VHS to DVD to AVI

[rytter]

I am in the process of recording some of my old vhs cassettes to dvd and then to avi. I am using a Panasonic dmr-es30v to convert the VHS (PAL) to DVD (.vob). This is as of now my only way to digitize the VHS recordings.

I have Avidemux 2.4.4 installed and it seems to do the job of encoding the .vob file. I am using the mpeg4 x264 codec. I have two main questions. Do I need to deinterlace and should i keep the pixel aspect ratio (or make it 1:1)?

Furthermore, if you have any recommendations on what to do with specific settings in avidemux, a better program to use or better codec feel free to post. I have tried to browse the forums, but with next to no knowledge on the subject it is hard to get an overview.

Thanks

[hech54]

Don't throw away your DVDs. They WILL be better quality than your further conversion to x264.

[rytter]

I am just using the DVD (rewrite) to transfer from the VHS to my computer, and the .vob files are too big for my liking that is why I want to convert.

[hech54]

.vob files are too big for my liking that is why I want to convert.

I understand that....but "big VOB files" are what a DVD is. Without VOB files it is no longer a DVD...period. What you will end up with is a "video file" that will not be playable on many DVD players...it will only be playable on a computer....very important if these are family movies that you plan to share with friends and family.
Hard drive space is cheap....keep your "better quality originals" if at all possible.

[jagabo]

For VHS->DVD->MP4 you should be recording in 1 hour mode to get the highest quality DVD intermediate. If your sources are film based they should be inverse telecined back to the original 24 fps (assuming NTSC). If they are interlaced (home video, live sports, news) they should be left interlaced.

[rytter]

All of it is recordings from TV (PAL), mostly sports. I have a ton of old cassettes, not sure how much of it is worth saving. The quality of the video on the VHS cassettes is not great, I used Long Play to fit more on each. My idea was to get a good selection of it on my hard drive. The size of the x264 files are less than a third of the size of the vob files, with no significant loss of quality. So I am pretty confident that i wanna keep them as mpeg4, I am just not sure what the optimal way of encoding is.

I guess I will just leave them Interlaced then. There are occasionally "lines" across the screen when there is a lot of movement, I was told that is due to it being interlaced, is there anything i can do about this?

Any input on the aspect ratio? I've tried encoding the same vob file with pixel aspect ratio "as input" and the default "1-1". The final result is of resolution 704x576 but the AR is listed as being different, although the videos appear identical.

[jagabo]

I guess I will just leave them Interlaced then. There are occasionally "lines" across the screen when there is a lot of movement, I was told that is due to it being interlaced, is there anything i can do about this?

Set your media player to deinterlace. A stand alone media player like the Western Digital WDTV series should have no problems.

Any input on the aspect ratio? I've tried encoding the same vob file with pixel aspect ratio "as input" and the default "1-1". The final result is of resolution 704x576 but the AR is listed as being different, although the videos appear identical.

For analog video captures you should set the SAR to 16:11 to get a 16:9 display aspect ratio, or 12:11 to get at 4:3 display aspect ratio. For DVD conversions you should use 64:45 or 16:15, respectively. It's not clear exactly which you should use with a DVD recorder. The difference is very slight -- I wouldn't worry about it.