Best archive format for VHS

[tonyaldr]

Hey everyone! I'm going to start the herculean task of converting all my VHS tapes to digital and was wondering what the best quality to compression ratio to go for. I have the option of capturing directly to DV via an iMac or PC and then converting to either MPG1/2 or DivX, or recording directly to a Terapin Video CD recorder. I'm interesting in storing all this stuff on hard drives with the option of playing it directly to a PC monitor or TV and also later converting to VCD in order to let friends watch. My question is - should I store in DivX or MPG2 format rather than just record via the Terapin and keep everything in VCD format? Or will I save disk space and yield even more quality with DivX? Thanx!!

[hwoodwar]

With the information given, I would capture to AVI with a lossless codec (like HuffyUV), then encode to a VCD compatable MPEG-1 file. Encoding to MPEG-2 or DIVX, you will loose quality when you re-encode. I've heard mixed reports about the quality of the Terapin encodes, so I am not sure about that.

Another possibility may be to encode at a higher resolution, maybe 352 x 480/576 or 480 x 480/576 MPEG-2 and later use the "VCD Header Trick" to produce an XVCD. I'm not sure if the "VCD Header Trick" is compatable with all VCD players. You would definitely want to make tests before settling on this format.

[tonyaldr]

Thanx! I figured that since I'm going from VHS quality, it really didn't pay to use MPG2 or DivX. With about 90mins per gig, VCD format should give me adequate quality for the diskspace used.

[phelix]

What about interlace issues? Isn't what's coming off VHS interlaced? You could deinterlace and stick with MPEG1, but I've always has better results with keeping the material interlaced and using MPEG2. Of course, this is only an issue if you're final resolution is 352x480 or better.