Which format is best for storage of Hi8 video?

[egg]

Hi, thnx the capture forum, I've now started to backup my Hi8 tapes... in the process of making the best captures I can at the moment.

My next problem is 'What to encode to?'.

Here's my situation:

- my standalone DVD player doesn't play S/VCD at all.
- I don't plan on getting a new DVD player in the next year.
- but, I DO HAVE a laptop with TVOUT connected to the TV.

So, with that hardware, what format would be best, considering this:
- S/VCD aren't soo necersary, 'cus I have no way of playing via DVD HW.
- im happy with 35mins of video per CDR
- MAYBE in a year or two, it would be nice to make a SVCD of them.. without having to do much.. but not sure at present.

Should I:
- Make a S/VCD anyhow... play it via the PC, until I get a new DVD player?

OR

- is there a better quality format for the PC which might be better for me? Such as DIVX?

any ideas/comments?!

thanks!

[Digifreak]

My vote is for SVCD. SVCD is comparable quality to Hi-8, it plays on your PC (with mpeg2 codec) as well as standalones. You can buy an SVCD compatible standalone player for $52. Divx usually requires an additional codec.

same format here, Hi-8mm tapes are captured with ATI-AIW 128 Pro 32MB video card using ati YVU9 codec at 640 x 480. They play as is but are huge. VCD 1 works well and files are a lot smaller. If you don't want to make a SVCD then just leave 'em in VCD 1 and play off the PC. I've been resizeing them to 480 and making SVCDs to play off an Apex and they look better than tape.
Michael

[egg]

just messing with and comparing various resolutions at the moment.

480x576 using huffyuy is nice.. but using maximum resolution and then down to SVCD is even nicer.. such a shame it uses about a gig a minute!! I only have a 40GB drive and only 10GB spare at the moment.

then... comparing those reloutions to VCD/352x288... they just look shit in comparision... a fraction of the disc spare though of course!

at the moment, i've been capturing a VERY dark video (a music concert.. close to stage and not much movement)... but the darkness is hard on the whole thing.

BUT... you can see the difference between the 352x288 and 720x576 captures! from black blocks to nice shades....

whose gonna send me a 100GB drive huh?

gonna try a brighter-outside video next... perhaps try 640x480.. and then down to SVCD(PAL).

thanks guys!
:P

There's more yet. Try making CVDs. It's on this site, somewhere...\dvd2svcd\CVDWhat is it,how to test it & what to expect!.htm
I found it while looking at getting dvd2svcd from tools.
Basicly you capture at 352x480 with 48/16/s audio and encode to a two pass VBR svcd altered template.
OMG, I've become a code talker
The resultant file looks as good as an SVCD but would burn directly onto a DVD-R if you had a burner, well, later. Programs used were VirtualDub+TMPGEnc+Nero.
Nero has compliance unchecked in SVCD ntsc and btw look for unlock.mcf in 'extra' in TMPGEnc so you can change the settings for svcd ntsc.

http://www.vcdhelp.com/forum/userguides/111846.php
there it is

[EricB]

Just want to agree with carterma. The 352x480 format works really well with Hi8. By using 48kHz audio, you have a DVD compatible format and you'll be able to fit several hours on a DVD-R in the future.