VHS (Football game) to DVD...HELP!

[joecav]

Hiya all,

I have been lurking in the background for some time and this is a very informative message board.

I just tried my 1st VHS to DVD conversion using the info gathered here and the DVD works! So thanks for that. The bad news is the quality is horrific, lol. The game, after editing out commercials and halftime is about 2 hrs, or 7.5 GB...btw.

I read all the tutorials here and almost all of them tell you to use VirtualDub...which is where my problem lies. I have a Leadtek Winfast 2000 Deluxe cap card and VD won't let me set the screen resolution past something ridiculous like 320x280 (not exact, but you get the idea). If I try to set it higher it says "Not supported". I downloaded the "fix" drivers and followed close directions to the installation process...I ended up having to reinstall my cap card as I wouldn't be allowed to boot to windows.

Anyway, here are the steps I took to get the video burned to DVD...

Captured the game in DVD-MPEG2 with the default settings for DVD's with WinTV PVR.
Authored it using TMPGENC DVD program (very EZ to use)
I had to use DVD Shrink to get it to fit onto one DVD
I burned it with Nero
And thats it.

So, after all that, my question to you is...what can I do to re-capture this video properly without the use of VirtualDub. Using the WinFast PVR program that comes with it works fine enough and I can capture it in DVD-MPEG2, but VD will not let me open the captured file. (again frustrating). It says something is out of sync. I also have Adobe Premier at my disposal...but have no idea how to use it or know if I should use for something like this.

Should I be using Huffyyuv as my codec (does it matter when your video is lengthy and fast paced?) or just capture it directly to DVD-MPEG2?....

Sorry in advance for the meandering post, but I am frustrated after days and days of research and reading without getting the results I hoped for....yes I know the end result will only be as good as the source, but this video means alot to me...It's the AFC Championship Game for crying out loud! hehe.

Thanks for any help you can lend me for this project of mine.

My H/W is as follows for anyone interested....

Intel D875PBZ
P4c 2.6Ghz (800 Mhz fsb)
160GB Maxtor ATA133 HD 8MB Cache (This is a 2nd drive for video only)
1 GB PC3200 DDR Corsair
Leadtek Winfast 2000 XP Deluxe Capture Card
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
Audigy 2

[marsmayhem]

Hi joecav:

1) I see you have a RADEON. You can use the MMC application that comes with the ATI card to capture to AVI using the Huffy codec. Virtualdub only supports VFW drivers, not the newer (faster) WDM driver. I use my RADEON VIVO 64 and I can capture at 720x480, or more if I chose to (by playing around with registry settings).

2) You capture to MPEG2, then you run it through DVDSHRINK, which sounds like it's compressing the data *again*. If you capture with Huffy then encode to MPEG2 (using TMPGENC), you'll get much better data/quality. Also, if you cap at a higher resolution, your quality will be much better (at the low resolution you've mentioned, you're throwing a lot of interlaced detail away).

3) Use a bitrate calculator for your MPEG2 DVD encoding - that way you can know which bitrates to use (if you're going with VBR).

4) Multipass VBR encoding will (should) give you more space on your disc.

5) If you're resizing this lower resolution capture to a higher DVD resolution, your quality is going to be bad - resizing up looks worse than resizing down.

6) You can still author with TMPGENC DVD, and burn with Nero. Those steps remain the same.

Hope it helps...

[housepig]

depending on how much time you want to spend on it...

try capturing with VirtualVCR or iuVCR - I have the same problem with Virtualdub for capture, it doesn't like my card for any large capture sizes.
Both are pretty user friendly and customizable, I like iuVCR as it seems to give me better audio sync.

capture as an .avi with the Huffyuv codec.

Convert to a dvd-compliant mpeg, with Mpeg Layer II audio.

You should be able to find a bitrate during the encode that will allow you to get 120 minutes on a dvdr without the quality sucking too bad.

I just wonder about your previous encode - 7.5 Gb for 2 hours makes me wonder a) what the bitrate was for the encode, and b) if you used PCM audio (bloated) vs mpeg audio (thin).

[SLK001]

I have been lurking in the background for some time and this is a very informative message board.

Oh, so that was you... Been wonderin' when you'd show your face around here!

What formats does your card capture in? You want to do after-capture editing, and I don't know what kind of personal skills you have to accomplish this easily (it's not too hard, but it can be confusing).

I know that you are having problems with your capturing, because 7.5GB for two hours of video should have been supurb!

I never use VirtualDub myself for capturing, but instead use the program that came with my capture card. You should probably do this too.

[Gazorgan]

A lot of people have trouble capturing in VDUB, it's not you. Just capture in another program using huffyuv, and proceed from there.

[Tommyknocker]

And do not be afraid of Adobe Premiere, since you alraedy own it. That monster is considered one of the most powerful programs in its class. There are also a lot of tutorials that Adobe has for free that can help as well. But, if you do not want it, give it to me....

[joecav]

Hey Mars, thanks for the reply. I only have the "regular" 9700 Pro...not an AIW so the only capturing I will be able to do will be with my Leadtek card.

[joecav]

BTW, I just got my hands on some tutorials for Adobe Premiere...

Is Vegas a better alternative for a beginner like me? I have no real idea about what it can and cannot do.

Anywho, thanks to everyone for spending time and helping me out on this.

[housepig]

download a trial version of Vegas and try it out.

I personally like it better than Premiere, the only thing I would improve would be for it to import plugins from Premiere and After Effects.

other people will swear by Premiere - but only you know what you are comfortable with.