Uncompressed AVI

I'm capturing from my VHS (analog rca jacks) via a USB device and I'm not too happy with the results. Firstly, when I capture I have to choose a codec: YUV2 or Indeo 5.1 and my settings are only width=352/height=288 with a throughput of 6076 kbytes/sec. This capture is saved on my HD in a temp folder. Next thing I do is use Studio 8 to do a bit of editing, and then I have to render the project as an AVI or mpeg. I've been rendering as an AVI and using the bundled software to burn to a VCD (for trials) and ultimately to DVDr.

Now can I use these captured AVI files to produce a less compressed usable avi with any of the programs we talk about here? Which guide could I use, skipping the ripping phase and going on to DVD? Or is this possible at all?

 

You should be useing the "HuffYUV" Codec to capture to because it will produce the same Quality as Uncompressed AVI but with less than half the Disk Space...And you should not be captureing to 352+288 if you want to make DVD"s or even VCD"s..Pal-DVD requires a resolution of 720+576 and if you are Makeing VCD"s you will allways get better results captureing to a High resolution then re-sizeing down to VCD Resolution....If your Capture device only captures at a Low resolution of 352+288 then you definately need to get a new Capture device, and USB is NOT the way to go unless the USB Device uses Hardware Mpeg compression, Cuz USB Devices do not have enough Bandwidth to Transfer Full resolution Raw Video signals with any sort of Quality...You would get Much better Quality if you Had a Cheap PCI TV Card($30)... The Cheapo Card I have On My system Right now is Just a simple "ATI Raedeon 7200 64mb AGP VIVO Card" which I paid $35 Canadian For on E-Bay and it captures Pretty good Quality Full Resolution Video, Much better than a USB Device like yours..If you want to Make a DVD out of Captured file I would Capture to AVI useing the HuffYUV Codec at 720+480/576-Pal, then edit the File and export as a HuffyUV AVI file ,Then You should use a High Quality Mpeg encoder Not like the one in Studio 8, I mean a Good one Like Tmpgenc or CCE or MainConcept encoder...After you have encoded the 720+576 AVI file to Mpeg2 you will need a DVD authoring Program like "Tmpgenc DVD author" or "DVD-Lab" to add the Menu"s and Chapters to your Movie and to author the Movie to a DVD-R..
But whatever you do get a different capture device, One that can capture at Full Resolution and one that is either a PCI/AGP Card or some sort of USB 2.0 Hardware Mpeg encoder Box but good ones are Far too expensive so you would be better off with a PCI/AGP Card which you could get for between $30 and $100 depending on the Quality and the Cards Functions......Cheers

 

Hi Minion. Thanks.
Well obviously I was sold something which isn't up to the job. Great.

My vid card is a Chaintech Ti4200 AGX21. It has these features:
15-pin D-sub VGA out
TV-out (Mini Din 9pin S-Video connector)
VIVO (Mini Din 9pin S-Video connector)
DVI-I (DVI-I connector)
S-Video Cable (150cm)
Composite Cable
VIVO Cable (4 port)
DVI-I to VGA Adapter

I'd be hard pressed to find any of the adapters or cables, but I'd still need something to go from the analog outs of the VCR to the card. Do VHS machines have S-Video out?

 

Well your Video Card should be able to capture to Full resolution...I haven"t personally used your Card but I have heard of them and From what i remember they are Fairly good Cards But I guess you do not have the Breakout Box or the cables that come with it....As for VCR"s haveing S-Video outputs some of the Newer higher end ones do have S-Video out but It wouldn"t really be worth it to buy one just for the S-Video output...From experience I can tell you that it isn"t a good idea to ask the Guy at the Computer store what to get when it comes to Capture Devices cuz they generally don"t have a Clue what is good or what is not good, they will just try to sell you Anything they can.....Well If you can get the right cables and stuff I"m sure your Video card has better capture features than whatever USB device you have.....Cheers

 

Well I think I'll still need a conversion box to go from the analog VCR to the S-in of the Chaintech.

I had no idea this was so involved...

 

I'm looking at a used Matrox RT2500 with Premier 6.5 for $350CDN or a Canopus ADVC 1394 for $400.
I don't know if I can justify that sort of dough.

 

Well I know the Canopus ADVC-100 is a Great Device and then can be gotten Brand New for $250 US($330 CDN) or the ADVC-50 which does the same thing But it is an Internal PCI Card, they are about $150 US..If you have a DV camcorder with a Analogue/Digital Pass through then you can use your Camcorder as a Analogue Digital Converter simular to the ADVC-100....You could Probably get one of the New 10 Bit TV/Capture Cards that supposedly Produce Really good Quality Captures for under $100 Canadian, They Produce up to 50% Higher Quality image than the old Connexant BT848 and BT878 8 Bit Chips....Cheers