Capture from VHS to DVD but which way?

[Phoebos]

It seems that you guys are my only hope. My target is to transfer my old VHS cassettes (PAL) to DVD for the wellknown reasons. But here is where hell starts.

Well, I ve got my (not an ATI but not bad) Fly TV Platinum Capture card, my 1,6Ghz processor and an empty 40Gb second HDD and from the other side , some software like VirtualVCR VirtuaDub ,iuVCR, NeroVision Express, AdobePremier6 etc. and only 2154 questions from which the most important from all are :

1. I was thinking as I have read somewhere, to capture in avi using VirtualVCR . I have chosen compression with Morgan Jpeg codec and quality 97% which maby is ok. But the file for a 3 hour VHS is huge. Should I suppose that I will capture a part ,cut the unwanted, make titles ,burn a part, then delete the avi file, then capture another part, burn again and so on?

2. Why capturing avi? Ok better quality you would say. But if you read at http://www.digitalfaq.com/capture/avivsmpeg.htm they say among others that “…capturing directly to mpeg is acceptable with ok quality” . And why do it the long way while the source do not have a DVD quality but its only a VHS cassette which means something not that rich. Only to have huge files with useless data? Is it acceptable to capture in Mpeg1 (with PowerVCR) for DVD 352X288 with a 2000 bitrate? Or 4000? But why more than that? Do I need it?


3. Capture mpeg yes, but in which resolution? Mpeg2 for PAL DVD I m reading that means 352X288, 352X576 or 720X576. None of these give 4/3 =1,33 but 1,22 or 0,61 or 1,25. Can I use for example 384X288 =4/3=1,33 or none from the above is a stand alone DVD compatible? (Is our tv a 4/3 case or not? )

4. Since VHS source is poor is it practical to make mpeg2 for VCD or SVCD and use a DVD to store it? What I mean in not to have a 2 hrs DVD but lets say a 5 hrs DVD (with VCD or SVCD format ) . I suppose the difference in quality will not be noticeable.


I want your understanding for all this silly things Im asking but I am a working father with 3 kids with no time to study more these things, the only thing I want is to save several old VHS and VHS-C cassettes with family material!

Thank you and excuse my mistakes I m not in US, I m from Athens (greetings!)

[lordsmurf]

1. Or buy a larger hard drive for working. It's inevitable to need more space. A drive should not run more than $50 or so these days.

2. AVI and MPEG are just different. Neither is "better" as a format, though your card may do one better than the other (or be unable to do one at all). No, you lose full interlaced resolution below 352x576. While 352x288 interlaced exists, it's not fully supported in the DVD spec and can look odd. Plus it's still trashing VHS data.

3. Read the ASPECT RATIO info on this page:
http://www.digitalfaq.com/understandsource.htm

4. MPEG-2 is not VCD. But it can be SVCD, CVD and DVD. CVD is probably the best CD video format. And it shares most specs with Half D1 DVD MPEG2. You would do best not to exceed 4 hours.


SATSTORM is from Greece too. He may be able to share some good stuff also, even more "close to home" than what I can explain. And in a native tongue! You may want to PM him.

[Phoebos]

Thank you very much Lordsmurf for your good advice. What I was thinking in par. 4 is to use a DVDs storage capacity to make a big CVD or even SVCD (dont know if the difference would be noticable) than aiming convertion to DVD pure format, since the source is poor (as usually VHS is) so DVDS format is no gain.(you take out what you give in)

Thanks again

[lordsmurf]

SVCD is 480x480, while CVD is 352x480.
The bitrate allocation is better on CVD, and the CVD res is native DVD spec.

[Phoebos]

And talking for PAL, SVCD is 480X576 while CVD is 352X576.

So better author a DVD using mpeg2 CVD format is better than doing the job in mpeg2 SVCD format?