VHS to ???

[peejay]

I have a number (15) of VHS home movies that I want to archive as they are approaching 16 years old and I am concerned that they may not last too much longer.
My options are to capture to VCD now or wait until I can afford a DVD drive to record to DVD (probably 2 years away, they are about $NZ900 at the moment.)
My question is this, I realise that the resolution of a VCD is lower than a DVD but given that the input is from second generation VHS tape (ie camera dubbed to 3 hr tape,) is there going to be any better quality on the final disk or is it governed by the source in this case?
Thanks

[daznic]

hi,
definately wait till you can burn to DVDR
Many other members of this forum will agree - VCD will look horrible no matter how you do it. (believe me - i`ve tried almost every way possible & ended up getting a dvd burner instead !)

When burning to DVD you can restore almost all of the original quality even if your source is not to great (obviously you cannot improve the source )- you can use a higher bitrate & have menus & fit longer on a disc.
Your movies will look much smoother & sharper than VCD
VCD will take your source & amplify any weakness in it - resulting in horrible blockiness & jerky movements.
You will have less future compatability problems with DVDR & your disc will probably last longer.

Honestly - don`t even waste your time trying VCD !

[Syndrome]

why not just burn to a SVCD? almost same quality as a DVD, with 1 hour per cd.

thats what i do anyways

assuming you have a DVD player that supports SVCD's

Syndrome

[Rond66]

Syndrome has the right idea.
I am in the same boat as you and waiting until I can afford a DVD.

So for now I am capturing, editing and storing all my home made VHS
on CDr (45 cds = $10). When I get DVD writer they will all ready copy and burn.

For now you should capture and encode at:
MPEG2 480x480, 640x480 or 720x480.
See which your system can handle without frame loss.

[twodogs]

Agree with the idea of SVCD, but you should also consider CVD. Quality is (arguably) same as SVCD (as it is still MPEG2) but might allow easier transfer to DVD later, if you still want to go down that path.

Don't forget you're in PAL land, so Rond66's resolutions should read XXXx576

Time to take a trip to Oz. DVD burners start around A$500 (~NZD535). Maybe even try mail order.

[daznic]

I also did try SVCD & other formats such as KVCD, but to really keep the quality as close to the original as possible with smooth motions you need high bitrates, this means very little time stored on each disc for a CDR. OK if your movies are only 15min long, but even then compare it to 7000 kbps burned on DVDR & its nothing like as good.
It will take you a long long time to encode & record all your movies, & then re-complile them when you eventually get a DVD burner - why do the job twice ? - I know DVD burners are expensive but time is precious too !
I also found that by recording with V.Dub, with PCM 48khz audio, then keeping audio uncompressed onto DVDR as AC3 format resulted in no loss of lip sync. - another benefit
anyway - just my thought - i learnt the long & stressfull way !!

[SatStorm]

The way I see it, you have 2 solutions. One temporary and one more permantly (for about 20 years at least!)
The temporary solution is go -x- on CDs. You have 2 alternatives:
1. You grabb as always and encode to mpeg 2 interlaced @ 352 X 288 resolution with an average bitrate about 1500. No filtering is needed and the picture is visually almost indentical the VHS tape.
2. You grabb as always (352 X 576) and you encode to xCVD with an average of 3300. Or: You grabb as always and you filter heavily the source and then you encode to xCVD with an average bitrate about 2600kb/s. Both roots gonna give you a picture for real indentical the VHS tape. The filtering for the capture file gonna be like the filtering a VCR does to the tape.

The other solution, which is better, is burn to DVD-R from the start. You grabb and encode to 352 X 576 and you rise the bitrate about 4000kb/s and you have a perfect transfer (both for VHS and SVHS)! Or: you grabb as usual, filter a bit and set the average bitrate lower, let say 3300kb/s or less.

Just for the record, going -x- means less compatibility.