VCD to DVD Conversion

[raceman3]

I read and tried the VCD to DVD conversion tutorial listed on this site and had no problems with de-encoding and re-encoding via TmpGenc thanks to some helpfull people answering some questions I had. My problem is that unlike the tutorial, I'm trying to create the DVD with Ulead Video Studio instead of Movie Studio and it wants to burn it as a VCD, I'm guessing because of the 1150 video rate. In any case I have two questions; 1. Is there a way to take the MPEG files and burn them to DVD via Video Studio (yes I tried the export function and it wanted to create a VCD), 2: Since i have the original VHS tapes will I see any improvement in video quality if I record them back onto my digital camcorder and them dump them to my pc via firewire and record them to my dvd recorder via Ulead (I know I can't improve what's coming off the VHS tape but the clarity seems better then my VCD recordings). My goal
is to get all my vcd's onto dvd media for better compatibility with dvd players

[Tommyknocker]

Yes, you can use Video Studio 6 (VS6) to do it. Once you have the video in VS6, save it as a DVD file. Then export it as a DVD to the Wizard.

[DJRumpy]

I'm not sure which guide you followed, but you should only resample the audio. The video portion should be left 'as is', with no re-encode. VCD resolutions and MPEG-1 are both valid for DVD. Just demultiplex your audio with TMPGEnc (FILE | MPEG TOOLS). Use SSRC to resample your audio from 44.1Khz to 48Khz. Re-encode audio to MP2, or AC3. Any DVD authoring software should then accept the M1V, and MP2/AC3 file for encoding.

To answer your other question, you cannot improve on the quality if you use your VCD as your source. You can improve the quality if you re-capture your VHS tapes at a higher resolution and bitrate (I would suggest half D1, or full D1, rather than 352x240).

[raceman3]

DJRumpy:

Thanks for the reply, I did just re-encode the audio per the online tutorial. As far as the quality is concerned, I opted to do just as you suggested. Instead of demuxing the VCD's, I'm taking the original VHS tapes, recording them back onto my digital camcorder and then downloaded them via firewire to my PC.

[DJRumpy]

Make sure you run them through a temporal smoother, or a 2-D cleaner first. They will have a lot of analog noise, which will eat up bitrate. It also makes them look much better when they've been cleaned up a bit.

AVISynth, and VirtualDub both have good filters for this sort of thing.

[raceman3]

DJRumpy:

Is the temporal smoother part of TmpGenc ?

[DJRumpy]

TMPGenc comes with a soften filter, but I don't know the mechanics of how it works. Use VirtualDub, or AVISynth to pre-treat your input AVI with the filtering, before encoding in TMPGenc. Let me know if you need specifics, as I don't know how familiar you are with one or the other of those.

[raceman3]

So basically use Ulead or whatever to author and save as AVI. Then run the avi file through one of the products you mentioned. Finally generate mpeg with tmpgenc

[DJRumpy]

Yes, or you can author with the products I mentioned. I don't know specifically what you do with your AVI before exporting.

I would suggest AVISynth, as it's faster, and more powerful than VirtualDub. It does have a higher learning curve (it's completely scripted), as opposed to the Graphical GUI interface of VirtualDub. VirtualDub is a good tool for beginners. Both perform the same basic functions, like splicing, editing, resizing, etc.