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  1. I have a VHS tape from my graduation in high school of 15 years old and recently I got it converted to DVD. And I want to share it with my friends.
    What is the best conversion method to use in order not to loose quality and convert a DVD to AVI. I know that there is no "DVD quality" from VHS tapes but I want to use the best method there is in order to reduce size so I can share it. I.E. what programs to use, codec and etc.
    I just couldn't find a guide for it.

    Thanks
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    Assuming it's a proper DVD and not just a data disc: http://www.makemkv.com

    Whether you want to further process it after that is up to you.
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  3. So I'll have a 4.7GB file with VHS quality. I want to get the same quality with less size on a disk.
    I'm more interested in the "further process". What is the best way to do it.
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  4. I'm a MEGA Super Moderator Baldrick's Avatar
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    If you want to reduce the size try make a mp4 or mkv with h264 video with for example vidcoder or handbrake. You might have to enable the deinterlace filter also.

    But if you really want a smaller avi make an avi xvid with autogk, xvid4psp 5 or freemake video converter.

    Or if you don't need to shrink it use vob2mpg or makemkv. No quality loss but no compression.
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    'Best' is subjective, handbrake does the job well enough for most people. However, re-encoding with same quality isn't an option. You have decisions to make, since it's from a VHS cassette it's almost certainly interlaced, it's been said by experts in the field that the best way to de-interlace video is to not interlace it in the first place. If you don't want to keep it interlaced, you'll have to decide between single and double rate deinterlacing, if you want to keep it interlaced handbrake won't be the best option, but you'll be relying on the deinterlacing abilities of the playback device for quality.

    I'm not sure where you got .avi from. It's an old file format.
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  6. Thanks for the replies guys.
    Is there and detailed guide to such a conversion, since I'm not that familiar with different aspects of format conversion
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    It's complicated, the easiest thing to do is rip with MakeMKV then load the file into Handbrake and go from there. However, there are many, many programs that are dedicated to video conversion and each program provides many, many options. If this is your first time encoding you'll just have to wing it and hope for the best, most of us have too much experience to be able to give you one single process to follow.
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  8. Member hech54's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by scorp8669 View Post
    So I'll have a 4.7GB file with VHS quality. I want to get the same quality with less size on a disk.
    I'm more interested in the "further process". What is the best way to do it.
    DVD is MPEG2. A playable DVD that you share with friends and family MUST be MPEG2. Period.
    You can't just burn stuff onto a disc-shaped-object that has "DVD" stamped on it and expect it to be useable in grandma's set-top DVD player attached to her TV. It doesn't work that way. Cramming more MPEG2 video onto a DVD means quality loss. You WILL lose quality.
    The End.
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    disk... not disc, presumably 'disk' as in 'floppy disk', now-a-days meaning DVD, CD, USB thumb drive, SD Card or anything else you can use to distribute PC files to friends and family. At least that's what I got from it. He did ask how to convert to AVI so he doesn't seem to exist in the PC World's here-and-now.
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  10. So I guess the handbrake is the best choice for a conversion, to get a 700 mb size CD?
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  11. I'm a MEGA Super Moderator Baldrick's Avatar
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    Easiest but probably not best quality. But try and see how it looks like. It shouldn't take that many minutes if you have faster computer.
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    Originally Posted by scorp8669 View Post
    So I guess the handbrake is the best choice for a conversion, to get a 700 mb size CD?
    I realize that beginners usually don't know how to frame their questions clearly, but this is a little confusing for me.

    First you wanted an avi file ... which newer versions of handbrake don't support ... now you want it on CD.

    If that's how you're planning to distribute it why not just copy the DVD? The blanks don't really cost more than cds.

    Handbrake (also vidcoder, same program with a different GUI) has probably the best compromise between ease of use and power. There are other very good encoders you'll often see recommended here by very knowledgeable people but they are definitely not suited for beginners.

    There are others that claim they're easy, quick, and deliver high quality encoding. They may be easy and quick but they do not give you high quality. For that you need access to settings, which they don't have because that takes time to put in the menus and it's not longer easy anyway. Many of these programs charge money and they're worse than many free ones.

    If you want better help you're going to have to specify just how you plan to distribute the video.

    You want guides, there are a ton of them on the left hand side off this page.
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  13. Video Restorer lordsmurf's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by scorp8669 View Post
    I have a VHS tape from my graduation in high school of 15 years old and recently I got it converted to DVD. And I want to share it with my friends.
    What is the best conversion method to use in order not to loose quality and convert a DVD to AVI. I know that there is no "DVD quality" from VHS tapes but I want to use the best method there is in order to reduce size so I can share it. I.E. what programs to use, codec and etc.
    I just couldn't find a guide for it.

    Thanks
    I need to come back to VH more often.

    - A DVD can easily be better than the original VHS tape. I do it daily.

    - Converting interlaced MPEG-2 to progressive AVI means there is loss. How much depends on the method. I've using advanced switches on QTGMC right now, and it takes about 2 hours of processing for 10 minutes of encoding. For once, I'm doing my own video from high (from the days before DVD even existed!). I can about quality, and am doing some advanced conversion work. Even then, it still have some minute loss. There's no way to avoid it.

    - If you want to share, you can
    (1) Mail DVDs. Those who want the best quality will pay for it.
    (2) Convert to H.264 progressive -- like Youtube, etc. It won't be best, but that's what happens when you want free.

    I just hope your original DVD was converted with quality hardware, not something bought at Best Buy or Walmart. Even then, you can try to restore it as best as possible, using software like VirtualDub and Avisynth.

    And then the H2.64 encode MUST be pre-processed to look good, and to make the compression optimal.

    This is the kind of stuff I advice other of often.
    Want my help? Ask here! (not via PM!)
    FAQs: Best Blank DiscsBest TBCsBest VCRs for captureRestore VHS
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