VHS to DVD low bit rate but Good Quality?

[artie005]

Hello I have a question, I am trying to transfer some footage to VHS to DVD via video capture unit. Here is my question. I have seen about 1 hour and 45 minutes of footage on DVD that only took up about 1,200 mb and the quality was pretty good. What program can I use to do the same? The software that my video capture unit came with record the minimum bit rate of 4.0 kbps and 1 hour and 45 minutes will practically take up the whole DVD. Is there a program that I can use that will allow me to record at a lower bit rate and still get decent quality?

[FulciLives]

What capture card/device are you using and what software are you using?

Need to know that first before I or anyone else can give proper advice.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
Let me say this much though. For a VHS source you can use what is called Half D1 resolution (352x480 NTSC or 352x576 PAL) along with a video bitrate of approximately 3000kbps ... this will allow an audio bitrate of about 256kbps (more than good enough for 2 channel stereo audio if using AC-3 format). This will fit about 3 hours onto a single DVD recordable.

[artie005]

Hi John! Thanks for your reply I am using an adaptec VideOh! capture device. And the software that it came with is a basic program call Sonic MyDvd. But I also have Cyberlink power director 5 installed too. Im fiddling around with power director and I cant seem to find the settings to do that when I record, Its recording about 40 mb a minute.

[FulciLives]

I don't know much (really nothing) about your particular capture device but in my last post I gave a guide as to the things you would need to do in general.

Would be best if you could capture to an AVI format first using HuffyUV or PICVideo MJPEG but I don't knwo if your capture card is capable of that or not.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[jagabo]

I think you'll have to switch to 1/4 D1 (352x240 NTSC, 352x288 PAL) if you want to squeeze nearly two hours of video into 1.2 GB. Unless your video is really dark and has no motion.