Newbie VHS -> DVD questions

[Guitar55]

My system:
Osprey 100 capture card
Athlon XP 2800 w/ 512MB RAM
160GB HD
NEC DVDRW+-
TMPGEnc 2.521.58.169
VirtualDub 1.5.10
Huffyuv 220 (is this an AVI codec?)
BBMPEG

Initially, I’m trying to capture from VHS and burn to DVD

My VCR has an S-Video output and the Osprey has an S-Video input. Should I use these?

I assume that the only video format that is writable to DVD is MPEG2, correct?

Should I capture directly to MPEG2 and not to AVI and then convert to MPEG2? I assume this will give me better quality, correct?

Do I have to purchase an MPEG2 CODEC?

What is the best/easiest (least expensive/free) software to use to capture, edit and burn DVDs from VHS source material?

I know this is a lot, but any help is appreciated.

[redwudz]

I'll tackle a few of them. Huffy is a AVI codec, one of quite a few. Very good quality, CPU and HD intensive. SVHS is better quality than composite. Use the best quality input that you can. You may be able to write to DVD with MPG1, but you would'nt want to. Capturing to AVI such as Huffy, is best. Then encode with TMPGEnc. Direct MPG encoding will work, but with lower quality. I don't believe you need to purchase an MPG codec, at least as far as I know. As far as the best/cheapest software to capture: No comment - other people can tell you what they like. Good questions. Keep on asking. I'm sure other people here will give you more information.

[vhelp]

* What are on these VHS tapes ??
* Recorded tv shows, movies, home-movies from camcorders etc etc ??

It's ben my experience, that w/ VHS, you have to sort of know whta will work
by feel - really. That's with experience, of which takes time to develope.

anyways..

MPEG vs. AVI ...

Either way can yield good results (but not the exact, for obvious reasons)
MPEG-2 (hardware) is fast and dirty. I mean, no muking around w/ complex
filtering or encoding steps etc etc., though there are some to learn.

AVI is better because you have the option to apply editing and filtering.

VCR can give you good results, but if you can find one w/ S-Video out, that
is the best connection to capture from.

Age of tapes, and codition is another factor to realise, when thinking about
quality. The older the tapes and/or number of uses, the lesser might your
end result be. There is a chance that your tapes have ben watched too many
times, hehe..

If you don't really want to take the time to learn the AVI way of things, and
want the process a little more simplier, it might be better to go w/ either a
real-time mpeg card (ie, ATI line of cards offer software real-time capturing)
or, go the hardware route.

Just don't forget, that your next step is the authoring process. Are you aiming
for CDRs, or DVDs. If DVD's, there is also a learning curve on this process
too. I know, cause it's the next step that I just started embarking on, and
I can tell you, it's not ben easy for me. But, don't let that stop you :P

The above two options (mpeg vs. avi) can be a bit timidating to learn at
first, but can be rewarding once you learn the ropes

Much more to go into, but so little time here. Other can chime in w/ their
related experience :P

Good luck,
-vhelp

[fmctm1sw]

My system:
Osprey 100 capture card
Athlon XP 2800 w/ 512MB RAM
160GB HD
NEC DVDRW+-
TMPGEnc 2.521.58.169
VirtualDub 1.5.10
Huffyuv 220 (is this an AVI codec?)
BBMPEG

Initially, I’m trying to capture from VHS and burn to DVD

My VCR has an S-Video output and the Osprey has an S-Video input. Should I use these?

I assume that the only video format that is writable to DVD is MPEG2, correct?

Should I capture directly to MPEG2 and not to AVI and then convert to MPEG2? I assume this will give me better quality, correct?

Do I have to purchase an MPEG2 CODEC?

What is the best/easiest (least expensive/free) software to use to capture, edit and burn DVDs from VHS source material?

I know this is a lot, but any help is appreciated.

I'll try to be more direct.

1. Yes, use the S-video vice the RCA jacks.
2. No, you can write a standard VCD (352x240 mpeg-1) to DVD after you resample the audio.
3. I think most folks here would say capture as uncompressed as you can and convert with software for best quality.
4. Maybe. If you are wanting to play back the movies on you TV, then I guess no. But, if you want to view them on your computer (I consider this a must due to audio sync issues, etc), then yes.
5. Virtualdub

All of this of course IMHO.