Poor Video Quality

sdculp · Post by **sdculp** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:14 am

I am in the process of converting VHS tapes to DVD using Ulead Video Studio 11. Capturing is performed with the Video Studio software in mpeg using best quality settings. The resultant video is very ¡§jerky/watery¡¨ appearing, especially during panning. Fine detailed video such as leaves, are especially bad and the total effect is unusable. I have tried everything I can see to try, but there seems to be no adjustment other than good/better/best.

I then tried capturing with my NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 [Display adapter] and NVIDIA ForceWare Multimedia Version 03.02.24.00 software. The resultant mpeg is markedly different and appears about as good as the original VHS. Using this mpeg in the Video Studio editing software and then creating a DVD results in satisfactory videos.

I am surprised at the results, considering that the NVIDIA equipment and software is a few years old. I would expect the Ulead software to be relatively state-of-the-art. I would rather not go through the extra capturing step, and feel that perhaps I have overlooked something in the Ulead software which will solve the problem.

I would appreciate your comments and suggestions.

Stu Culp

DVDDoug · Post by **DVDDoug** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:15 am

I then tried capturing with my NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 [Display adapter] and NVIDIA ForceWare Multimedia Version 03.02.24.00 software.

You didn't say what hardware you used with Video Studio. In any case, you are better-off using the capture software that's specially made to work with your capture hardware.

...considering that the NVIDIA equipment and software is a few years old.

AFAIK, there haven't been any major advances in A/D conversion or MPEG-2 encoding in the last couple of years. As long as you can get a DVD-compatible MPEG-2, I wouldn't worry about "old" hardware or software. (If the MPEG has to be re-coded, you will loose quality.)

If your capture hardware/software will allow it, it's best to capture to AVI/DV, and then encode to MPEG-2 later rather than compressing on-the-fly. If you encode later you are less likely to get "glitches", the CPU can "take its time" to perform higher-quality encoding, and you and can use (higher quality) two-pass encoding. Plus, you have the option of starting-over if you want to change the bitrate (or other setting).

Post by **Ken Berry** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:26 am

Doug -- he was using the NVidia card itself as the capture device. That model allowed it. It has a TV Tuner Video Capture Adapter.

sdculp -- You can tell from Doug's response that we hardly hear of anyone using their graphics card to capture with, though of course it can be done with some of the NVidia cards, of course. I personally only remember one other user mentioning it, and that was well over two years ago...

Anyway, that being said, I endorse Doug's comments that it is usually better to use the software which was written especially for the device. And don't take it amiss that you have to use more than one program. Many of us here use one program to capture (i.e. not VS), VS to edit, Cool 3D/Xara 3D/Bluff Titler or other programs for our titles, a third party audio editor to touch up our audio, Sonic Fire Pro for SmartSound tracks, and third party programs for authoring out projects into DVDs..

I am surprised, though, that the VS capture was so bad. You don't tell us what format you were capturing to, but I would have thought you had it set to 'DVD', and set your project properties to pretty high quality. (Mind you, a bitrate of 6000 kbps is probably more than enough for VHS source material.) But you need to tell us the capture format set in VS and the properties set for it.

sdculp · Post by **sdculp** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 8:26 pm

Hmmmm!! I mistakenly thought MPEG was OK. Not so. Switched to DVD as you suggested and all is well. Kind of embarrasing!

Thanks for your help.

Stu

2Dogs · Post by **2Dogs** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:06 am

a case of Stua Culpa, then!

Good to know that VS11 works OK with your NVIDIA card - we seem to have had a recent spate of posts to the forum from camcorder owners having capture problems with VS11.

Post by **lancecarr** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:56 am

Post by **Ron P.** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:40 am

lancecarr wrote:test

Multiple choice or essay?

Post by **lancecarr** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 6:05 am

Actually it is a blind test. You have to work out the questions and format yourself.
Steve was having problems with the board running at snails pace so I was checking for myself.

Post by **Ron P.** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 6:51 am

Ditto..

sdculp · Post by **sdculp** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:58 pm

2Dogs,

You stated: ¡§Good to know that VS11 works OK with your NVIDIA card - we seem to have had a recent spate of posts to the forum from camcorder owners having capture problems with VS11.¡¨

Well, not quite. Shortly after starting this thread and being successful with one tape, I started having some capture problems with VS11. It soon expanded into a generic capture problem, so I decided to go to another forum for fear of getting off-topic. The problem is still unresolved, and it looks like it is going to expand into an NVIDIA problem.

I would appreciate it if you and others would go to http://forum.videohelp.com/topic345675.html#1812452 and take a look. If that link doesn¡¦t take you to the right place, go to http://forum.videohelp.com/, then ¡§Capturing¡¨ and then ¡§VHS Capturing Problem¡¨.

Right now, I am dead in the water with my VHS to DVD project and need all the help I can get.

Stu

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 6:38 pm

Stu,

Do you have a video camera, namely a digital one. Some models allow what is called "pass-thru", where the signal from the VCR is digitized as it passes thru the camcorder to the pc via a firewire connection. The initial release of v11 had a bug that prevented this, but a patch fixed it for the most part (Digital8 cams still can't pass-thru).

Anyway, my cam is not a pass-thru and I needed some footage from a VHS tape. So I connected my cam to the VCR and recorded the footage onto my cam, which I then transferred to my pc. I was worried what the extra generation would do to the already poor quality of VHS but, to my surprise, I think it looked a little better. The footage was a little sharper and had better color.

Just food for thought.

sdculp · Post by **sdculp** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 6:57 pm

Jeff,

My camera is rather old. It creates a VHS-C tape. If you went to the other forum I mentioned, you might be interested to know that if I play the tape directly from the camera to the computer rather than creating a full sized VHS tape and then to the computer I have no problems with the "banding".

Stu