Converting VHS home movies to DVD

[BMR]

Sorry members if this is a bit off topic, but I know that the expertise exists here to answer this question efficiently.

I have several VHS tapes ( home movies ) that I want converted to DVD. I have hooked my VCR into my ATI all in wonder card and can easily convert the tapes into Mpeg 2 files ( which are very large ) or I can use Dr. DIVX and convert the tapes into avi's which are in the mpeg 4 format ( much smaller files ). Once I have the files on my hard drive, ( should I do small files or one large file that is say 2 hours long ? ) what is the best way to then convert these files into the proper .vob and associated info files that go with .vob's so that I could then use a program like NERO to burn the movie? ( If this is even the correct way to go about this ). Is there a program that takes the direct input of the video stream from the vcr and converts directly to vob's ?? As you can see, I need some direction in this matter.

Thanks,

BMR

[burninfool]

I would capture,author and burn with Ulead VideoStudio or MovieFactory.There are too many variables so go to www.dvdrhelp.com and www.lordsmurf.com for guides.

[Burn2death]

BMR

Why would you want to capture your VHS to DVD? first of all when you capture your anolog movie to (or any type of movie) to a different format you will lost quality, in this case your VHS movie is probably not at it's brand new quality so the picuture is not at it's sharpest, 2nd VHS has a resolution of 352x240 pixels, where as DVD is 720x480, as the result when you capture and convert DVD (MPEG-2) your movie will look a lot worst than when it's on your VHS not to mention the cost of the DVD, and a few hours of you time.
As for converting to Mpeg-4 format you should only that if you really need to, like if you want to share the file with you friends and family or if you really need to archive the movie, in that was the case I recommand you use Gordian Knot, it's much more flexible and better feature and it doesn't use so much of your computer resources like Dr.DivX, with Dr.DivX you won't be able to do anything with your computer when encoding, also I recommand XviD codec, as the quality is much better and a lot faster to encode than DivX.

[BMR]

BMR

Why would you want to capture your VHS to DVD? first of all when you capture your anolog movie to (or any type of movie) to a different format you will lost quality, in this case your VHS movie is probably not at it's brand new quality so the picuture is not at it's sharpest, 2nd VHS has a resolution of 352x240 pixels, where as DVD is 720x480, as the result when you capture and convert DVD (MPEG-2) your movie will look a lot worst than when it's on your VHS not to mention the cost of the DVD, and a few hours of you time.
As for converting to Mpeg-4 format you should only that if you really need to, like if you want to share the file with you friends and family or if you really need to archive the movie, in that was the case I recommand you use Gordian Knot, it's much more flexible and better feature and it doesn't use so much of your computer resources like Dr.DivX, with Dr.DivX you won't be able to do anything with your computer when encoding, also I recommand XviD codec, as the quality is much better and a lot faster to encode than DivX.

I am aware that the quality of my home movies that has been transfered from a camcorder to vhs tapes is not that good to start with, and that every step of conversion will make it only that much worse. BUT, these home movies are quite important, thus I want them stored on DVD. As well, they will then be that much easier to view and copies can be given out to family members. What do you recomend as the easiest way, say to take an Mpeg2 capture of one of these VHS tapes, and then convert it and burn it to a DVD?

BMR

[rdgrimes]

An easy tool to use is TMPGEnc-author. It will convert MPEG2 to DVD and allow you to create a menu.
If you want to preserve quality, you need to capture and edit in AVI, not MPEG, then convert to MPEG2 with a dedicated encoder like CCE Basic or Canopus Procoder-Express (with 2-pass VBR). If you take these steps, you will see very little loss of quality. Once you create the DVD files, if they are too large you can shrink them with DVDShrink.

[CameraMan]

VHS is NOT 352x240 or whatever Burn2Death states. VHS on a good day is about 260x480. SVHS is about 360x480 or so. The 480 is an interlaced number, all formats of VHS are interlaced. Loose this interlace, and you loose half the image quality.

If you just bought the VHS tape (or recorded some precious moment to tape), then capturing it on the PC is a good thing. The image loss is nothing to worry about. Watch that tape 5 or 7 times, and all those passes will starts to dull the image.

I guess, the simple rule of thumb is that if it's a LIVE broadcast, with a clean, sharp picture, you can 'dumb' down the capture somewhat, but if you are using a 'lesser' source, then you need to retain as much X/Y quality as you can.

The picture will look a little crappy on a VGA monitor, a lot of the inherent VHS noise will show up. But VGA shows all sorts of flaws, and can't be trusted.

When you capture, capture at the highest res and bitrate that you can. Then when you render it down to the DVD format, you can choose a lower bitrate. You have a 'pristine' copy of the tape on your hard drive, so you can fiddle with the output formats, see what suits you.

[DVD_ADDICT]

Use ULEAD MOVIE FACTORY to capture and burn. I bought a CANOPUS ADVC-100 and was quite surprised to find that the vhs movie I captured and converted to DVD, the quality came out great. I got family footage on vhs tapes too and will be converting them to DVD.

[Burn2death]

CameraMan

I am incorrect when I say that VHS is 352x240 pixels because VHS is in anology which uses lines instead of pixels but VCD quality(352x240) is very close to VHS quality, but never the less, it's point less to have a VHS quality transfer to DVD unless you just want to archive it or have it easy pass on to friends or family like I had mention earlier, so there isn't any point in arguing about that.

[BMR]

One thing that I have just tried is to take a sample that I encoded as Mpeg2 using the ati vcr capture program that came with my all in wonder card at highest quality. Then I took another sample that I encoded with dr. divx and converted both of these samples to a proper dvd format using Nero Vision Express 2. Then I burned the movie to a dvd using nero burning rom. The videos on the big screen dont look that great but are acceptable. ( This could be due to the poor quality of the camera or perhaps my encoding technique, I am unsure ). One thing for sure, the Nero Vision Express 2 was easy to use and set up menus and reencode. What I want to know is that have any of you used this program and what do you think of its quality ??

BMR

[burninfool]

"Then I took another sample that I encoded with dr. divx and converted both of these samples to a proper dvd format using Nero Vision Express 2."

Don't use Nero to encode it's poor quality and you have no control of the parameters,try TMPGEnc.Like I said earlier Ulead DVD Moviefactory is a good entry level program to capture,encode,make menus and burn.

BTW...Sony(Japan) uses TMPGEnc for their video.

[rdgrimes]

CCE or Canopus Procoder Express will do as good a job as TMPEnc in a fraction of the time. Nero is deffinitely not the tool to use.