Is capturing at 640x480 any benefit if I only use VCD

[tito13kfm]

Lately i've been capturing Simpsons episodes using an el-cheapo Capture card. I have been using 640x480 for a number of reasons,
1: Higher resolution, means higher quality
2: 640x480 is 4:3 aspect ratio.

But my question is, should I just capture at 352x240 since this is VCD resolution and that's my ultimate goal. Or is the quality going to be higher capturing at 640x480 and then downsampling (right word?) to 352x240 in the conversion process?

[MOVIEGEEK]

Generally no.I've tried capturing at 720x480 and converted to 352x240 and made little differance but what did make an improvement was capturing at >2500kbps.640x480 looks great on a PC though.

[puertorican138]

Or is the quality going to be higher capturing at 640x480 and then downsampling (right word?) to 352x240 in the conversion process?

You are going to get a more sharper, clearer output if you capture from 640x480 to 352x240 rather than 352x240 to 352x240. I would recommend capturing at 720x480 though.

[mysticgohan17]

I'd check the quality of TV episodes on the net before capturing anything myself. test each resolution and check the picture quality of every resolution encoded to vcd against one another, which looks best on TV, PC, etc..

[spiderman2k1]

I find that if you encode DVD that there a tad bit choppy. So if you captureing VCD is would just stick with 352*240 but that's just me. Why not movie up to SVCD

[medievil]

Capture @ 640*480...you'll get a much better picture being able to convert to 352*240 and deinterlace...capturing @352*240 will just capture a single field. Capturing @640*480 and converting will allow you to blend the fields together (progressive) before resizing it.

[Heavensent]

if you capture at high resolution you get a better picture at the end.
you can try it yourself if you want, capture a bright scene with a focus on something at a high resolution and a low resolution and then convert
to vcd.
you will find that the low resolution capture has more compression
noise than the other.

[tito13kfm]

Capture @ 640*480...you'll get a much better picture being able to convert to 352*240 and deinterlace...capturing @352*240 will just capture a single field. Capturing @640*480 and converting will allow you to blend the fields together (progressive) before resizing it.

So, you're saying, that when I'm converting the captured AVI to MPG using TMPG I should check the deinterlace box, on the advanced tab. Or should I choose non-interlace under the encode mode.

Also, what would provide a better quality? a VBR xVCD with a higher bit rate, or a VBR CVD with a lower bit rate (my dvd player will play anything I throw at it).

I'm really kinda new at video capturing (and video technology in general), is there a good all purpose FAQ about deinterlacing, inverse telecine, progressive vs. interlaced, etc.