Confused about capturing settings

[DOA]

I want to capture some VHS tapes and want to keep the high quality but at the same time reduce the file size. I have been playing around with the VCD, Huffyuv, DVD, DivX 4.12, DivX 5.02 codecs and I am pleased with the quality from the Huffyuv and DVD. Unfortunately, the file sizes are getting too big.

Which video and audio codec should I use to retain the VHS quality? Also does resolution matter as much as the codec (eg. VCD@640X480 vs. Huffyuv@320X240)?

[buffettmo]

I have had very good results with the PicVideo MJPEG codec. I have an analog camcorder and use V-Dub to capture video from my ATI TV Wonder VE capture card. This codec gives me the best results and gives a smaller file size than does Huffy (almost 1/2 the file size!)
You can download a trial by following the link below:

ftp://www.jpg.com/pub/picvideo/PICVIDEO2.exe

This version will put words on your captured video, but I think it is only about 18 bucks to register, and for me it has been well worth the money.

Give it a shot and let me know what you think.

[Nelson37]

You must seperate the capture process from the re-encoding process, Capture the best (usually also the biggest) quality you can and then re-encode. Huffy, DV, MJPEG, are primarily capture codecs. DIVX and MPEG are primarily storage codecs, VCD is a storage format which uses MPEG-1.

Resolution could be more important than codec. No less than 352x480, I use 720x480 though that is overkill for VHS. Resize and re-encode.

You could also try Real-Time cap and encode, MPEG-1 or 2 for DVD player, Divx for PC only playback. Resolutions and bitrates at what playtime per disk is your choice.

[metoo2]

I want to capture some VHS tapes and want to keep the high quality but at the same time reduce the file size. I have been playing around with the VCD, Huffyuv, DVD, DivX 4.12, DivX 5.02 codecs and I am pleased with the quality from the Huffyuv and DVD. Unfortunately, the file sizes are getting too big.

Which video and audio codec should I use to retain the VHS quality? Also does resolution matter as much as the codec (eg. VCD@640X480 vs. Huffyuv@320X240)?

This depends upon the quality of the video you get from the vhs tapes. So-so quality; I'd capture to 320x240 huffy and convert to VCD. Superb quality; I'd capture to 640x480 huffy and convert to DVD. VCD is a poorer quality than VHS, so I'd stick to the DVD quality if retaining VHS quality was a big factor.

If you want to reduce file sizes, then think 640x480 divx 5.02. Any time you sacrifice file size, tho, you sacrifice video quality.