Noob to video capturing

[JiNk]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to thank you for all your hard work.

Anyways, I bought a cheap Avertv capture card. I know, I know, it's a piece of junk, but i'm on a budget and a noob to all this, so please bear with me.

Anyways, I captured one of my vhs movies, and although it came out alright it did come out to 4 gigs.

Through looking on the forums here, I noticed that I could compress it with virtual dub.

I tried this and it gave me an estimate of 1.8 gigs.

Although this is much better, I am trying to get the file as small as 600-800 mb. Just like the movies found online.

Also makes the vcd conversion process, and use of cd's much less.

Now I know I can use virtual dub to do the capping from scratch, as opposed to the program on avertv.

My question is: will this give me a file of 600-800 mb.

I'm new to all this, and this may not be possible, so please enlighten me, and if you can tell me how people are able to compress the file soo small.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Keep up the good work fellas.

[shoplifter]

VCD right?

1. Capture 'best quality'. Lossless code->Huffyuv,
use virtualdub for that. The filesize will become huge so if hd-space
is a problem use a mjpeg-codec.
2. Use tmpgenc. Look for setting guides. If you can use xvcd (not all
standaloneplayers like them - see compatibility list here) instead of vcd,
use xvcd. XVCD can use VBR, VCD just CBR. Use 2pass encoding on
VBR (takes longer but lowers filesize w/o quality loss).
3. And this is what "we" do: lower the bitrate to lower the final filesize.
Thats the only way to get movies to 1disc. But don't expect miracles.
Cos:
4. Understand: Getting a huge file small requires perfect sourcequality
like DVD(-rip). VHScaps dont have the same
'uncompressed'/compressed ration at same quality level.

This is very general, but try to follow that, ask again for any step you don't understand in this forum and it will become clearer.
After all its just using a bitratecalculator to get any filsize you admire.

[fortension]

Specify what kind of file you want at the end - avi? vcd or svcd?

You can capture to the codec and resolution and file size you want at the end, but it will look pretty bad. That's why people go through 3 steps
1)capture (huffy is best, but various mpg2 programs give smaller sizes)
2) filter/resize
3) reencode to the final codec

There's a new capture guide on doom9.org for using virtualdub that explains a lot on how to go through the entire process.

I have an AverTV Stereo that I have been using the software right out of the box with no problems. I am capturing in VCD format and my caps look just like the show. Of course, I'm capping cartoons but the quality is still there.

I am considering doing the driver install from http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/ to get avi capability but so far I'm very happy with the mpg caps.

[txpharoah]

To megad: If you're capping toons, you've probably got interlace errors out the rear. You've got to maintain the interlace if you want toons to look good, and only MPEG2 will do that. Best you can do is blur to hide in MPEG1, but quality is most assuredly hit (you may just be satisfied with lower quality, and it can look okay). It's the way toons work.

To the original poster: you've probably capping to high. Set your rates for MPEG1 with valid VCD specs. Otherwise grab AVI, then use TMPGenc (my favorite that I suggest) or CCE (may be faster from AVI to MPG) to dump to a VCD file. Burn with Nero or other.

[JiNk]

Yes, my goal is to cap dvd's, vhs and convert them to vcd's.

Thankyou gentleman for taking the time to write andhelp me out. I greatly appreciate it.

I almost gave up on capping, but your responces gave me that boost of enthusiasm to figure this all out.

Thanks again, and keep up the awesome work.


All the Best