Burning VHS's to DVD's

Thanks Minion, I'll try the Windvr3.0 and see if it will accept the TDK capture device. Hopefully. And you are right, it is taking a long time having to re-encode the mpeg files. I'll try the DVDlab also. I'm using the DVD Template that comes with WinDVD2 for the capture, you'd think it would be 100% compliant, but who knows.

Amd what about the S-video issue? I read to only capture using an s-video output from a VCR, so I searched the net looking for such a creature and only found two. The JVC which ran about $150.00 and then some pro models that cost well over 700 bucks. I can't really see any improvement using the s-video. Is it a crap VCR or is it just useless for improving VHS quality? My cheapo samsung vcr captures look better than the JVC s-video. Thanks again.

 

S-Video should Produce a Clearer Image but if It isn"t then i wouldn"t know why...I know on my DVD Player I get a Much Better Image useing the S-Video over the RCA Jacks and I get Better quality useing the S-Video output on my Digital cable Box over the RCA Jacks so i don"t know why it isn"t better for You....

It also could be that you Just don"t see the Improovement on your PC Monitor because PC Monitors display Video differently than TV Sets do, TV sets are Made to display Interlaced Footage were Monitors disply progressive Footage so you never get a True representation of how the Video truely looks when you see it on your Monitor.....

Cheers

 

I am investigating capturing VHS and enjoying this forum, thanks to all. Minion addrsses something I can't quite grasp yet, maybe unrelated. Resolution of a commercially puchased DVD movie.... Are they MPEG-2 and if so, a resolution of 720x480 doesn't sound like something that would look good on a big screen TV, maybe a 15" computer screen. I realize resolution on a Computer monitor (pixels per inch) is different that resolution on on a TV screen, but haven't quite gotten a refernece on this from PhotoShop User's Forums etc. Minion (or anyone) know where you can get a good explaination? Tried the glossary.

Finally: Is the resolution of commerial DVD's 720x480?

What processor clock rates are needed for capture to AVI and MPEG-2 so that you end up with close to same quality as original?

What is DVD Compliant?

 

All Standard NTSC TV sets are the same Resolution, From the Small 13in TV sets to the Big screen(Non-HD) TV sets....NTSC TV signals are Transmited with 525 Lines of Resolution at 60hz so all standard TV"s have to be Made to those specifications..
HDTV"s on the Other hand use up to 4 times the resolution of a standard TV Set....
The Max Resolution a regular TV set can display is only slightly bigger than the Full D1 DVD resolution(720+480)...
Your PC Monitor can display Video at a Much Higher resolution than a TV set and even Higher than a HDTV set Plus it displays Video as Progressive Frames were your TV set Displays Video one Field at a time which only utilizes half of the TV"s resolution at any one time....

You probably have Noticed that Video Looks Crisper and Clearer on a Small TV set as Opposed to those Older Big screen TV"s which looked Blurry when you got up close, This is Because those Big screen TV"s have to display the same ammount of Pixels and Lines of resolution as a Small TV does but it has to spread them over a Larger Screen area which makes the Video loose it"s detail and crispness....
It is the same when you try to watch a Movie file at full screen on your PC Monitor, You will probably notice that it looses it"s detail but in a small window it looks a Lot better.....


The Video on a Standard NTSC DVD uses a resolution of 720+480 and it is stored in Mpeg2 format, But that is Not the Only Resolution that can be used to Make DVD"s...
The NTSC DVD Video Standard Allows for 4 different Resolutions that can be used to Make DVD"s, and useing these other resolutions allow you to get more Video on a DVD because they use a Lower resolution and a Lower Bitrate to encode them which means you can fit more on a DVD...

These are the Resolutions you can use to Make a NTSC DVD:

Full D1...Broadcast D1....Half D1.....SIF/CIF........
720+480.....704+480.......352+480 ....352+240........
2 hours.....2 hours.......4 Hours ....6 Hours........
.4750kbs....4750kbs.......2175kbs.....1475kbs........
.Mpeg 2......Mpeg 2........Mpeg2 ...Mpeg1 & Mpeg2....
DVD Quality.DVD quality.SVCD Quality.VCD/VHS Quality..

Those are the Names of the Standards and approximately the amount of Video you can fit each DVD useing these other DVD Standards when useing the Correct Bitrate and the Quality you can achieve useing these Standards.....

Well I hope this Explains some of Your Questions...

