[John1037]

I installed the VHS to DVD software onto my MacBook Pro, OS 10.5. I hooked it to a VCR machine with the cables
supplied. I set it up using the instruction windows. I got a video and audio preview. Everything looked fine. I pushed
record. It appeared to capture the source. I watched it for about a minute and decided to watch what had been
recorded. I quit recording. When I tried to open the MPEG file. I was told, "This is not a movie file." So I tried to
import it into iMovie, and was unable to do so as the file was grayed out. Why am I not able to view this video clip
on my computer? Any suggestions?

John1037

[motate]

I installed the VHS to DVD software onto my MacBook Pro, OS 10.5. I hooked it to a VCR machine with the cables
supplied. I set it up using the instruction windows. I got a video and audio preview. Everything looked fine. I pushed
record. It appeared to capture the source. I watched it for about a minute and decided to watch what had been
recorded. I quit recording. When I tried to open the MPEG file. I was told, "This is not a movie file." So I tried to
import it into iMovie, and was unable to do so as the file was grayed out. Why am I not able to view this video clip
on my computer? Any suggestions?

John1037

You were in too much of a hurry to see the finished product. You did not allow the software the chance to finish doing it's job. Once the source is loaded into the program it's 'id' has to be changed. In this case, it's called "rendering". It allows the software to change from standard video to a format the computer can see. When you stop the recording, the program should have had you 'stand by' while it did it's job. In that you did not record a long segment it should have taken a couple of minutes. The next 'line' in the program would have asked you how you wanted to 'save' the project (I.E. quicktime movie, Imovie, or send to toast). The software would have then "rendered" the video to THAT format and "saved". When you looked into the "Easy VHS to DVD capture folder" there should have been TWO titles. One was the MPEG MOVIE file and the second file (with the exact same name) would be MPEG-4 MOVIE. The file with the quick-time movie logo is the original file. IT WILL NOT PLAY. The second file with a still frame of your first piece of video WILL. I find it easier to delete MPG file (since you can't play it anyway). Personal note: THE LONGER THE VIDEO YOU IMPORT........THE LONGER IT TAKES TO "RENDER" FOR PLAYBACK. I hope this helps.

This post has been edited by motate: 24 January 2010 - 08:15 AM

[John1037]

Thanks for the suggestions, Motate. I think I understand a bit better, but I don't ever recall seeing a command to "Stand By." I was able to burn the short segment of the VHS tape I was copying and it plays just fine. Unfortunately, I have another problem which I don't understand.

I started recording with the "High" setting. After about a minute the capture stopped. I thought it might be too much data for the processor to handle. So I went back and recorded another capture in the "Standard" setting. It worked about 2 minutes before it stopped again. I would have thought that my 17" MacBook Pro would have had the capacity to handle this process. I have about 300 G of unused space on the HD.

Do you have any thoughts about this?

John1037

[frankgam]

You were in too much of a hurry to see the finished product. You did not allow the software the chance to finish doing it's job. Once the source is loaded into the program it's 'id' has to be changed. In this case, it's called "rendering". It allows the software to change from standard video to a format the computer can see. When you stop the recording, the program should have had you 'stand by' while it did it's job. In that you did not record a long segment it should have taken a couple of minutes. The next 'line' in the program would have asked you how you wanted to 'save' the project (I.E. quicktime movie, Imovie, or send to toast). The software would have then "rendered" the video to THAT format and "saved". When you looked into the "Easy VHS to DVD capture folder" there should have been TWO titles. One was the MPEG MOVIE file and the second file (with the exact same name) would be MPEG-4 MOVIE. The file with the quick-time movie logo is the original file. IT WILL NOT PLAY. The second file with a still frame of your first piece of video WILL. I find it easier to delete MPG file (since you can't play it anyway). Personal note: THE LONGER THE VIDEO YOU IMPORT........THE LONGER IT TAKES TO "RENDER" FOR PLAYBACK. I hope this helps.

Does this mean that the original mpg file is useless? Is there any way to render it later? Thanks.

[tsantee]

Does this mean that the original mpg file is useless? Is there any way to render it later? Thanks.

It is not useless. It is in the format used for video DVD. If you send the video to Toast it can quickly burn a video DVD without any other conversion. Toast also has an editor in which you can mark segments you want excluded from the video. So if the only reason you are using iMovie is to delete segments then send to Toast instead and make the edits there. It is much faster.