...."

You'll still have to have a dvd-writer to write the the dvd's.

"...about vhs. Do I ....straight to the card?" Visit the card maker's website for instructions.

Is the card tolerant to macrovision (such as Hauppauge is and many other cards aren't)? If not, you will need a software hack or a macrovision (macrosplat) box to remove the macrovision for a quality dvd backup of the vhs (if these are macrovision protected vhs.).

The card maker's website should have the answers as to the vhs back-ups and the card hook-ups. The web-site should also have a discussion forum posting or you could try dvdrhelp.com and browse capture card postings.