Cheers

PS: "DVD Compliant" means a File that Conforms to the DVD Standard, A 640+480 Mpeg2 file is Not DVD Compliant but a "720+480 or a 352+480 or 352+240" Mpeg2 file is DVD Compliant and as long as it"s audio is DVD Compliant meaning it is at 48000hz and either LPCM/Wav ,Mpeg1 Layer 2,DTS, Or Dolby AC3 audio....

 

I take it from your answer that:
Movie DVD’s purchased at Wal-Mart are MPEG-2 providing a resolution of 720+480, which is as good as it get when viewed on a standard NTSC TV. Your other answers provided me with several paths to take for further edification. I plan to find out how you relate resolution (?x?) to bandwidth and lines of resolution. But at least I now know that converters producing 720x480 will (from a resolution standpoint anyway), allow me to transfer from tape or video sources to DVD with the results I need. One down; more to go.

ANYWAY, I cannot properly express my appreciation for such a complete answer to my question(s). I spent 20 years as a television broadcast engineer, but some of the home video recording (AVI, MPEG etc) is a bit hard to get at. Happily I did my research and purchased digital hardware and software that has let me make DVD’s flawlessly from the very first, but now analog… Always another mountain (I know).


Sidebar: I was given a copy of Pinnacle 9 and their firewire capture box to evaluate, but according to their manual my P4 1.7GHz Pent with 1 GB RAM (Dell PWS 340) is not good enough. The outside of the box says 800 Mhz minimum, 1.5 Ghz recommended, but inside (in the manual) they state the software does not allow capture to MPEG-2 if the processor is less than 2.2 Ghz. Surprise! Fortunately, I am not on the hook and will return it today. I’ll do some more research before trying another system. I’m really thinking better to capture AVI, then convert to MPEG-2 for DVD. I need to learn more about these file types (AVI, MPEG, VOP, IFO, BUP, ISO etc.)


AGAIN, A BIG "THANK YOU"!! and Best Regards.

P.S. Don’t you ever sleep?

 

Thnx for all the great info in here. It has helped me to capture my own movies and VHS tapes.

I have a question relating to blurry "fast movement" scenes in my converted VHS tapes. I use high bitrate, single pass encoding of my AVI files in mainconcept encoder (1.4.2) and find that a smooth moving picture in the avi file becomes slightly blurred once in mpeg2.

I use all the recommended settings, and wonder if this is maybe just "normal"

any ideas welcome


(I use my Sony digital 8 camera with a dazzle firewire card to capture VHS with the analog passthrough feature.)

 

The Blurryness in fast motion scenes could be related to Interlaceing...Maybe try the Deinterlace Filter in Mainconcept and see if that helps with the Blurryness...
But even if the Problem is Interlaceing it shouldn"t show up on your TV set as your TV set is Made to Display Interlaced Video were your Monitor isn"t....

Cheers

 

I too recently purchased the TDK Indicapture device, primarily to transfer my VHS tapes to DVD.

Thus far the only capture/record software that I have found, that recognizes the device, is ShowBiz(included with the device - not too great) & WinDVD Recorder 5 (seems to do a good job, so I am using it for capturing video from VHS at the highest quality). I capture/save in Mpeg2 format.

For burning to DVD I use CloneDVD2, because it allows me to split large Video_TS files by chapters, and thus burn one (long) movie to 2 disks without loss of quality due to compression. This I have done before with copying 2+ hour DVD's. I don't mind having to change disks halfway through a movie.

Now, herein lies my problem:

Using WinDVD Creator 2 Plat for authoring, at the "Make Movie" stage, if I choose the 1 hour DVD format option, it chops off the 2nd half of the movie. If I choose the 2 hour DVD format option, it compresses a 2 hour movie to fit a single 4.7Gb disk, rather than leaving it uncompressed. I am, of course, referring to the Video_TS output files.

Is there any way to get WinDVD to output to Video_TS uncompressed? Or is this just overkill on my part, & a 2 hour VHS can fit on a 4.7Gb disk without loss of quality below VHS quality?


Alternatively, if I use TMPGEnc DVD Author 1.6, with optional AC3 decode filter, to author the movie, the output Video_TS files are uncompressed, which is fine.
Unfortunately, when I play back these files, the Audio is out of Sync with the Video.

Is there some way to fix this sync problem?


P.S. If anyone knows of any other recording software that works with the TDK Indicapture, please post here too. Thanks.