Originally Posted by stepsascend
Because we have used Mpeg-2 in the past and everyone has been happy with the quality I will probably start there. I tried DVCpro50 and it looked great but was too big. I'll let you know how it goes.
Keep to interlace MPeg2 at higher bit rates. Vyvx uses all I frames with 25Mb/s. Even VC-1 main profile for 480i uses 10Mb/s. Lower limit might be 8Mb/s 480i/29.97 for MPeg2.

In contrast, Digital Betacam bit rate is 90Mb/s. The VC-1 equivalent is said to be 45Mb/s.