Autofit Not Working As Expected For Long Videos

[josey]

I captured a 2 hour 40 minute tape OK and the mpg file looks good. Of course it won't normally fit on a single standard DVD. I thought the option "AutoFit - Compress your project to fit on disc" would allow the video to be compressed to one standard DVD (with some loss in quality). Instead it says it needs to be split onto 2 DVDs. The "Span" option is not ticked. Why won't it allow me to squeeze the long video onto one DVD? If it can't do it then why have that option in the first place?

[cdanteek]

 

If it can't do it then why have that option in the first place?

 

That would be a question to talk to the programmers about.

 

Do your self a favor and span them over two disc's and hope that comes out OK.

[josey]

 

Do your self a favor and span them over two disc's and hope that comes out OK.

 

 

It did work but I still prefer it all on one disc. Besides VHS is low quality and the long video looks just as good when it's compressed to one standard disc. I proved this is so by using another program to do what I wanted. It also adds chapters. I now use the Roxio product just for converting tapes to mpg.

[Jim_Hardin]

In theory a 4.7 DVD can hold 3:04 in ELP setting.

 

That said, CD is right about a split. Actually the quality falls off rapidly anytime you exceed 1 hour for a 4.7 DVD. That is a 'rule' we all use and you would be well served to follow it

[josey]

In theory a 4.7 DVD can hold 3:04 in ELP setting.

 

That said, CD is right about a split. Actually the quality falls off rapidly anytime you exceed 1 hour for a 4.7 DVD. That is a 'rule' we all use and you would be well served to follow it

I understand all that. Perhaps I wasn't clear. The quality of the original VHS tape I have is very poor. So I don't need to create 2 DVDs as I've proved to myself by compressing it onto one standard DVD using the other utility It has made no difference compared to having it on two (so I didn't bother to create the second DVD using Roxio as it would have been wasted - well so was the 1st). I have several other VHS tapes with similar low quality. So my intention is to use the Roxio program simply to convert these tapes to mpg and use my other program to record them on a single standard DVD. BTW that other program also can split the mpg onto multiple DVDs (iSL and DL). In fact if I choose HQ DL (High Quality, Dual Layer DVDs) it would require 2 of them. Alternatively I could choose good quality on one DL DVD. Of course these are all over kill for the VHS tapes I have for the reason I have mentioned.

[cdanteek]

 

BTW that other program also can split the mpg onto multiple DVDs (iSL and DL). In fact if I choose HQ DL (High Quality, Dual Layer DVDs) it would require 2 of them. Alternatively I could choose good quality on one DL DVD.

 

What is the name of your do it all program?

[josey]

 

What is the name of your do it all program?

It's called AVS Video Converter. I don't have the latest version - it has even more powerful features. The one I have is a few years old but still does everything I need, such as chapters, trimming, color editing (hue, sat, contrast, etc.) , menus, backgrounds, etc. etc. It doesn't do Blu-ray but the latest version does. I don't have a need for that as yet. One useful feature I like is the ability to select the required output aspect ration. Since most of my old VHS tapes are 4:3 I prefer to output them as 16:9 so that they appear correct on a widescreen device and avoid fiddling with the aspect control on some of the the TVs I have.

[sknis]

Is that other program making DivX or Xvid format files/DVD? That is one way you can out that amount of time on a DVD.

[Jim_Hardin]

I'm going to bow out of this one... Won't accept advice and the comments like "change aspect ratios" when that is impossible, leads me to believe he just isn't getting it

[sknis]

I'm going to bow out of this one... Won't accept advice and the comments like "change aspect ratios" when that is impossible, leads me to believe he just isn't getting it

 

Maybe the original poster just likes "Fat" people which is what you get when you change a 4 by 3 to a 16 by 9 !

[cdanteek]

 

Maybe the original poster just likes "Fat" people which is what you get when you change a 4 by 3 to a 16 by 9 !

 

Fat people isn't nice, they look noticeably stockier is much nicer!

 

[josey]

I'm going to bow out of this one... Won't accept advice and the comments like "change aspect ratios" when that is impossible, leads me to believe he just isn't getting it

That's what it does. If I use the default and keep the original aspect ratio (4:3) the video is stretchered out on a typical widescreen TV. I then have to change the aspect ratio on the TV to squash it back to a normal 4:3 view. However, if I use 16:9 as the output aspect ratio when I create the DVD I don't have to fiddle with the TV controls to make the adjustment. The video appears normal with the typical black sides on a widescreen TV. I'm surprised this is not common knowledge on this forum. Anyone with good experience with videos and aspect ratios should be very familiar with all this.

[josey]

Is that other program making DivX or Xvid format files/DVD? That is one way you can out that amount of time on a DVD.

It can make either format when converting to a file (eg, AVI).

