critique my process (noob)

[sigpop]

noob at this
i have a bunch of old vhs movies i want to put on dvd. cpl mins each. i figured i would have each one be a chapter with a link from the menu(s). my old vid cam has only rca jacks out (getting a new vid cam in couple of months).

please let me know what you think about this process:

1. i bought a winfast leadtek tv2000 xp deluxe. i use it to capture the video to raw .avi. files are HUGE.

2. tmpgEnc to trim off the front/end that i don't want. i also enable the noise filtering (i assume this is for better picture quality). then convert to mpg2.

3. using dvd-lab 30 day trial to author the dvd. made a couple of menus and burn the dvd.

the output is so-so. color seems a bit goofy. i had a copy of pinnacle studio 8 but it kept crashing and when it wrote the dvd, it would only write a few seconds of the actual movie.

i do have a few oddly captured mpg2 files i'm trying to include. i captured them with the pinnacle software but the frame size was 640 x 480. dvd-lab let me set a property that allowed using 'non std dvd files'. bit rate on the avis i encoded is 8000+kbps. on the pinnacle captures its only 5500-6000. i dont want to take the time to recapture them.

questions:
1. how much video should i be able to fit on my dvd? seems like if i used an old vhs recorder to capture it, the quality wont be that great so would there be a way to fit more than an hour on my dvd?

2. i also tried some ulead product that came with my tv card. its menu making interface seemed somewhat lame. all that i wanted was a few text or buttons with text on them for the chapters. any better/other authoring software? the pinnacle studio 8 interface and features wern't bad if it wouldnt lockup/gpf every other time i ran it or if it wrote the dvd correctly.

thanks for your time.

[dafreak]

try this guide:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/userguides/186739.php

if you want the video quality to be better, then try doing a vbr-2 pass encode instead of cbr (constant bit-rate).



follow the guide exactly except for the audio part of it. this is how i extract the audio and convert it to ac3.


open up the avi file in virtualdubmod
-click on streams
-click on list streams. a new window will open with all the audio streams (generally one)
-right click on the stream, and select full process
-right click on the stream again, and click on convert
-select 4800 mhz and leave everthing else the same
-click ok and then click on save wave
-direct virtualdub where you want to save the wave file
-now use ffmpegGUI to convert the wave file to ac3
-use the ac3 file when you're adding clips in tmpegnc dvd author

[sigpop]

thanks for the tips, freak.

i'll probably search for a different authoring tool. i didn't notice that dvd-lab was $99. its a really nice tool but i am no professional so i'll doubt i would use it to its full potential. a cheaper tool will surely suffice. plus i couldn't find a way to do fade/transitions between chapters. only transitions between menus, which was nice.

[kupton]

sigpop - At what resolution are you capturing the VHS tapes? Some argue it's over kill but I have best results at 720x480 with my Leadtek card.

[will_sickly_33+]

sigpop - At what resolution are you capturing the VHS tapes? Some argue it's over kill but I have best results at 720x480 with my Leadtek card.

I'm of the ilk that firmly believes 352 x 576 (PAL) is sufficient for VHS captures, encoded at a maximum of 4000kb/sec.
This method will get you around 110 minutes, but dropping to 3000kb/sec (maybe setting TMPGEnc to have a bash at 2 pass VBR) will increase the amount you can fit on each disk without degrading quality that you'd notice).
Bill

[kupton]

Will - What size TV do you watch the end result? I find a 720x480 capture (then encoded to MPEG2, etc.) to be much sharper than a 352x480 capture on my 51" TV

Maybe it's a card specific thing. The PAL vs. NTSC capture resolution adds another variable too...

[will_sickly_33+]

Hi kupton,

Will - What size TV do you watch the end result? I find a 720x480 capture (then encoded to MPEG2, etc.) to be much sharper than a 352x480 capture on my 51" TV

Maybe it's a card specific thing. The PAL vs. NTSC capture resolution adds another variable too...

I watch it on a 25" 4:3 TV but I have to be honest, the end result is perfect for me, I tend not to be too analytical and my days of endless testing are over.
I accept what I get now
Bill

[sigpop]

i did cap it at 720 x 480 (i think), which was the default raw avi in my leadtek.

to view it, i have an old 32" tv but im sure various family members will want a copy and some of their tvs are smaller.

i may try that '2 pass VBR' in TMpgEnc you mentioned.