VHS capture via digital camcorder

[samcut]

Thought I'd test the waters here. Is it a waste to copy a VHS tape using higher than 320 X 480? I am converting it to digital via my camcorder. I've read a bunch on the forums about how anything above this setting is a waste...but what if I'm converting to digital?

[thayne]

You answered your own question:

"I've read a bunch on the forums about how anything above this setting is a waste"

You can go 720X480, but it's still VHS quality. It can't get better than it already is.

[holistic]

I suggest : 352 * 480 ( 1/2 D1) that way you are at least using a standard.

][

[turk690]

Standard D8 or DV has only two resolutions: 720x480 NTSC and 720x576 PAL. Recording/capturing your VHS onto them will result in only one of these; no real choice there if that's as far as it gets. If by digital you mean you want to make a VCD, SVCD, or DVD as an end then you can choose resolutions: with VCD it's 352x240 NTSC and 352x288 PAL, etc. details best covered by other parts of this site. While with DVD you can use lower resolutions the highest standard is the same as DV, and it's best to stick with that so as not to make even more wretched the final quality of your VHS-sourced video.

[yg1968]

Turk690 essentially answered your question. With a digital camcorder, you cannot capture at any other setting than the settings for DV (720x480). As a second step, you could encode to mpeg in 352x480 (provided that your authoring software accepts this setting).