How to get better capturing quality then VHS!!!

[aznguy]

I got a Dazzle DVC I, and after capturing the quality looks worst then the VHS... is it the same with all capturing cards???

its a bit fizzy... I capture on the highest setting then use VirtualDub to make it a VCD.

Any recommendations??? if capture card...brand and price please

[alkieman]

I have a WinTV PVR card running under Windows XP and the quality of VCD files is pretty good. Sharp and clear but with some blockiness on fast movement, no fuzziness though.

Better results are obtained capturing to AVI then encoding to MPEG using TMPGEnc.

VCD quality is roughly in line with VHS anyway in terms of resolution but can be worse overall when you add the blockiness. This is unavoidable with VCD anyway but different MPEG encoders produce different results and for cheapness, you can't go wrong with TMPGEnc.

On the plus side the WinTV PVR card does produce superb quality MPEG2 files, just seems MPEG1 is not it's strength.

[DVWannaB]

VCD quality is roughly in line with VHS anyway in terms of resolution but can be worse overall when you add the blockiness. This is unavoidable with VCD anyway but different MPEG encoders produce different results and for cheapness, you can't go wrong with TMPGEnc.

Alkieman,

Your statement is not totally accurate. Blockiness IS avoidable when making a VCD. In my experience, it does take some experimenting to find a solution you are happy with.

Personally, I have found the best quality VCD use a 352x480 resolution (non-compliant), but burnable in Nero (for example). I capture AVI then use TMPEG with templates found at this website (tools section). I use Kwag's template and the quality is GREAT!!! Best of all it is easy and I dont have to crack my brain trying to find proper settings.

Besides, 352x480 VCD beats 352x240 (all things being equal) just about all the time, because of the higher resolution and more pixels makes the picture clearer (SVHS quality and better).

[ratt794]

Two important points to make here:

1) If you leave the bitrate alone and change from 352x240 to 352x480 the result video will be FAR WORSE because you are trying to encode 2 times the information and thus require DOUBLE the compression in order to fit in the bitrate. Not a good idea.

2) S-VHS quality is more like SVCD or 480x480 resloution (3.3 MHz Video Bandwidth) and NOT 352 x 480 which about equals VHS Quality. 352 x 240 video (VCD) is also about equal to vHS considering most MPEG decoders interpolate to 480 lines when 240 are present.

As for Blocky VCD - there is a solution especially if doing non-standard VCD and that is to increase the bitrate over 1500 and use "highest quality" motion precision in TMPGenc. Soften Block noise option also helps.

As for getting better capture quality than VHS - this is hardware dependant and usually requires a S-Video input on your capture device.
My ATI AIW 128 Pro card does an excellent job at capture from the built in TV Tuner as well as the S-Video Input. 720 x 480 resolution captures look great as does 480 x 480.

[DVWannaB]

Yes. I did forget to point out that you have to up the bitrate. I use anywhere from 2200-2400.

I was actually exaggerating a bit, when I said SVHS quality. But I disagree with you about the picture of a 352x480 VCD @ 2400 bitrate. It is far better than the best captured VHS setting (SP mode). In my experience using this resolution, it is much better than VHS (SP mode) and very close to SVHS. But this must be qualified......as always.......that it also depends on your source video and broadcast quality (Cable station).

[ratt794]

Actually you don't dissagree - I said "about" VHS quality in reality it is slightly higher Bandwidth or about 10% sharper under Ideal conditions.

A comercially produced VHS tape however has a slightly sharper picture than 352 x 240 or 352 x 480 can produce - there you need 480 x 480 to capture all the detail. It all has to do with the 70% sampling bandwidth rule which yeilds about 2.5 Mhz Video Bandwidth. VHS typically has 2.2 Mhz Video Bandwidth.

DVD has about a 5-6 MHz Video Bandwith.

[alkieman]

SORRY GUYS BUT IF YOU DEVIATE FROM THE VIDEOCD STANDARD AT ALL THEN THE DISC YOU CREATE IS NOT A VIDEOCD.

Upping the bitrate will result in better quality and less, or even no blockiness depending on the encoder used, but the resultant disc is NOT VideoCD compliant. Any change to the standards results in an xVCD disc which the vast majority of VideoCD players and DVD players will not play. A number will though, mainly the cheaper models sourced from the Far East but most large brand names will spit out the disc.

It's confusing enough for newbies without giving them confusing information. VideoCD is a defined standard, MPEG1 352x288 PAL, 352x240 NTSC, 1.15mbps, MPEG2 audio sampled at 44.1khz. Deviate from these standards, either by upping the bitrate to improve quality, or lowering the bitrates to fit more on a disc results in a format known as xVCD.

Try playing it on many brand name DVD players and don't be surprised to find it does not play. The Pioneer 606D, Pioneer 737, Philips 1000 DVD Video recorder, every Toshiba player I tried in a branch of Dixons last year.. none of these would play the xVCD discs but would play VideoCDs quite happily. I'm sure the situation has improved as more and more brand name manufacturers choose to badge engineer Chinese or Tiawanese players with their own names but don't be at all surprised if they don't play. In fact many CD burning applications wont accept non standard MPEG1 files either. If you do want to go down that route then Nero, WinOnCD and the German InstantCD/DVD will burn the non standard formats.

[DVWannaB]

Those are good and valid points. But it comes down to personal choice. And I think thats the great thing about making your own videos. You have many many choices and I like that. There are trade-offs and thats also good. There is also tons of info on the 'net to inform the newby and sites like these where you ask as many stupid questions and still get them answered. Thats also great. Is this all going to change yes. The industry and technology is making advances seemingly everyday. So if you want to make a high bit rate VCD or Chinese Video Disk (CVD) one should go for it and have some fun doing it. God knows there are also frustrating times too