vhs tape archive

[mrobalino]

I would like to archive a bunch of old vhs tapes (tv shows) and burn them to CD or DVD-R as files for playback on a computer only.
I want to fit as much as possible onto each CD/DVD while still maintaining the original VHS quality.
So far the I've captured with Scenalyzer, converted the files to MPEG2 with Ulead Studio 6 and then DivX'd them with DVDx2.2. This gives me some fairly small files but it requires a lot of steps and there may be a better/smaller file process. I just don't know.
I am using a Sony Digital8 camcorder with pass-through to go from the VCR to the computer (Athlon 1800 running XP) via Firewire.
I've looked for a tutorial but none seems to cover this exactly, and then it really gets convoluted.
Any tips or suggestions or recommended settings would really be appreciated.

[Will Hay]

How much (in minutes) do you wish to keep on each disk?
I know nothing about DivX but suggest svcd, this will give you around 40/45mins per disk.
Is this enough?
Will

[ASB]

I liked DivX before I purchesed a DVD-R burner. However I was never really happy with my DV to DivX conversions. If you want to go this route, firstly do you need to MPEG the files before converting to DivX. I belive VDub will take DV and do a DivX conversion? I do not know DVDx. Sometime you will have to change the DV type from 1 to 2. This can be done with free utilities (canopus and Ulead I think). Why not keep the MPEG files?

[mrobalino]

I would like to put as much as possible on the CD/DVD without going lower than VHS quality as playback will be only on computer. The way I've been doing it, i.e. capturing in Scenalyzer (type 2) then converting them to MPEG2 in Ulead VS6 then Divx'ing them in DVDx (5.0 codec) ends up with a pretty decent file which ends up at about 500 MB for 1 hr of video. I can't go straight to Divx since I'm using Firewire and that requires VFW drivers which XP doesn't have. I've tried to capture with VirtualDub but I get an error message and it won't let me.
The link https://www.videohelp.com/svcd says I can put up to 26 hours on DVDR but I'm not sure at what settings or the resulting quality.
I'm just archiving old shows and as long as the quality is decent I don't much care. I just want to put as much on a CD/DVD as possible in order to save time and money. If there's a good way to do this, I sure would appreciate learning it.

[fortension]

I would guess that you've tried the the VFW wrapper to no avail either.

I don't know firewire caps, but converting to mpg2 seems wasteful.

dapcentral.org has much on getting the best out of old videotapes. Any resolution greater than 480x360 is wasteful on videotapes, if you're willing to but reasonable bitrate in.

Divx or Xvid is the way to go if you only want computer playback

[mrobalino]

Thanks for the link. I'll check that out. I'm not familiar with the VFW wrapper. How does that work?

[DJTekno]

I've been doing somthing similar recently mate - I've used the analogue pass-through on the camera and record directly to a HQ mpeg2(ie MEGA-High bitrate) using Ulead VideoStudio7. Then use DVDx to encode to Divx or Xvid. This way seems to work well for me, and results in a 2 hour turn around for a 1 hour capture(1 hour to capture & 1 hour to convert in DVDx)...................the only downside with doing this is that it will take a little longer if you need to put the files on CD as opposed to DVD, as you would need to downsample the audio from 48Khz to 44.1(although this isnt strictly true )

Anyway, hope this helps, and if i can give ya anymore help, just post.

Cheers

DJT

[SatStorm]

It is not possible. Sorry.

The best you can do is:
- Grabb 720 X 480 if you are NTSC or 352 X 576 if you are PAL using Huffyuv or an mjpeg codec. Or, use DV.
- On both roots, load the avi to Virtualdub and add 2 filters: a) Random Noise Reduction, which gonna stabolise your tape and b) Static Noise reduction which gonna clean the noise even more.
If your source is really - really noise, you also need the 2D cleaner optimised filter, but use it wise...
- When finishend, save to a new avi or frameserve to your favorite encoder.
- The best target format for VHS and SVHS is CVD (IMHO ofcourse). SVCD it may be sharper, but this sharpness is useless for a source like VHS and also, SVCD needs more bitrate per frame to support well the pictrure.
If you want to be in CVD specifics, then use for the video part 2520Kb/s CBR bitrate. This is about 35 minutes per 74 CD.
You can't go beyond this using any CD based format.

An alternative is to go -X-, using let say 352 X 576/480 (xCVD) with 1000minimum, 2500 average and 4000 maximum bitrate. That way the picture is far better than using 2520 CBR but: You are -X- now, meaning your DVD player may not play your disc good or at all.

The best root is DVD based: Encode with an average of 3000kb/s and most of the time you have a perfect picture (if you use wise the filters I describe...). Or, you encode with a 4000 average with no filters and you have a picture virtualy identical the VHS source.

This is my experience with the subject until now. Others may have better ideas or know more. Try my suggestions and you might find the solution you need! Also try what everyone here suggest you, it might work better for you. Remember: You are the final judge!

[dcsos]

If you capture to AVI or even MPEG-2 directly
TRY WWW.VIDOMI.COM
Their Vidomi Makes DIVX in One pass from your captured files, and does it extremely well (Concantenanting multiple captures as you load them into the "PROCESS LIST" automatically)

[fortension]

The wrapper is available in the tools, but I'm not sure if it will help.

"The VFW WDM Wrapper allows you to capture in for example Virtualdub if you only have WDM capture drivers(ATI Cards). Extract all files to a folder and right click on the .inf file and select install to install it."

[mrobalino]

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. I'll eperiment some more this weekend after taxes

[gmatov]

mrobalino,
I've got one called MPEG4MakerDirect, about 3.8meg file, I tried it after I got it, but the files wouldn't work on anything BUT the computer, so I uinstalled. As it says, it's MPEG4, high compression, I think, can't remember the quality. I'll have to install and try again.
Good idea, in a way, as my video card has video out to the TV,so if I archived to disk or to the HDD, I could feed the TV whatever I want.
I just did a search for it, but the only response was crack pages, for cracks, I don't think they had the program. I know that's not where I got it, but damned if I can remember where I did.
If I mailed it as an attachment, would your ISP allow 3.8 megs? I think it's shareware/trialware, so if you liked it, you'd have to register, and maybe pay , to keep using it. It may watermark. I don't remember.
Remember, it won't play on a DVD (mebbe a DVD in the 'puter DVD drive, for more storage, as it's data nothing else seems able to read, only HDD or CD in the 'puter, but to cap and convert a bunch of tapes takes a whole bunch of space.
Let me know.
George
I just brought up my TV@vantage capture card toolbox, found MPEG4 under the "Custom" format, and have over 300 hours of room on the capture drive, at 320X240, 264kbps. I haven't tried it, but, evidently, I don't have to wait for MPEG4 patch to become available after all.
Late, I'm off to bed. Will try it tomorrow, just to see what it will do. Last time I tried the card, I had the res too high and figured I didn't want to just try playing at that space requirement. I've gotta try again. Now I'm curious.