vcd vs video out to vhs?

[solipsismx]

Okay, I have 3 sets of questions

1. What is the maximum resolution VCD can playback? It's 352x240 isn't it? I know you can capture at a higher res, but when it comes down to burning the VCD, it can only do 352x240 correct?

2. If VCD can only display 352x240, would I be better off capturing at a higher resolution and then recording via video-out to a high grade VHS tape? I know we're in the digital age, but my friend's mom has a lot of imported asian VCDs and most VHS tapes look better than those. If it IS better to use a vhs, what resolution and aspect ratio shoud I be using?

3. I was reading a little about SVCD and XVCD on this site and I'm confused... Do I need special software to burn these? I also don't understand the bit rate issue, but I'll probably post that in another thread. The reason I ask was, it seems that these discs might look better than a VHS tape if I could get the resolution high.

[Psycho_Dad_Rules]

1. The maximum resolution for a 100% VCD compliant VCD is 352x288. This is a PAL vcd. PAL vcd use a framerate of 25 frames/sec. A NTSC VCD uses 352x240 at 30 Frames/sec. Raising the resolution would make it a XVCD. Meaning a not completely 100% VCD compliant stream.

2. Depents on what you capture from.... And why not skip the PC capture part and record/"capture" straight to VHS.
Is this is not an options, capturing at double the resolution or higher should work just fine, as long as no frames are dropped during this procces.

3. If you're currently using NERO, you can burn VCD, XVCD, SVCD and XSVCD with this just fine. The quality of a SVCD is indeed better than that of a VCD. IT has much higher resolution and uses MPEG2 instead of MPEG1.

Good luck.

Greetz,

pSyChO dAd