Analog video to DVD...what's the best road?

[alegator]

Okay, here's the deal. I have all these VHS and Hi8 analog tapes that I want to convert to DVD. There are three steps involved: capturing, editing and authoring the DVD. Some software do one of these, some do two of these and some do all of these, of course with varying degrees of quality/performance and depth. I have experience using Ulead DVD Workshop v1.3 and I think it's a good program I only used it to create the DVD menus and encode the DVD itself. I didn't use it to capture video though. To this end I used Windows Movie Maker (as stupid as it may sound) to capture video in DV-AVI format. But there are a wide array of options like using Ulead Media Studio Pro, TmpgEnc to capture and TmpgDVD to author, Adobe Premiere to capture/edit, Adobe Encore DVD to author and capture to mention just a few.

My question is: what is the best method that will guarantee the best DVD final quality?

Then there's the issue of wether to capture directly in MPEG2 format or in DV-AVI format and in case the last option is chosen if it will mean degrading the quality when reencoding to MPEG2 during the DVD authoring-process.

I wish it could just be the push of one button, but with so many options/methods and formats (not to mention wether to choose VBR or CBR or even the audio format options) I'm confused as to which one will render the best quality possible in the final DVD.

Thanks for any enlightening of this subject.

[willy_annand]

My question is: what is the best method that will guarantee the best DVD final quality?

Then there's the issue of wether to capture directly in MPEG2 format or in DV-AVI format and in case the last option is chosen if it will mean degrading the quality when reencoding to MPEG2 during the DVD authoring-process.

I wish it could just be the push of one button, but with so many options/methods and formats (not to mention wether to choose VBR or CBR or even the audio format options) I'm confused as to which one will render the best quality possible in the final DVD.

Let's take the last part first, one of the fellows over on the DVD-Lab forum said "If it was easy, everybody would be doing it."

As for capturing, I always capture to AVI using the Huffy codec if I am going to have to re-edit the video. Capturing to MPEG, only if I know it will be a capture and straight to the DVD authoring program.
This is for 2 reasons, MPEG is very slow and difficult to work with while editing. Also, when you compress it into MPEG you lose quality, then you edit it and compress it to MPEG again losing more quality. On the other hand, HUFFY is a lossless codec.

Now point one "best method", very subjective.

Mine is as follows:

1. Capture to AVI using Huffy codec. Program used Edit Studio 4 (best program for the money).

2. Edit the video using Edit Studio 4, trim and cut, adding efects, transitions and sound where needed. Then save to DVD compliant MPEG using the bundled MPEG XS encoder. High quality results with near realtime speed on my P4c 2.6GHz, 1GB RAM machine.

3. Author with DVD-Lab, far more creativity than TMPG DVD Author or anything from Ulead. Only Sonic's Reel DVD is better. (best authoring package at any price and it is onlu $100.)

4. Test the compile in PowerDVD 5 to see if I remembered everything.

5. Burn the DVD in Nero.

If you are confident that you have forgotten nothing and don't want to test, you can burn directly from DVD-Lab.

Hope this helps.

[alegator]

Willy,
Thanks a lot for your feedback, very clear your explanation.
I have one question: you mentioned the "Huffy" codec. Where can I get this codec from? Is this a type of AVI codec? Is this codec less compressed than DV-AVI?.
Once I capture and edit the Huffy AVI file you mention the MPEG XS Encoder to encode to MPEG2 DVD format. Can I do that encoding with any other encoder (for example Canopus Procoder) once the Huffy codec is installed in my system?
Thanks again

[SatStorm]

On the tools section of this side, you gonna find anything you wish.

My method:

- Capture (virtualdub or virtualvcr, depending my OS and set up) using Huffyuv or PicVideo mjpeg codec (not freeware the last 2 years)
- Editing
- Video Proccessing: This includes filtering, cropping, resizing and save the results to a new avi
- Audio Proccessing: Not neccessary, but always usefull. Easy things, like adding couple of filters (DC Offset, Hiss Cut, etc) and maybe boost some freq. tranforms a average/pour audio source to something decent
- Encoding.
- Authoring
- Burning

This method needs time and huge hard disc space. More than 120GB.

Time example: Capture 4 hours, proccessing 8 - 10 hours (audio included), encoding 4 - 5 hours (if CBR/ CQ) or 8 - 10 hours (If 2 Pass VBR). Authoring depending your skills and what you wish to do, let's say an hour (including the export of the vobs). Burning depending the burner.
Overall, about 18 - 26 hours for a 4 Hour VHS tape. Not bad compare the weeks we needed some years ago...