How high can I go? (ATI/VCD/DVD question)

[calebu2]

I'm thinking about converting all of my VHS concert videos into a better (less space consuming) format. I've spent a while reading through all of the helpful guides here and while I am definitely more educated than I was when I first started, I still have a ton of questions. Here's my current set up :

Pentium II 400MHz
256Mb Ram
ATI All-In-Wonder 7500
60Gb 7200 HDD (Either Seagate or WD - I forget)
Iomega ZipCD/DVD CDRW drive
Old Sony VCR

I'm also thinking about getting the HP 200i DVD writer.

I have been successfully capturing and burning VCDs using the ATI Multimedia center on VCD setting. It's extremely easy (I don't have to do anything except drag the video file I've captured into Nero).

However I'm reaching the end of the videos that I don't care about quality and want to know what my options are before I go further. I don't have any spare $$$ for system upgrades other than perhaps a DVD writer.

I've tried capturing MPEG2 video for SVCD, but the video file isn't in a format that works with Nero for SVCD burning. And using something like TMpegEnc takes way too long to re-encode.

I've tried capturing DVD quality video on the MPEG2 DVD full video setting (on ATI MMC) and it loses 10% of frames.

So my questions to all of you are :

1) What is the best that I can do given my system? Is there a way of capturing anything other than MPEG1 video in a format that is ready for burning to SVCD using the ATI card?
2) If I'm having problems with ATI's MPEG2 video format for SVCD, does that mean I'd have the same problem if I aimed to put the video onto a DVD?
3) What happens if you use lower resolution/quality mpeg2 files on a DVD (eg. a DVD+R used in the HP 200i dvd drive I might buy?) Does it allow you to fit more data on? or will there be a "convert to DVD quality" step at some point?
5) Am I just hopelessly behind the times (in terms of technology)?

Steve

[oldfart13]

Your system is too underpowered for DVD spec captures. You might try SVCD but even that would be a stretch. CVD? Who knows? I get less than 1% frame drops on my PIII 1GHz system but I also have separate capture drives along with my main drive for the OS and programs. That helps a lot. Upgrading will probably be your only alternative in the near future anyway...

[SatStorm]

Your PC power is not enough for CVD/SVCD/DVD stuff. So, you have two solutions:

1. Upgrade your PC. It is not that expensive. Get a Duron for example. It does the job done, pretty well at a very low cost. A Duron 1200 and a motherboard for it gonna cost you about 100euros/dollars, not THAT much. That would be OK for a couple of years to come in generall.
Believe it or not, I can grabb with Vdub to 352 X 576 with picvideo and encode the same time with tmpgenc 2.59 plus with no frame loss! I use win2k by the way. And all this with a Duron...

2. Go -X- . That way, you can boost the quality, but you forget compatibility more or less for CD based solutions.
But if you buy a DVD Burner, then maybe for VHS to DVD conversion, the -X- mpeg 1/2 way might be O.K for you. Since DVD supports 352 X 288/240 (VCD's resolution), then going -X- (for example mpeg 2 @ 352 X 288/240 with an average bitrate about 1600kb/s), then it might be O.K. for converting your source to DVDs (but that is not okey for your CDs, it is -X-, non compatible) and you can still do it with your PC as is.

I don't know if with linux there are some solutions for outdated PCs. When I digged the subject, there was not good solutions at the time (a year ago), maybe that has change meanwhile. With linux, "miracles" can be expected!