MPEG1 or MPEG2 real-world explanation please.

[Causality]

I'm going crazy trying to put together a SVCD system. But am I wasting my time? Currently, everything I want to burn to CD is on VHS tapes. I've heard that MPEG1 is "VHS quality" but the only example I've seen was not. The MPEG1 sample I saw was heavily artifacted (is that a word?). It showed heavy pixilation during movement and the picture showed no crispness. Was this a bad sample? Can MPEG1 truly be compared to VHS. Would capturing VHS to MPEG2 yeild better results than MPEG1 or be a waste of bandwidth?

[Causality]

Can anyone recommend a source for a GOOD example of MPEG1 so I can actually see it?

[yoshi1668]

I'll try to answer your question. If what you trying to do is to convert VHS tape to CD. There's no need to try to convert to SVCD. Regular VCD will already give you a better resolution than a regular VHS tape. Unless you're using something like Super VHS, then it's a different story.

[Causality]

Thanks Yoshi!

[Anonymous65]

You can download a short VCD file from http://www.geocities.com/skittelsen and click on VHS to VCD transfer. This is close to the maximun quality you can get from VCD when going from video tape (S-VHS). If your source is on regular VHS, then VCD will do a nice job as a backup. Even for S-VHS VCD works good. It's all how the VCD is made, and get the maximum quality out of the VCD standard. My VCD's are just as good as VHS, in my opinion, and resolution tests have show it to be so.

[Anonymous65]

Oh, and a few words about Mpeg-1 and Mpeg-2. Mpeg-1 is most effective for low bit rates, up to 2.5 Mb/s. Over 2.5 Mb/s, Mpeg-2 works better. You can record 720x480 non-interlaced video with Mpeg-1, but with a normal bit rate of 8 Mb/s, Mpeg-2 will do a better job. However, if you were to try a bit rate of 1.5 Mb/s, Mpeg-1 would do a better job.