Why don't you all agree on how to convert VHS tape to VCD?

[fandecine]

Hi guys!
I am pretty new and I tried to read different posts about the subject. I have a AIW 7500 with 1600XP using Windows XP. I would like to convert my VHS/HI-8 camcorder tapes to VCD but it seems that you all disagree on how to get the best result!
So, what is the best way?
I thought I just had to capture with VirtualDub using the HUFFYUV codec in 352x240 resolution and convert to VCD compliant with the TMPEGEnc template (VCD-NTSC). Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
LD

[jugernaut]

No, that's a great setup. The no-loss codec, and TMPGEnc as convertor. It's a really good choice

[baker]

Heresmine:
Capture 352x576/480.
Use vdub to add Temporalcleaner and resize to down the image to 352x388/240 .
Frameserve into tmpegenc.
Ta-da. better than vhs results.

Only one prob. I aint sure of the name of the filter, I think its temporal clean.

Baker

[brendan]

I'm also a newbie to vhs->vcd, but spent the last month or so reading just about every post on this forum (well, it seemed that way), and tried a few of the suggested variations as I had a few videos I had to convert to vcd for a function - and time was running out. It seems that the general conclusion here for vhs->vcd is to capture 352x480 in lossless avi (huffyuv), and then deinterlace (double option if using tmpgenc deinterlace filter works for me) and then resize to 352x240 (via tmpgenc vcd template) for your standard ntcs vcd compliant mpeg ... if this is not good enough quality, then you can play around with some of the virtualdub noise/etc filters prior to encoding ... but your first step is to capture at the higher resolution before trying to fine tune ....

Keep in mind that I'm just as much a newbie as you, but I did get a noticablely better quality vcd using this approach than capturing at 352x240 ... and I'm very thankful to all the people who posted their recommendations to this forum on this topic -- it certainly helped me get better vhs->vcd than when I first started out ... good luck

[EricB]

There is no agreement because people vary so widely in what they expect. What looks great to one person, is totally unacceptable to another. One guy is OK with taking 8 hours to encode and another demands real time.

Best bet is to take all the information as suggestions, and work out your own way. Then write a guide and swear that it is the absolute best method!

[EricB]

PS - It helps if you say you can get 5 hours of DVD quality video on a standard CD-R. This generates a lot on interest.

[jtoops]

Here's a link to a good guide:

http://www.lukesvideo.com/

The other postings have good suggestions with a few minor tweaks:
Use Virtual Dub with Area Deinterlacer for deinterlacing.
Use Virtual Dub for resizing.

John

[macleod]

Have you tried to ramp up the bit rate and then convert down to VCD format (you might want to go to SVCD quality to get better results).

NTSC VCD bit rate is 1150 (or somewhere close)
NTSC SVCD bit rate is 2520 (or somewhere close)


I have been doing the VHS pull into the computer for awhile now and here is where I am at:

ATI TV Wonder
2 head VCR (getting ready to try the 4 head vcr)
powervcrII with basic tweeks to get SVCD quality - 2520'ish bit rate, motion set to 3 (highest), MPEG2, 480x480 SVCD quality audio

results: commerical & home movies - looks great can't tell the difference in low motion situations, see some pixilation during high motion scenes (35 min a CD)

Going to try TEMPGENC to reencode and see if that doesn't get me to "perfect".

When I "tape" tv shows, I am at 99% quality (not %100 percent because when I am about 2 inches away from the TV, I can see a small difference).

I'd recommend that you get some CDRW's and try various bit rates and settings to find what is "perfect" for you.

[Mirror_Image]

It is sort of akin to "the best chili recipe", or "the best home-brew". It gives many people something on which they can disagree, which they love to do (almost as much as they love to talk about the weather).

Opinions are like...

[geek rock]

PS - It helps if you say you can get 5 hours of DVD quality video on a standard CD-R. This generates a lot on interest.

lol

[mpb]

Greets,

Actually, that setup should work fine. I would suggest capping at 352x480 or 640x480 before encoding, though, so that you can deinterlace, if your intended destination is VCD MPEG-1 352x240x1150x224.

[The_Flash]

PS - It helps if you say you can get 5 hours of DVD quality video on a standard CD-R. This generates a lot on interest.

Amen to that. I'm so sick of hearing that.