Using a camcorder to get VHS & Tivo to DVD

[Michelle]

I plan on using a DV camcorder to transfer VHS tapes and Tivo recordings to DVD. The DV captures will be 720x480. From what I've read this resolution is a lot higher than VHS and Tivo. Do I need to resize it to match the source? If so, what size should I use?

Do I need to be concerned about preserving the original aspect ratio?

Finally, I've been reading about inverse telecine and it makes my head hurt? Is it important to do this before encoding?

[Tommyknocker]

Go ahead and capture a sample of your VHS video and recordings. Then you can see exactly what needs to be done. Also, I found that when my final product will seen on a TV, inverse telecining is not needed.

[Michelle]

What will I see that would tell me it needs to be resized?

[Tommyknocker]

If the image has a large border around it, or if the image has the top and/or sides cut off by the edge of your TV screen when your video is played back.

[Michelle]

It doesn't do that when I play back directly from the camcorder, so I don't imagine that would be any different after creating a DVD.
I don't have the DVD writer yet.

Does capturing at a higher resolution than the source cause any problems with the quality of the video?

Thanks.

[Tommyknocker]

Not really. As a matter of fact, the prevailing opinion is that the higher the resolution you can capture at without dropping too many frames, the better. You will lose less quality after you convert.

[jtoolman2000]

I just record directly with my standalone DVD recorder. Whether from Tivo, VCR, Camcorder / analog or Digital, S-Video, Cable, etc. Works perfectly with either DVD-+R and or DVD-+RW I have both the Panasonic and Phillips

[G-man]

The 720x480 resolution will look just fine when played back on TV. When you create your MPEG2, you can encode to 352x480; this will allow you too reduce the bit rate and get over 3 hours onto a DVD. I do this all the time (from a DirecTivo) and the results are outstanding.