Video capture quality question

[fattyriver]

Just started reading the forum and have set out to transfer my family's home videos to DVD instead of spending $35 dollars a tape for a service. Let me start by explaining how far I have gotten. I am using roxio capture software and device which is getting the video transferred well to my external hardrive. No issues with sound or quality. I'm also using corel DVD movie factory to author the DVDs. I'm currently capturing at 8 mbps. Roxio has options for avi, 8mbps, 4 mbps. 4 is definately too poor of quality and 8 is working just fine but doesn't quite fit enough on a dvd. What I'm looking for is advice to possibly speed up or fine tune my current process. It's my understanding that alot of the services will transfer somewhere in between 4 and 8. I plan on making 4 copies of each dvd for each member of my family. Is there other software out there that I should be considering? Should I consider buying a dual layer dvd burner so I can maintain 8mbps but fit more on a dvd? Just looking for some advice from people that have done this before.... Thanks in advance

[Bjs]

Depends on three options

1: Use DL

Or

2: For extended data consider 1/2 D1 Res for SL

OR

3: If the data is not too much over SL then you might use dvdshrink or shrinkto5basic to fit to media ... yes it will lower mbps

====

A: You should include the length of clips involved
B: Different Applications vs performance output

You'll find much about "B" within the forums discussions about applications which perform better ... especially for encoding to dvd and quality experiences.

[jagabo]

If you can afford it, get an s-vhs deck with noise reduction and line time base corrector. That will do more to increase the quality than anything you can do after capturing from a cheap VHS deck. The time base correction alone can cut the bitrate requirement in half.

[fattyriver]

What do you recommend for old 8 mm tapes? I have a sony video 8 camera that stills works well. Is there something else out there I can buy for playback?

[intracube]

1: Use DL

Are there any up to date studies that have been done to estimate the lifespan of single layer vs dual layer media? I've had a preference for using (quality) SL discs for important content, but I'm not sure in practice how much better they are. Could be quite important for family videos.

2: For extended data consider 1/2 D1 Res for SL

A couple of weeks ago you suggested this to another member, and I wrongly stated that half D1 res (and SVCDs) wouldn't preserve interlaced content - they do. Apologies for that.

[Knightmessenger]

What do you recommend for old 8 mm tapes? I have a sony video 8 camera that stills works well. Is there something else out there I can buy for playback?

Your video8 camera should work fine. A Hi8 will also work fine. You'll want to make sure it can play output stereo sound or at least provide two channel (r & l) audio.

And if the camera has an S-video output, use that as it is better quality than the yellow composite for video.