Capture settings for multiple venues??

webcombo · Post by **webcombo** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 4:46 pm

I have been coming here for a while now, appreciating all the information I have received from you guys. I have been using VS since version 9, and love this program. But I am starting to do several different things with VS, and wander if there can be a sticky for the proper settings for maximum video quality, depending on what the video is for. I was hoping to have someone have a sticky at the top that would have a link for each of the different input/output situations. That may be asking a bit much, but would probably help a lot of people out. Here are my situations that I am running into, trying to figure out the right settings. I'm sure more can be added by other users that have other scenarios.

1. VHS through my DV camcorder, to DVD.
2. miniDV homevideo, to DVD
3. HD home video, to DVD (I have a Canon HV20)
4. HD home video to wmv for web sharing
5. HD home video to mp4 for HD sharing on vimeo.com

What I am hoping for is 1. The proper settings for capture, and 2. The proper project settings when burning/creating the file, for the highest quality.

Again, this may be a stretch, and I have done lots of searches, but I would love to have 1 post to go to, each time I start a project (or a printout of that post) so that I can make sure I am doing the best work. Thanks so much to everyone that contributes here. You guys have saved me on many, many occasions.

-Rob

DVDDoug · Post by **DVDDoug** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:43 pm

It's best to "capture" in the native format. It can be "diffficult" to compress on-the-fly, you may end-up converting it again later (which can degrade quality), and if you increase the compression, you may have trouble editing the file. (VHS through the DV camera and miniDV should be captured to AVI/DV.)

With any given format, a higher bitrate will give you a higher-quality video (and a bigger file). All of the video compression schemes are lossy. A higher bitrate means that less data is thrown-away.

The best procedure is to compress once to the final format after all editing is done.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:47 pm

Regarding (1), I do a lot of VHS > DV > DVD conversion, and largely agree with Doug. One extra bit of information needs to be borne in mind, and that relates to the quality of the original VHS. A lot of people argue that even at its best, it is only average quality when compared to digital DV or mpeg-2. They argue that you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear, and that, in converting to DVD-compatible mpeg-2, for instance, there is not much point in using a bitrate much higher than 4000 or 4500 kbps for the conversion.

While I tend to agree with the philosophy, size of files and the number of DVDs I might have to burn have never been a worry to me. I thus like to give my original VHS a fighting chance, and use a conversion bitrate of 6000 kbps. When the original VHS is decent quality, that seems to guarantee at least an equivalent quality in my final DVD, and I have not been disappointed yet. When I use a lower bitrate, the end quality of the DVD seems perceptibly lower -- though I admit, not by much. Equally, when I have used a higher bitrate (e.g. high quality 8000 kbps) I have not been able to see any perceptible improvement in quality over the 6000 kbps.

Maybe I am just kidding myself, but for one's old memories, I am happy to accept what seems better quality, if only to me!

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:52 pm

While I tend to agree with the philosophy, size of files and the number of DVDs I might have to burn have never been a worry to me. I thus like to give my original VHS a fighting chance, and use a conversion bitrate of 6000 kbps. When the original VHS is decent quality, that seems to guarantee at least an equivalent quality in my final DVD, and I have not been disappointed yet. When I use a lower bitrate, the end quality of the DVD seems perceptibly lower -- though I admit, not by much. Equally, when I have used a higher bitrate (e.g. high quality 8000 kbps) I have not been able to see any perceptible improvement in quality over the 6000 kbps.

I agree, Ken. I've commented in the past that I thought my VHS to DVD conversion even looked a little better than the original VHS. I thought it was just my eyes, or wishful thinking. Glad to know someone else has similar results.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:58 pm

Ah! It seems also that great eyes see alike!!

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:58 pm

Please view my comments regarding MPEG capture in this link

Extract from my suggested workflow

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 10:04 pm

Ken Berry wrote:Ah! It seems also that great eyes see alike!!

webcombo · Post by **webcombo** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 11:32 am

Ken et al,
Thank you all for your responses. I have always gone with 8000 kbps (variable) just as a standard. I also think that sometimes the video looks better after I make it into a DVD, but I wander if that has something to do with the amazing increase in audio quality. Just a thought.

As far as the other situations, is there anybody else out there that has the Canon HV20 HD camcorder, and are successfully creating HQ HD video files for the web? Or even creating standard def videos from the HD content? I shot my cousins wedding, but he doesn't have access to an HD player, so I will be making him a standard DVD and wanted to find out what capture/project/final settings to use.

Thanks again for all the help. SJJ1805, I have visited your link lots of times, but it doesn't seem to touch on the HD questions I have. Specifically of my HV20 camcorder. Do you have any other workflows for that??

-Rob

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 11:39 am

webcombo wrote:.....Thanks again for all the help. SJJ1805, I have visited your link lots of times, but it doesn't seem to touch on the HD questions I have. Specifically of my HV20 camcorder. Do you have any other workflows for that??

-Rob

Our expert on HD is etech6355 - I myself am still using SD and so cannot go any deeper into that aspect. I am assured by etech6355 that there are no significant differences between editing and using SD and HD other than the larger bit rates, screen sizes and file sizes.