Laserdisc to vcd

[leoreed]

I have 50 Karaoke Laserdisc ( mostly Pioneer) I would like to reduce in size (CD) I cant figure how to Get these on my HD so I can play with them. Any suggestions? :

[jahern]

You can install a Video Input Card. This can even be done with USB. I have several stores in my area that sell all kinds of computer equipment. You can go and browse in a store like Fry's or Best Buy or Comp USA and get a better idea for what you want. MPEG or MPEG-2 format, etc. If you don't have a store like this tell me and I'll get some part numbers and manufacturers. Then you can probably get info on the internet.

In any case, this is outside the realm of MTU's karaoke pruducts

[pcgumshoe]

Leoreed,

Your question is how I got into the karaoke industry.

It is possible, however, very time consuming. Consider, you don't have a laserdisc player that goes any faster than real time, right?

50 discs x 16 songs x 3.5 minutes average x two sides = 93 hours, 20 minutes.

Those numbers are JUST how long it would take you to record at 1:1 ratio. Then you have set up time, corrections for errors and any other problem that comes along. Also consider that you will have to burn each track INDIVIDUALLY... if you want to run the tracks in a way consistant with their current format.

You could run them all together and then use a program to synch to a particular time frame, but you have to be on the ball and note where each new song begins.

I am NOT trying to discourage you. I said that this very question is what got me involved in karaoke. A bar I frequented in Cali had about 50 of these discs and their player was tempermental at best. I agreed to take the player AND 2 discs home and see if I could convert them to VCD. I succeeded, and in one weeks time brought back a sample. The bar sold the Laserdiscs for $250.... I found the person who bought them and paid him $500 and I use them to this day in my show, they now number over 70.

I don't have the time, right now, to import all those songs.

[mooman]

leoreed
I too have 60 laserdiscs that I am currently converting to vcd's There is no easy way - however by far the easiest and cheapest way I have found is as follows:
You need to capture in real time ie play your discs on your laserdisc player and capture the sound and vision on your pc. T do this I purchased a dazzle dvc 80 usb capture device. It is cheap. This will work without dropping frames on usb 1 as long as your pc is an xp1800 or thereabouts with 512Mb ram Use your sound card to capture the sound not the dazzle as it is pants. I use win xp and run windows movie maker to capture the video/ sound as it is a: free and b: perfectly adequate if you download the latest version. This saves the files as WMF which you can play in media player etc. To Then convert the files to VCD or DVD you need a nifty little prog called TMPGenc from Here
A word of warning this can take quite a while so a batch job before retiring to bed is the best way
Have fun.