Video capture advice?

[Dejana]

So, I've been making my recent AMVs with all footage captured from DVDs, but when I entered my first contest at a convention and saw my video on a huge screen for the first time, it looked like I'd captured it all from VHS. >.o

I've been using the maximum quality my capture card is capable of, so I think it's time for a new process. How do I get the kind of footage that's crystal-clear even on a huge screen, like all the top videos I've seen? Is there some magic video capture hardware that's just that awesome, or are people ripping the footage directly from their DVDs, or what?

[Kariudo]

for most people it's a combonation of
rip from dvds + index and transcode the .vobs + avisynth to make the picture really sharp and clear

if you don't have a dvd drive for your computer (I assume you are using a desktop) they are pretty cheap now ($45 or less for some, lower than the price of some video games) if you have a laptop, there are also external dvd drives ~$45 - $200

[DJ_Izumi]

Is there some magic video capture hardware that's just that awesome, or are people ripping the footage directly from their DVDs, or what?

Yeah. It's basicly ALL done by ripping the DVDs. Capturing from a DVD player via a capture card is a way that just about no one does.

[Dejana]

Grr. That's really time-consuming, but doable. Thanks.

[BasharOfTheAges]

Grr. That's really time-consuming, but doable. Thanks.

Nobody said it was going to be easy. Although ripping the DVDs should be one of the quicker parts of the project if you're investing the proper amount of time into it.

[Dejana]

I know. It's just that it was so nice to be able to only capture the bits I wanted. I'm always so eager to get past the boring capturing part and start editing! Oh well, now that I have a new computer, hopefully it won't take as long as it did with my old one.