Help with Virtualdub

[rllercstr7]

I am trying to capture some home videos that are currently on VHS using a VCR and a Hauppauge PVR 150 MCE capture card. I would like to use virtualdub to capyure them, but am runing into some problems. After entering the capture mode I select the video compression menu from the video tab, but my only option is "No Compression: HCW2". However, when I am out of capture mode I have a whole slew of options in this menu. Needless to say my captures currently take up way more space than I would like. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong?

Also, my goal is to get 2 hours of VHS footage onto a 4.7 GB DVD with the best quality possible. What are the bests audio and video codecs to use to acheive this result?

Thanks a lot!
Adam

[redwudz]

AFAIK, the 150 is a MPEG output device and VirtualDub captures AVI video. If your end product is DVD, it is probably the wrong program for your needs. If that card can output AVI, it may work.

DVDs use MPEG-2 video and codecs. See 'What is' DVD to the upper left. <<<<<<

If you wanted to capture AVI video, Huffy and PicVideo are popular for capture codecs. Huffy can take up more space than MPEG-2, depending on the settings.

You might want to do a little reading..........

And welcome to the forums.

[rllercstr7]

Thanks for the tips redudz. I knew that the PVR 150 had a hardware MPEG encoder, but I have not been able to find a capture program that really meets my needs. I have tried to capture using Nero, Movie Factory, PowerDirector,AmCap, and a slew of others that I have been trying out for days. I have found that the powerdirector capture works just fine with my capture card, but even recording at the highest quality the video doesn't look too great compared to the VHS source. This is why I turned to Virtualdub in order to use its filters in hopes of creating a better quality capture. Would you suggest any other specific programs that might work better than virtualdub for my setup and what codecs etc I should use with it? One other thing I am unsure about is whether or not to de-interlace it. I have read some places that you should and others say definately not and I'm a little confused. Thanks again for the help!

[jagabo]

Have you tried the WinTV2000 program that came with the card?

[rllercstr7]

This is actually the Media Center Edition of the card although it runs fine with Beyond TV in XP Home. Unfortunately I have never gotten this card to work with the WinTV software. I believe it doesn't work because it is meant for MCE's interface and not the WinTV one. Thanks

[jagabo]

You should check out http://www.shspvr.com

[rllercstr7]

Any advice on whether or not I should de-interlace?

[zoobie]

Don't

[Baldrick]

leave it interlaced if you are making dvd-video.

[rllercstr7]

Thanks guys!