[samtau]

why does my 38 min VHS tape create a 7 gig file when i try and use capture video and then save to a file.

[malatekid]

If it is an avi file, that file size seems reasonable. An hour long is about 12gb to 14gb in file size.

[samtau]

I am trying to creat a dvd from two vhs tapes one that is 38 min and one that is 48 min. What is the best way to keep the highest quality? I am using a single layer DVD so i need the file size to be below 4.7 gigs

[grandpabruce]

I am trying to creat a dvd from two vhs tapes one that is 38 min and one that is 48 min. What is the best way to keep the highest quality? I am using a single layer DVD so i need the file size to be below 4.7 gigs

No, you do not need to keep the file size below 4.7GB. For best quality, you need to think in terms of time. You can fit one hour of video, on a standard 4.7GB DVD, at best quality. On a DL disc, you will get a little less than 2 hours of video, at best quality.

You can fit your 2 VHS tapes, on a standard DVD, and may notice a little degradation in quality, but with VHS, you probably won't notice it, too much, because VHS is not good quality to begin with.

If they are the VHS-C tapes, like my old camcorder was, most folks won't complain about the final quality anyway. They will be happy to see the captured moments.

Aside: Beta really was better.

This post has been edited by grandpabruce: 20 November 2009 - 07:29 PM

[myguggi]

I am trying to creat a dvd from two vhs tapes one that is 38 min and one that is 48 min. What is the best way to keep the highest quality? I am using a single layer DVD so i need the file size to be below 4.7 gigs

Capturing to avi format will keep the best quality especially if you plan to do some editing. The files will be large but that does not matter when you burn to DVD.
When creating DVD file size is basically irrelevant, its the time length of the video that matters the most. A standard 4.7GB DVD can hold 60 minutes of video at best quality. Any longer and the video has to be compressed with a resulting loss of quality. Even if you had a 60 minute video with a file size of 50GB it would be rendered to fit on the 4.7GB DVD

[samtau]

But how do i compress the two sepeate videos and keep the maiximum quality posible. Meaning the videos are compresed just enough to fit on a single layer DVD and compressed to some preset level

[Jim_Hardin]

Essentially you don’t with that software… With the full Suite you can but that is a 2 stage process…

About as close as you can get are these guidelines:

DVD Time:
4.7Gb
HQ = 1:06
SP = 1:37
LP = 2:22
ELP = 3:04

8.5 Gb:
HQ = 2:00
SP = 2:57
LP = 4:19
ELP = 5:35

[Jim Thomson]

I've enjoyed learning quite a bit from this discussion. As i just begin capturing old family videos, i've still got more to learn.

I understand the size of the file doesn't necessarily equate to recording time. What i don't yet grasp is how to best match capture quality w/ input source quality. Will it make any difference if i capture VHS tapes in DV (AVI), DVD-HQ (MPEG-2, 8Mbps), DVD-SP (MPEG-2, 4Mbps), or DVD-LP (MPEG-1, 1.7Mbps) mode, if i plan to edit what is captured?? That is, what it the point of diminishing return @ which to capture VHS video?

I sure would appreciate any wisdom offered. I've got a hunch that I would be best served capturing an AVI file for editting (since there's minimal compression, right?), but haven't gotten much data from hunting on the web, so far. Thx, in advance, for any help! JET3

[myguggi]

I've enjoyed learning quite a bit from this discussion. As i just begin capturing old family videos, i've still got more to learn.

I understand the size of the file doesn't necessarily equate to recording time. What i don't yet grasp is how to best match capture quality w/ input source quality. Will it make any difference if i capture VHS tapes in DV (AVI), DVD-HQ (MPEG-2, 8Mbps), DVD-SP (MPEG-2, 4Mbps), or DVD-LP (MPEG-1, 1.7Mbps) mode, if i plan to edit what is captured?? That is, what it the point of diminishing return @ which to capture VHS video?

I sure would appreciate any wisdom offered. I've got a hunch that I would be best served capturing an AVI file for editting (since there's minimal compression, right?), but haven't gotten much data from hunting on the web, so far. Thx, in advance, for any help! JET3

As has been mentioned numerous times in these forums, if you are planning on doing any editing of your video you should always capture to DV avi since it keeps the best quality and is easier to process by Videowave when editing. It of course create very large files. I would never even consider capturing to any other format. After all, once you capture to a lower quality format you can never improve the quality after that.

[Jim Thomson]

Thanks for your guidance on this!! and i appreciate your patience w/ us newbies!