Different source formats - DVD quality result => HELP!

[cswanson]

I need some help with video files from different sources if I could trouble someone.

I dump video from my VHS, OLD OLD Super8 reels on VHS, and from an older Sony Handycam CCD-TR96 8mm Analog Camcorder THROUGH my newish Sony mininDV camera, and of course all the videos come out "digital", pretty big, very nice, as AVI files.

I burn them to DVD using Ulead Video Studio 10.0, and they look really good, I'm very happy.

The issue is, I'm CERTAIN that I'm burning them at too high quality, since they are NOT DVD quality, they started as MUCH lower quality, in some cases, VERY OLD Super8 reels on VHS now.

So in order to save some space, but still see the same relative quality on the DVD on TV, I want to save them in a diff, SMALLER, format.

So my ultimate question is, what can I convert my miniDV avi files into that STILL looks good on a normal TV, but is smaller.

MPEG2? MPEG3? MPEG1? Adjust quality? frame rate? Custom values?

I've tried these settings:

591,667,276 original_video.avi
28,551,172 mpeg1.mpg
121,337,860 mpeg2.mpg

there are the vile names (original, mpeg1 format, mpeg2 format) and I'm not sure how those three will compare on my TV.

I'm no expert in these formats, so some basic info and advice is much appreciated.

Thanks,

Carl - cswanson2@austin.rr.com

Misc details: Ulead Studio 10.0, standard project settings, output format is DVD, fairly powerful AMD 64 3200+, 1 GB mem, tons of HD space

[heinz-oz]

First things first, unless you have a supa dupa DVD player that can play DivX, Xvid or mpeg4 files, your choices are limited to mpeg2 for DVD or mpeg1 for SVCD/VCD on ordinary CD blanks.

My preference, considering the prices of media these days, would be DVD and, hence, mpeg2.

Considering the source material, I feel anything above 4,000 to 4,500 kbps (incl. the audio) is a waste of disk space.

What bitrate were you burning at previously?