Improve VHS transfer ADS instant DVD

[DUDIRENO]

I just used my ADS instant DVD for the first time. I captured 1 hour of video (just to test it out) to mpeg1 and then burned it to DVD using pixedv and capty. It is my understanding there would be no reason to capture to mpeg2 because VHS quality is not better than mpeg1. Keep in mind the only knowledge I have is only from reading this forum for the past couple of weeks. All I used was the normal setting choices when capturing the video. I don't know the exact stats on the normal settings because I am not home at the moment. The picture was not good enough for me. It was too grainy. I want to try and improve. I should be able to improve since the vhs looks better than what I got. So should I stay with mpeg1 and increase my bitrate? If I use mpeg2 will my capture improve?

I have seen different opinions here saying that capty doesn't change my mpeg1 to mpeg2. Can anyone confirm that? The manual says it converts to mpeg2 but someone here said otherwise.

I want to put more than 1 to 2hrs on a DVD. Would it help at all to capture the best quality possible and then use dvd2one?

[mhar4]

I usually capture in MPEG2, because the results can look better than MPEG1. Although VHS resolution is very low, I think you don't want to be adding to the fuzziness with the capture stage. Having said that, MPEG1 can be easier to handle: lower bitrates and greater compaitibility, so it has its uses.

[DUDIRENO]

So how much video do you get on a DVD using the mgep2? Are you using ADS? Are you burning with Capty?

[AntnyMD]

I use an ADS box and I am very pleased with it.

I consider myself an experienced user, and I highly recommend you DO NOT capture to MPEG1 for the purpose of burning to DVD. This box makes terrible MPEG1 captures, no matter how I've tweaked the settings. Unless you just want a one-off capture that you will only use on your computer, don't bother with MPEG1 on this device.

For long-playing DVDs, I capture to MPEG2 using the NTSC resolution of 352x480, with audio bitrate of 192 and video bitrate of 2.5Mbps, CBR. This gives me 4-hours playing time on a DVD-R. I tweak the settings in the other tabs to smooth out picture quality, and I'm always pleased with the results.

[mhar4]

For long-playing DVDs, I capture to MPEG2 using the NTSC resolution of 352x480, with audio bitrate of 192 and video bitrate of 2.5Mbps, CBR. This gives me 4-hours playing time on a DVD-R. I tweak the settings in the other tabs to smooth out picture quality, and I'm always pleased with the results.

I must try these settings. Although this might be a little scandalous, I often capture fullsize PAL (720x576) at 3.5Mbps. I've had only a couple of instances where you could see it running out of bits, but overall the quality is great.

[AntnyMD]

Here are the settings I use to put 4 hours of material on one DVD-R:
Capture tab
Video input: composite (I use S-Video with DVD sources)
Capturing format: MPEG2, Custom
Customize: Frame size 352x480, Image bit rate 2.5 CBR, Sample size 192Kbps, Sample rate 48

Settings tab
Destination: my Movies folder, Monitor capture mode: ticked off, Captured files header: varies

Adjustments tab
Color adjustments: Brightness 2, Contrast .94, Hue 0, Saturation 100
Supports: Peaking frequency LOW, Peaking 0, Coring 0
DNR: ON (go into Custom >)
Median type: Horizontal
Coring: Luma high 0, Chroma high 0, Luma low 255, Chroma low 255
Spatial: Luma type 2D H/V SEPARABLE, Chroma type 1D HORIZONTAL, Level 0, tick ON Dynamic
Temporal: Level 0, tick ON Dynamic

[Frobozz]

Thanks for sharing those settings, AntnyMD. Do you do any special tweaking of the settings when you want the highest quality image.

I notice that I can't use the 6 mbps 720x480 384 mhz setting with either VBR or CBR without running into audio sync problems. This is using the internal hard drive on my G4 iBook. Changing the setting to 5.5 mbs and VBR works fine. Oddly, I have more success with VBR than with CBR. I haven't adjusted the VBR slider and am not certain what it does or why I'd want to do it.

Just curious what settings you use for highest quality PixeDV recording.

[AntnyMD]

For higher quality captures I use max bitrate of 5.5 (I think I did that based on your experience with 6 Mbps sync issues), resolution of 720x480, and all other settings the same. That gives about an hour on a DVD-R. Also I prefer the S-Video connection when I'm capping at high bitrates. I use constant bitrate for everything because I have this (irrational?) fear that the box will burn itself out faster somehow with VBR calculations and analysis...

The VBR slider is a way to tell the box the min and the max bitrate. If you have it set at 0, thats essentially constant bitrate. A setting of 100 will give you a minimum bitrate of your intial setting, and your maximum bitrate is double that. For example if I use VBR with a setting of 2.5 and the slider is on 100, my capture will have a variable bitrate between 2.5Mbps and 5Mbps.