Capturing VHS video to DVD

[Ron P.]

Ok, Ok, I do understand that VS X2 will capture analog video from other than Firewire/DV. I don't have any way to do so, and don't plan on purchasing one. I use my Digital-8 camcorder, and other versions, or WinDV to do my capturing. I do know that it simply will not allow it with that method.

[zelopes]

Just one question zelopes, what format is your finished captured video AVI or mpeg?

I capture all my VHS direct through my DVDrecoder whch of course captures in Mpeg.

My captured video saves into an MPG format file. I'm still wondering whether this is better or worse than any other format (such as AVI, for example) or if I could choose a different format. For the time being, I'm happy enough to be able to have started converting all these tapes.

Any insights?

[Black Lab]

AVI is a lossless format. Any editing will not reduce the quality, but it will have to be converted to MPEG-2 if you are going to burn to DVD.

MPEG-2 is a lossy format. Heavy editing will degrade the quality. Simple titles and transitions should not make a noticeable difference. You will not have to convert in order to be burned to DVD, except for the parts that have changed (i.e. transitions), but that is what SmartRender is for.

[zelopes]

AVI is a lossless format. Any editing will not reduce the quality, but it will have to be converted to MPEG-2 if you are going to burn to DVD.

MPEG-2 is a lossy format. Heavy editing will degrade the quality. Simple titles and transitions should not make a noticeable difference. You will not have to convert in order to be burned to DVD, except for the parts that have changed (i.e. transitions), but that is what SmartRender is for.

How are these formats determined? Is it something that I could change in settings or anything? Seems like I could consider the AVI format, if if I have the choice.

[Ron P.]

They are first determined by how they were recorded. For instance, a Digital-8 or Mini-DV camcorder records in DV (avi). NOTE: AVI is a wrapper or container format, which can have any one of hundreds of different CODECs, which is commonly referred to as the video format. Some of the more recent high definition camcorders record HDV or AVCHD, or MPEG. Some digital still cameras can record video in a variety of formats, from MJPEG contained in AVI or MOV (another wrapper), MPEG-4, and so on.

For editing purposes, it really doesn't matter that much, so long as the rendering (Share>Create Video File), is kept to a minimum. For lossless formats such as raw avi, and DV, it takes numerous re-renderings before any loss of quality can be seen. However with some of the more compressed formats, MPEG, WMV, DivX, re-rendering these only a few times and the loss could be seen. Each time they are rendered, some loss occurs.

Now when you consider AVI, which one? Raw-AVI is next to impossible to work with, especially if you have about an hour of video to edit. It will produce a video file of 65 Gigs, per hour of video. Most PCs simply can not handle working with files that large. DV-AVI also has large file sizes, however are more manageable, at only 13 Gigs per hour of video.

In the capture step, look at the File Types to see if you have DV type-1 or Type-2 available.

[Black Lab]

That would be up to your capture device's software.

[sjj1805]

Strange to hear talk about VS not capturing analog video. I've never experienced any problems, even with (what was the most recent version until about a week ago) VSX2. I have an HP Media Center PC (XP) and simply plug in the yellow RCA composite jack into the front along with the red and white audio plugs and I'm set!

The debate was about using the "pass through" method
VHS --> Camcorder --> Computer.
See my earlier post where I mentioned that pass through is but one of many methods to get analogue video into the computer, you have just added another to my short list.