Best VirtualDub codec for encoding Hi8 movies

[jranaudo]

Hey all. I captured all my home movies on Hi8 to AVI using VirtualDub. Can anyone recommend a good codec I can use to encode the video? I know there are tons but there must be some preferred ones out there.

Also which format is the most future proof? mpeg4? DivX,etc?

Thanks.

[poisondeathray]

How do you plan on watching? (pc, dvd, blu-ray, media box , etc...)

That will limit your options

or do you mean a capture codec?

what do you mean by "best"? best speed to encode? best quality/size? best compatibility?...

[jranaudo]

Not capturing codec but encoding.

I plan on watching videos from my home theater PC on my HiDef TV.

[poisondeathray]

what are your goals? htpc can play any format

I would use h.264/aac

[jranaudo]

Only goal would be quality of video and ability to play in the future. For example I dont want to use a codec that 5 years down the road nobody can play.

[lordsmurf]

Encode to MPEG-2 at max bitrate for DVD-Video, for watching. About 4GB/hour.

Capture as HuffYUV lossless if you want to truly "archive" for possible later editing. Store on hard drives, video files will be 30-40GB/hour. Another option is MPEG-2 at 15mbps bitrate, which is maybe about half of HuffYUV, but still adequate to keep all video data intact.

Everything will be obsolete in 10 years, but DVD-Video and MPEG-2 will have the best legacy support. It's used for DVB, DVD and broadcasting, and will be for quite a bit longer. Divx is already obsolete, H.264 took its place. Took FLV's place, too.

[jranaudo]

Can someone recommend a mpeg2 encoder?

[lordsmurf]

Get this one: TMPGEnc Plus 2.5
Guide for it at http://www.digitalfaq.com/guides/video/convert-tmpg.htm

An oldie, but goodie!