Can someone recommend a good Video codec and decent settings ?

[MidnightMike]

I have a small problem about 3 weeks ago I had my TV tuner card settings switch to FDDshow and had the settings at MJPEG at 7000kbs and if I recorded a movie from my VCR for about 1-3 hours the output of the file would be somewhere around 2.24gigs to 3.75gigs which is pretty good for me, however my PC crashed and I had to reformat it. I had upgraded the k-lite codec pack from 2.72 to 2.74 and I still used my orginal settings that I always used but it seems like the file size have gotten way more bigger with MJPEG which is from 3-8 gigs just for 2hours and 29minutes worth of video..... can anybody recommend a very good codec for recording from VHS tape to computer to DVD ? please don't recommend divx its good and all but I had at least 5 video encoders reject the format already either it can't understand it, read it, or can't convert it to VOB or any other format. also what is a good DVD burner software I can use that won't crash or burn ? Nero 7.0 and up is a joke and roxio 7 or 8 either locks up when loading itself or the video.

[teegee420]

What program are you using to capture? You should be able to change compression settings within the program. I could understand your dislike for larger file sizes, particularly if you only have a 40gb drive.

[MidnightMike]

I have a Happuage wintv go tuner card and I use wintv2000 to capture digital, analog,VCR or Video game capture. I also meant to change my profile a ilttle bit I now have a new seagate baracuda 80gig HD I installed about 2 weeks ago.

Here is the site where I got my TV tuner card from and the software.
http://www.happauge.com/

[XL3/\/7]

I had upgraded the k-lite codec pack from 2.72 to 2.74

I wouldn't use a codec pack if I was you. Just use avicodec or gspot on any media file that won't play on your PC.

I had at least 5 video encoders reject the format already

That's strange... Have you done everything correctly? If you can play a video on your PC, then you can most probably convert it to MPEG2 if your encoder supports the conversion.

can't convert it to VOB or any other format

Vob is not a format. It's a file on a DVD that contains video, audio and/or subtitle streams. You cannot convert avi to vob, but you can convert avi to mpeg2 and from there author your video on a DVD with a good authoring program.

Nero 7.0 and up is a joke

Why? I have been using it since it has come out and I find it flawless. Many people may tell you otherwise but still, Nero is a great burning software.

I hate to tell you this, but I think you may have to spend some more time reading the capture guides, to find one that will suit your needs. IIRC, there was a capture software around that could capture directly to MPEG2.[/quote]

[MidnightMike]

I had upgraded the k-lite codec pack from 2.72 to 2.74

I wouldn't use a codec pack if I was you. Just use avicodec or gspot on any media file that won't play on your PC.

the reason why I use codec pack because sometimes it can take me a while to track down every single codec I might need to use and some software venders wan't you to pay for a codec that should be free to users. plus I find it simple to setup a codec just the way I want it instead of having to set them up over and over again when I want to

I had at least 5 video encoders reject the format already

That's strange... Have you done everything correctly? If you can play a video on your PC, then you can most probably convert it to MPEG2 if your encoder supports the conversion.

1. I can play the divx files just fine my problem is when the encoders can't get it to transcode even though some program authors say it can, but they don't which Divx format it can support divx 2-6 or a ramdom version they chosse to use. I mainly use divx 6.0

can't convert it to VOB or any other format

Vob is not a format. It's a file on a DVD that contains video, audio and/or subtitle streams. You cannot convert avi to vob, but you can convert avi to mpeg2 and from there author your video on a DVD with a good authoring program.

Nero 7.0 and up is a joke

Why? I have been using it since it has come out and I find it flawless. Many people may tell you otherwise but still, Nero is a great burning software.

What in the world are you talking about man ? (Nero 7.0) maybe good for for data music, iso disc images, VCD and SVCD but when it comes down to burning DVD's nero 7 can become your worst nightmare come true and when I say this I'm not joking around plus it seem's like nero try's to fix nero 7 they screw it even more to where it has me wanting to get a shotgun and shooting my computer from time to time

I hate to tell you this, but I think you may have to spend some more time reading the capture guides, to find one that will suit your needs. IIRC, there was a capture software around that could capture directly to MPEG2.

[/quote]

I know how to capure video formats to my computer and having it play just fine but its just the file come outs to big which means I have to delete it and record it again which mainly means I don't have endless amount of time to do this. half of the time I'm busy with life.

[XL3/\/7]

If it's too big, you can reencode it to a smaller size. No need to capture again.

I know what you mean. 9.9/10ths of the time I'm busy with life too. That's why I don't hung around these forums so much anymore

[MidnightMike]

Thanks for your help. I'll try to reencode to something a little bit smaller. I'll try to post back later on and let you know what happens.

[XL3/\/7]

Ok thanks

[MidnightMike]

Ok I'm back I decided to try to record my video again to my pc it took sometime to get the option right with mjpeg with ffdshow and I got much better results. it seem's like if I recorded video to my PC for more then 2 hours or so I would come out with bigger files which leads to problems and aggrevation. I have attached a snaphot of my files so you can what info is there duration and size. I'm going to try give Nero 7 one last try just to burn a decent DVD my question is, what is the most stable version I should use besides Nero 7.0 premium ? Is there a good video bitrate calculator out there ? it was kind of hard doing the math on a normal calculator and try figure out 152mb every five minutes with video play worthh up to 2 hours the tape I had was 4:02 long. I was just trying to figure out the estimate of a s hour long video.

[teegee420]

https://www.videohelp.com/calc