3 Q's about analog Hi8 tape to VCD or SVCD

[Pompebled]

First Q:
Do Hi8 analog tapes have high enough quality to be burned as SuperVCD or should I digitize them on VCD?

I'm capturing with Marvel G400 TV using the Matrox MJPEG codec. I'm a PALviewer.

Second Q:
Which resolution should I chose: the highest possible (720x576) or will something lower do.

Third Q:
The resolution for SVCD seems strange. 480x576 gives a picture that is kinda squeezed in on left and right and streched out to the upper and lower. Is that normal. I thought the ratio had to be 4:3 while 480x576 is 5:6.

I hope someone can solve these for me.
JW

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Pompebled on 2001-09-05 07:31:14 ]</font>

[BeTa]

RE 1:
Yes, Hi8 is supposed to be higher resolution than VCD.

RE 2:
Check the specification of your camera regarding the real resolution of the video. I think it is useless to capture at much higher. Mine can do 480 horisontal lines, therefore I capture at 640x480. 480x480 should do fine, though I want to have the 4:3 aspect ratio for editing.

RE 3:
There are picture (source) resolution and display resolution. SVCD source resolution is 480x480 NTSC and 480x576 PAL, however, when encoding you set the display resolution to 4:3 if you plan to view it on regular TV or PC monitor.

Hope this helps.
BeTa

[Greg12]

1. the order is; 8, high8, digitial 8

2. if your gonna capture for vcd, try to capture as close to vcd as you can. your capturing dvd resolution.

3. i think it's squished because your used to seeing 640 vertical lines.