Converting Your VHS Tapes to ASF

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February 9, 1998

Many companies have a large investment in video content stored on VHS tapes that they want to be able to use on the Internet or access over their corporate network. They can do this by converting the content to ASF, the file format that Microsoft Windows Media Technologies and other products use to provide audio and video streaming.

We talked to Paul Urfi of Imaginet Design Solutions , a Microsoft Solution Provider who specializes in electronic commerce and streaming media solutions, and who has converted many hours worth of VHS tapes into ASF and ASF-based training solutions. He shared with us the techniques and products he uses to convert content from VHS tape to ASF.

1. Get a good VCR: Preferably a hi-fi, stereo, 4-head model with as many lines of resolution as you can get.
2. Get a good capture card: There are many you can use, but Paul prefers the Winnov Videum AV card , which provides excellent capture rates and is relatively inexpensive.
3. Get a good video editing suite: For their editing, Imaginet uses Adobe Premiere 4.0 , although there are many good suites available.
4. Set up your hardware and software: Here's the schematic of the Winnov card, so you can check your setup.
5. Determine what VHS content is appropriate for streaming over the Web: These guidelines will let you know what content will look like at various bit rates.
6. Determine the bandwidth of each feed you will offer: Will you offer only 28.8-Kbps feeds, or a variety to accommodate users on high-speed modems?
7. Capture the video: Follow these simple capturing tips to get great results.
8. Edit the video (if necessary).
9. Calculate how much bandwidth you'll need by estimating the total number of concurrent connections you will have for each bandwidth. Imaginet currently utilizes one T1 connection to stream their clients' videos. This is generally sufficient. However, in the event that they anticipate higher traffic for a special occasion or event, they have a contingency plan to outsource bandwidth to an outside contractor who specializes in co-location on a large bandwidth pipe.
10. Encode the video: Vivo Software makes a product called VivoActive Producer for Windows Media Services that Imaginet often uses, and there's a great tutorial on how to use it on the Vivo Web site.
11. Set up the Windows Media Services Server.
12. Create an ASX file.
13. Add the feed to your HTML page or application: Choose from linking, embedding, or incorporating in a Microsoft Office application.

Additional Tips & Tricks

• You can have multiple instances of the Windows Media Encoder on one computer. In this configuration, we recommend using Windows 95®, since its Plug and Play architecture makes it easier to configure multiple sound cards, and more drivers are available for this operating system.
• For capacity planning purposes, we've found that a Pentium Pro 200 MHz computer with a 100-Mbps network interface card can accommodate up to 1,600 simultaneous 28.8-Kbps connections.

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