Shacky outcome

[dwayneb]

I have an old JVC compact VHS video camera that I purchased in 2001. As you can imagine, I have many compact tapes that I now want to burn onto DVD. So I went down to the local PC store and purchased me Kworld's DVD Maker PCI. Bundled with this was a copy of ULEads Moviefactory 4. I have installed everything and now want to burn my home videos direct to DVD! The settings are as follows:
SOURCE
Input source: Composite
TV System: PAL (I am in South Africa)
Audio Device: C-Media Wave Device
Input source: Line In
CAPTURE
DVD
Quality = 100%
MPEG Files
24 Bits, 720 x 576, 25.00 fps
Lower Field First
(DVD-PAL), 4:3
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 8000 kbps)
Audio data rate: 112 kbps
MPEG Audio, 48.0 KHz, Mono

Now the burn process to DVD disk goes very well. However, when I play the DVD in a normal DVD player onto a TV set, the picture is very "shacky" with motion. Very Jittery as we would say in SA. Its almost like the picture is vibrating and is not worth watching. I am sad at this as I was at least expecting a smooth transition from old tape to DVD. I dont expect a greater quality but the same is what I wanted to achieve. Another problem is that blank DVD disks are expensive and I am onto number 8 trial. PLEASE can someone tell me what I am doing wrong or what settings I should use?

[Ron P.]

Hi Dwayne, welcome to the forums..

It seems that the field order is wrong..

If you are capturing analogue source, then the field order should be Upper Field First. For digital video source (AVI, DV-AVI) it should be Lower Field First.

Since you are capturing using Composite cables, from VHS, I suspect analogue video, and not digital.

Also since you are capturing VHS tapes, then you could also lower your bitrate to something around 4500 fps. Anything above that for VHS is simply overhead, and does not improve the quality of your video. This would also allow more space on a disc for video.

Hope that helps...

Ron P.

[dwayneb]

Thanks. The video quality is great, but I have to increase the DVD players volume control to max to hear anything. What is the best audio setup for the VHS input?