VHS -> DVD when you don't really care about quality?

[kelemvor]

Howdy all,

My wife and I are taking some of her parent's old home movies that are on VHS tapes and we want to put them on a DVD for safe keeping. The aren't real high quality video, no Dolby anything sound, etc so I don't really need anything fancy that you would normally use for movies and such.

Can anyone direct me to a guide specifically about this or just give me the steps I'd want to take?

My GOAL is to get the most amount of video (with a menu) onto the DVD as possible so I don't have to have lots of DVDs.

The software I have available is Roxio 6, Neo Standard 4, and anything else I can freely download on the web.

Thanks!

[housepig]

If you've got NeoDVD Standard, I would just capture direct to dvd-mpeg with that, in the "good" quality setting.

Once you've captured the footage, author it and you're done. For stuff where quality isn't an issue, I use NeoDVD to capture, then import the mpegs into DVD Lab for authoring (although you can certainly do simple authoring with NeoDVD).

[handyguy]

You can use a dvd recorder about $375 at onecall.com very easy, no computer needed.....

whats thepoint of making them dvds? youthink in 15 years there are going to be dvd recorders?

[Vejita-sama]

The AverDVD EZMaker combo is the easist way to go. You get a capture card and teh neoDVD software for ~$50 retail (even less for mailorder). You can capture directly to MPEG2, and then just burn. Or if you want a simple menu author and burn.

15yrs from now there will still be DVD recorders. Just like we still have audio tapes, VHS tapes, and LDs (although rumor is that Pioneer is going to stop making players Fall 03). Hell even the NES and Dreamcast are popular. Yes there will always be something newer and better (Blu-ray is already out in Japan). But that's not a reason to wait when you could be archiving material today. Esp since VHS tapes are slowing degrading with time just sitting on the self.

[kelemvor]

Actually the Aver DVD EZMaker thing is what I have (I think). Got it for like $10 after rebate from CompUSA a couple months ago. I've just never gotten around to actually using it yet.

I guess I'll try NeoDVD and see what happens.

[housepig]

kelemvor -

it's not a bad little card - if you want to do more advanced capture, it works really well with iuVCR (at least in my system).

[kelemvor]

Well I did a quick test with Neo DVD Standard by recording a 1 minute segment off my VCR and this is what I got

SETTING-----Box in Neo------Actual File
Good-----------13megs---------23megs
Better ---------24megs---------39megs
Best------------47megs---------61megs

So if a DVD holds around 4.5 gigs can I just divide that by the size of the 1 minute file and figure out how much time I can get on the DVD or does that not quite work?
Or I suppose I could partition a hard drive to be the same size as a DVD and see how long it says I can record before running out of room... hmm.

[Metaluna]

One thing you can try is to resample the video to half-D1 resolution (352x480) prior to MPEG2 encoding. You can then reduce your bitrate down pretty far and you should be able to get 2-3 hours of video on a DVD with acceptable quality loss. I've tried it with a bitrate of 4000 and have a hard time telling the difference (based on low quality EP-mode VHS tapes) between it and 720x480 video encoded at 6000 (2-pass VBR mode in TMPGEnc), at which rate I can barely fit 100 minutes on a disc. Some people claim you can go below 3000 and still get good results, but I haven't tried it yet. The tools I use are a Canopus ADVC-100 for capture, AviSynth for filtering and resizing, and TMPGEnc for MPEG2 encoding. I still haven't decided on an authoring tool. I'll probably register DVD-Lab once my eval period runs out in a couple of weeks.

As for "safe keeping"...with all the cheap junk DVDR's floating around the retail channels, those VHS tapes might yet end up outlasting any DVD you create . Stick with decent quality discs, and don't throw out those tapes just yet. Nobody really knows which of the cheap discs (or expensive ones for that matter) will still be readable 5 years from now. The technology is still fairly new.

[Bob W]

The AverDVD EZMaker combo is the easist way to go. You get a capture card and teh neoDVD software for ~$50 retail (even less for mailorder). You can capture directly to MPEG2, and then just burn. Or if you want a simple menu author and burn.

15yrs from now there will still be DVD recorders. Just like we still have audio tapes, VHS tapes, and LDs (although rumor is that Pioneer is going to stop making players Fall 03). Hell even the NES and Dreamcast are popular. Yes there will always be something newer and better (Blu-ray is already out in Japan). But that's not a reason to wait when you could be archiving material today. Esp since VHS tapes are slowing degrading with time just sitting on the self.

I agree the AVer package for $39 at CompUSA is a bargain. You get a quality PCI capture card and NeoDVD standard a combination that works very well together.

[mkelley]

I agree with keeping your source tapes -- but not because DVDR is junk (I strongly suspect even the worse disk will outlive all of us around today) but because as a storage medium it's still somewhat fragile (just for fun, try running a ballpoint pen across the bottom of the disk and see how hard you have to press before the disk stops playing well... well, maybe you *shouldn't* try this experiment :>)

Unless you want to make multiple copies (three or four) and put them in various places (like home, office and safety deposit box) you can't beat having other backup options. We never get rid of source tape, and it has saved our bottoms on more than one occasion.

[housepig]

So if a DVD holds around 4.5 gigs can I just divide that by the size of the 1 minute file and figure out how much time I can get on the DVD or does that not quite work?

make sure you leave about 5% of the space for overhead files, and if you have any fancy menus, make sure you leave space for them. (a few megs should do it).

as for the longevity of the discs... personally, I'm transferring any rare stuff from VHS to dvd-r, because even when not played, and stored in a relatively benign environment (low heat, low humidity), I'm still finding tapes that are degrading badly when I pull them out of the vaults, even when they're only 7 or 8 years old.

By contrast, I have video files and cd-rs that I've burned years ago that are just fine, and I have no doubts that a well-maintained dvd-r will last for 15 - 20 years.

[Craig Tucker]

whats thepoint of making them dvds? youthink in 15 years there are going to be dvd recorders?

Well VHS video recorders are still very common, far, far more common than DVD recorders, got my first one about 19 years ago.