From VHS to DVD

[Nilfennasion]

I know this has been asked a million times before, but it is a popular topic that will be asked about another million times. Today, my dear old dad finally sussed capturing VHS tapes onto his hard drive. He does so by connecting a VHS player to a TV Tuner/Capture card in his puter. The first question that comes up is what the ideal way to capture the material is. I have told him that a resolution of 352x288, with uncompressed AVI, will give him the best results for source files. I am hoping this is correct, but any other suggestions are welcome.

The other question, of course, is how to convert this source file into something DVD compliant. What sort of bitrate should I aim for, and what is the best program to use?

[TheFamilyMan]

Recommended reading:
http://www.digitalfaq.com/capture/software-resolution.htm
Enjoy!

[stillmars321]

the easiest way to do this is to get the new Sony DVD Direct.

It captures, encodes and burns to DVD on the fly.

I've been using for a month now. Couldn't get any easier!

If you need menus, rip to computer and use an authoring program to plae finishing touches on your work

[Nilfennasion]

the easiest way to do this is to get the new Sony DVD Direct.

Not an option now. The hardware has already been purchased, and he's ready to get cracking. The only problem he has is that his processor is slow (850Mhz), which limits his available capture resolution. Hence my question about resolutions - I would offer to let him use my computer for the job if need be.

[Donny661]

VHS only has about 240 lines (horizontal lines) of resolution, so in theory 352x288 is not a bad resolution to capture at. A better resolution, if the computer is capable, would be 352x576 (In Australia I believe you use the PAL TV stardard, which means you should capture at the legal PAL DVD resolutions which are: 352x288, 352x576, 704x576 and 720x576). To convert to a DVD mpeg, I suggest buying TMPG or TMPG EXpress, or at least getting the trial version so your dad can get started. Use the wizard to set up the encoding options. For a resolution of 352x288, 1800-2500 is more than an adequate Constant Bit Rate (CBR) or Variable Bit Rate (VBR). For 352x576, 2400-3500 would give you decent results results and 3000 to 4000 would be great. With VBR you should be able to get better results at a given average bitrate than CBR. The wizard will also calculate the bitrate for you and show you how much of the DVD will be filled.

This is mentioned a lot on these forums and also applies to this post: read the guides which are linked to on the left!!! This is how I started and it should be easy for you to learn the basics and then teach your dad the essentials, or better yet, point him to this site. I'm sorry if that sounds a little mean (it's not intended to be), but that is the absolute best advice I could give you because almost anything you want to know is covered extremely well in those guides; although, it may take you a few minutes to navigate to the ones you need and can understand.

[rgs_uk]

VHS only has about 240 lines (horizontal lines) of resolution, so in theory 352x288 is not a bad resolution to capture at.

The resolution is measured by the number of vertical columns that can be displayed across the screen. By reducing the height of the capture to 288 pixels, you throw away half the (most important) vertical resolution, and also the interlacing, which gives video its characteristic smooth motion.

So, as you suggest, it is much better to capture at 352x576 if the capture device allows it, if not at 720x576.

[Nilfennasion]

(Making a few notes)

The real problem here is that the processor of the computer the guy is using to capture the VHS is not up for the job. I have already suggested to him that he capture each segment of each video (most are half-hour segments of events he's recorded on video) and edit each one piece by piece. Being that he has an 850MHz processor, I am not sure his computer can take working on a video of more than an hour, regardless of the resolution.

I will see about passing on the 352x576 resolution idea, though. And I do actually read the guides very frequently, but searching them is a royal pain to say the least.

[rgs_uk]

The quickest codec for capture is probably the PicVideo MJPEG one. I started out capturing with a P200 with 192Mb? RAM and can't remember if that would do 352x576 (D2) at 25fps.

Some capture cards won't do 352x576 format. VirtualDub can access 'hidden' formats if the card allows them.

[fmctm1sw]

(Making a few notes)

The real problem here is that the processor of the computer the guy is using to capture the VHS is not up for the job. I have already suggested to him that he capture each segment of each video (most are half-hour segments of events he's recorded on video) and edit each one piece by piece. Being that he has an 850MHz processor, I am not sure his computer can take working on a video of more than an hour, regardless of the resolution.

I will see about passing on the 352x576 resolution idea, though. And I do actually read the guides very frequently, but searching them is a royal pain to say the least.

I don't believe CPU speed has as much bearing on captures as hard drive speed/throughput (to an extent). I was running a Celeron 366 a while back. I can't get any realistic comparisons though since my new computer has a dedicated 250GB drive for captures. What may be a problem is conversion. It will take one hell of a long time to convert, especially if you plan on doing any filtering, etc. I think it was already mentioned that cards capture at a specific size and just scale to what resolution you asked for. There was a big thread a while back called "amazing discoveries.." that had pictures and everything until the server crashed that time and all the pictures got nuked. It makes for good reading though still. I capture everything at 712x480 and crop to 704x480. Then if I want 352x480 (sorry, I'm in NTSC land) I use avisynth horizontalreduceby2(). Let us know how it turns out...

[lordsmurf]

CPU has more bearing than HDD speed.