What Encoding Setting for Best Playback on TV

[Ensign]

A friend of my has decided that he has to output one of his productions to a VHS Tape using his Parallel Port version of the Dazzle.

How should the video be encoded format/bitrate/resolution/size so that it will look its best when recorded to a NTCS VHS VCR and playbacked on a NTCS TV

Thanks for any help.

[yodel]

A friend of my has decided that he has to output one of his productions to a VHS Tape using his Parallel Port version of the Dazzle.

How should the video be encoded format/bitrate/resolution/size so that it will look its best when recorded to a NTCS VHS VCR and playbacked on a NTCS TV

Thanks for any help.

I guess your friend should try different settings, on short try-outs,
so he can judge for himself, also it depends on his system resources,
CPU, RAM ?

[Ensign]

While "playing around" with the setting sounds good, I would think that with all the nerds on this site someone must have outputed to a VCR at sometime. And that they found what would be the "correct" setting.

I, for example, would assume that in term of size (for example) somthing close to American TV's 4:3 ratio would be perfect for viewing. However, what that would traslate into pixels is what I was looking for. Especially since a lot of pixel sizes (for example 400 X 300 or 320 x 240) can be in the 4:3 ratio, but, will that work on a TV screen?

I think there must be a "special" size for TV output for I have found that when I make NTCS VCD/MPEG-1 from still images, and the pictures are pre sized to the "normal" 352 x 240 VCD format, the images are bigger then the TV screen.

In that case I resize the stills to 320 x 240.

I just want to know if that would work with video

Does anyone have any more ideas?

[yodel]

Then, try to "master" to a iso or other image format,
so, that your burn-software doesn't change your mpeg files, or recodes
it, (i had this once with Nero) when you "drag" your finished product(s)...

or always burn the lot with the same edit/author software, and use RW
media first, and check that in a standalone dvd player.

[BrainStorm69]

NTSC has 525 lines of vertical resolution, but only 480 of them hold video information. Try 640x480. That will keep the aspect ration at 4x3, and will capture all the vertical resolution. It's more horizontal resolution than you can record on the VCR, but it guarantees you are getting your max horizontal resolution. Try capturing at an average bit rate of about 7000kbs. That should be more than enough.

[Ensign]

Thanks for the answers

I knew if I got some of you away from the Jolt Cola and Pizza that those brain cells would start working :P

[yodel]

While "playing around" with the setting sounds good, I would think that with all the nerds on this site someone must have outputed to a VCR at sometime. And that they found what would be the "correct" setting.

I, for example, would assume that in term of size (for example) somthing close to American TV's 4:3 ratio would be perfect for viewing. However, what that would traslate into pixels is what I was looking for. Especially since a lot of pixel sizes (for example 400 X 300 or 320 x 240) can be in the 4:3 ratio, but, will that work on a TV screen?

I think there must be a "special" size for TV output for I have found that when I make NTCS VCD/MPEG-1 from still images, and the pictures are pre sized to the "normal" 352 x 240 VCD format, the images are bigger then the TV screen.

In that case I resize the stills to 320 x 240.

I just want to know if that would work with video

Does anyone have any more ideas?

Well, those "nerds" as you call us, are serious in:
a) don't use any printer port devices, for capturing video,
b) a pc comes in different shapes and sizes (hardware)
c) RAM: you need lots of that ! (it shortens encoding time)
d)HD: 200 Gb and that is easy to fill in no time, i know...
e)better use a Firewire device, USB is already heavy used, and hijacks
pc resources you use when you hotplug, Firewire is most of the time
un-used, when available, otherwise it's cheap to add, (use no T.I. one)
f) there are some good "guides" already written, which explain a lot in detail, complete with links to software, or additional info.

[Ensign]

I am only using the term "nerd" as a sign of respect

I can only hope that someday I can work my way up to deserve that title

[yodel]

I am only using the term "nerd" as a sign of respect

I can only hope that someday I can work my way up to deserve that title

It was the context you used it in, kind of impatient....

[duhmez]

What are you talking about "outputting by paralel port"

[cdcox]

I don't understand why you care about encoding. If I am going to make a vhs tape out of a finished edited project of mine, I just export my timeline to "tape". This sends my edited movie back to my camcorder via firewire, I can then hook up my camcorder to a VCR line in and dub the tape. If you need a DVD and VHS copy, I then make my DVD encode to mpg2 at the hightest possible bitrate and then dub the DVD to VHS.

[yodel]

I don't understand why you care about encoding. If I am going to make a vhs tape out of a finished edited project of mine, I just export my timeline to "tape". This sends my edited movie back to my camcorder via firewire, I can then hook up my camcorder to a VCR line in and dub the tape. If you need a DVD and VHS copy, I then make my DVD encode to mpg2 at the hightest possible bitrate and then dub the DVD to VHS.

That's the problem, the original poster has a printer port version dazzle box, indeed, with a firewire "box" it's easy, but i guess he wants to save
hard disk space, and putt-through (transport speed) because of his "situation" (configuration) ... next time: buy a better box ! sorry for that, if that sounded "nerdish"

[cdcox]

So is he using this one?

http://www.siumed.edu/lib/loantech/dazzlevideoadapterrequire.html

Or this one that will ship it back out to the tape?

http://www.yourcomputersource.com/jandr_detail.php?ProdID=DAZ%20DM4000

I guess that is My confusion, If using the second one here in my post, why would you care about bitrate when it will ship it back to the camera or vhs connected to it. Use the highest settings you can if this only captures to mpeg.

[yodel]

So is he using this one?

http://www.siumed.edu/lib/loantech/dazzlevideoadapterrequire.html

Or this one that will ship it back out to the tape?

http://www.yourcomputersource.com/jandr_detail.php?ProdID=DAZ%20DM4000

I guess that is My confusion, If using the second one here in my post, why would you care about bitrate when it will ship it back to the camera or vhs connected to it. Use the highest settings you can if this only captures to mpeg.

Thanks for the links, now i understand that his box, only supports MPEG1,
so i hope there isn't any quality loss, during the procedures he must
go through, i guess he should leave everything as "raw" as possible,
to have a minimum quality loss, so storing on HD is all he needs, maybe
not converting to MPEG1, because he doesn't want to make a VCD,
of the material, but sends it to a analog output, (vcr)

[Ensign]

Since I am the one who started this post, I have the set the record straight!

I am not the one with using the "old school" Parallel Port version of Dazzle

My friend is.

I use a AGP ATI All-in-wonder card 8)

Which, by the way, works great in outputing to TV/vcr

When it is set up right

[yodel]

Since I am the one who started this post, I have the set the record straight!

I am not the one with using the "old school" Parallel Port version of Dazzle

My friend is.

I use a AGP ATI All-in-wonder card 8)

Which, by the way, works great in outputing to TV/vcr

When it is set up right

Yeah, that's a bit strange, that's why we say all the time "he",
"he" hasn't Internet i guess......