Your Opinions wanted: MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 as an archive format

[darkelf]

My issue: I have several old VHS & Hi-8 movies that I would like to archive. I would like to save these in the best practical format that would allow for future conversion, editing, etc. The old tapes will go away, and these vids will become my 'masters'.

I am limiting my options to some variant of MPEG-1 or MPEG-2. Divx is not really an option, neither is Huffy-AVI (which would be the ideal for me).

For archival purposes, these files need only to be read on a PC. If I would like to make them easily viewable on a DVD player, later conversion is acceptable into an easily playable format (be it VCD, SVCD, or XVCD).

My capture capabilities offer me the maximum 480x480 @ 60fps.

My question (with opening commentary):

Please correct me if any of this information is in error. I see that the main differences between SVCD and XVCD relate to video compression (MPEG-2 vs MPEG-1). SVCD (the standard) is limited to 2500bps? XVCD is higher, generally limited to roughly 7000-9000bps? Both support some kind of VBR (2-pass is what I am looking at now)?

I realize that much of my data is in VHS format, which will limit any resulting video to roughly VCD quality. However for archival purposes, I would rather save the data in a higher resolution to better facilitate conversion to either SVCD/XVCD/VCD.

Now finally my question: Is there any real benefit of using MPEG-2 as opposed to MPEG-1 for video? Quality wise? Does the fact that XVCD offers higher bitrates erase any quality gains of SVCD (with a corresponding increase in space obviously)?

Does MPEG-2 at a given bitrate (when comparing CBR to CBR, and VBR to VBR) correspond to better image quality as opposed to MPEG-1? I do not know the subtleties(sp) of either algorithm, but common sense would dictate that MPEG-2 would offer better quality at a given bitrate.

Would either offer a better archive path as opposed to the other? 45mins on a CDR is what I am shooting for (ideally), just wondering what would be the best compression scheme to use.

Thanks for reading all of that. You opinions are greatly appreciated.

-elf

[darkelf]

Addendum: The expanded audio capabilities of SVCD and X(S)VCD are not really required, and I am disregarding them in my comparisons.

I see that there is an X(S)VCD format, which is a melding of the best of both worlds, could this be it for me?

[kinneera]

If they only need to be viewable on the computer, until such a time as you port it to another format in the future, I would suggest MPEG2 at DVD compatible half-D1 resolution, but at a higher bitrate than SVCD (e.g. 352x480/576 at ~4Mbps average bitrate). This will preserve both fields of the tape, allow you to retain interlacing if desired, and is compatible with DVD (which MPEG1 in this format would not be). Note that you would also want to capture and encode your audio at 48Khz for maximum convenience in DVD authoring.

[nemesys777]

I have been doing some VCR to mpeg conversions and reccommend using mpeg-2. MPEG-1 can create artifacts in your final save. Although the video source will limit quality, It's better to try and keep as much of that quality as possible. MPEG-2 should come close to giving you the actual "tape" quality vs. MPEG-1's added "noise" Also definately use a 2-pass VBR unless you can do a really high CBR (In which case you'd need alot of HD space)
Even at a 1500 bitrate, there are still alot of problems in the resulting conversion quality. Go as high as you can with the Bitrate, and use mpeg-2. Good luck.