[bimicher]

That's what it does. If I use the default and keep the original aspect ratio (4:3) the video is stretchered out on a typical widescreen TV. I then have to change the aspect ratio on the TV to squash it back to a normal 4:3 view. However, if I use 16:9 as the output aspect ratio when I create the DVD I don't have to fiddle with the TV controls to make the adjustment. The video appears normal with the typical black sides on a widescreen TV. I'm surprised this is not common knowledge on this forum. Anyone with good experience with videos and aspect ratios should be very familiar with all this.

 

We know all about the black side bars when you use 4;3 video in a 16:9 project. What you seemed to imply in your post #7 is that the 4:3 video was "expanded" correctly to fill the screen in the 16:9 mode, which of course is not possible without distortion or cropping. There really is no need to use 3rd party software to create that since Roxio does it.

[josey]

 

We know all about the black side bars when you use 4;3 video in a 16:9 project. What you seemed to imply in your post #7 is that the 4:3 video was "expanded" correctly to fill the screen in the 16:9 mode, which of course is not possible without distortion or cropping. There really is no need to use 3rd party software to create that since Roxio does it.

I didn't mention anything about "expanding" the frames to fit the widescreen format. On the contrary - the goal was to do the opposite! I'd assumed we all knew what I was originally talking about. Yes I know Roxio does it too but as explained earlier I have resorted to using the other program for a variety of reasons. I found another one. I have a very old NTSC color tape that ended up very orange after capture to mpg. The tape looked normal when played back directly to my TV. I presume it had a different NTSC standard to the others and Roxio did its best to adjust. I also have another VHS to DVD package (Honestech) and it was worse - about the bottom quarter of the screen was blued out and the rest was very noisy and jumpy. So I used the other program to alter the temperature and saturation levels of the Roxio version of the mpg file. Worked like magic. I'm so glad I have that program as well as Roxio's package. I can now compress my poor quality VHS tapes to one standard DVD each, including those that run longer than normal except for one that's over 3 hours long. I ended up writing that one to a DL DVD for slightly better quality.

 

BTW, the other program does have the option to crop the video so I could "expand" the 4:3 scaled frames to fit the widescreen TV but of course I would lose part of the top and bottom of the frames. That's not what I was talking about.

[Jim_Hardin]

Ah, light comes on

 

It is a metamorphic widescreen, meaning the source has a 16:9 picture overlaid onto a 4:3 frame. It was made to work either through the Player or the TV settings, which is what josey has been telling us.

 

I don't know of any way to handle it with EVD... VideoWave Editor, found in the Roxio Creator Suites can work with it.

 

You might have bounce between using EVD to Capture then AVS to massage and output a 'normalized' file. Then use that file back in EVD to Author a DVD Movie

 

If AVS can Author a DVD Movie, that would eliminate the last step. But if AVS is outputting a DivX or even an mpeg file to disc it means it is not Authored as a DVD Movie and not all Players can play those files types.

 

Keep us advised on what works with this josey, it is interesting.

[josey]

It is a metamorphic widescreen, meaning the source has a 16:9 picture overlaid onto a 4:3 frame. It was made to work either through the Player or the TV settings, which is what josey has been telling us.

 

I don't know of any way to handle it with EVD... VideoWave Editor, found in the Roxio Creator Suites can work with it.

 

You might have bounce between using EVD to Capture then AVS to massage and output a 'normalized' file. Then use that file back in EVD to Author a DVD Movie

 

If AVS can Author a DVD Movie, that would eliminate the last step. But if AVS is outputting a DivX or even an mpeg file to disc it means it is not Authored as a DVD Movie and not all Players can play those files types.

 

Keep us advised on what works with this josey, it is interesting.

AVS does author a DVD just like EVD. In fact it gives the option to preview everything before recording to DVD (such as trimmed parts removed, menu, chapter points, image enhancements, audio effects, scaling, etc.). It also outputs to other devices, such as smartphones, game consoles, palm devices, Sony devices, etc. The only thing that it can't do that EVD can do is capture the VHS tape in the first place - obviously. Of course if I had a TV tuner card or similar in my PC I wouldn't even need that as AVS can record from devices connected to the card directly.

[Jim_Hardin]

AVS does author a DVD just like EVD. In fact it gives the option to preview everything before recording to DVD (such as trimmed parts removed, menu, chapter points, image enhancements, audio effects, scaling, etc.). It also outputs to other devices, such as smartphones, game consoles, palm devices, Sony devices, etc. The only thing that it can't do that EVD can do is capture the VHS tape in the first place - obviously. Of course if I had a TV tuner card or similar in my PC I wouldn't even need that as AVS can record from devices connected to the card directly.

 

Capture cards do not always do what you would expect either... You have something that works even though it isn't one stop shopping use that for a while and evaluate it later.

[josey]

 

Capture cards do not always do what you would expect either... You have something that works even though it isn't one stop shopping use that for a while and evaluate it later.

 

For the purpose of converting VHS tapes to DVDs the Roxio solution is sufficient. However if one needed to capture multimedia output from other devices (eg game consoles) at much higher bit rates via HDMI a PC capture card or a capture solution that uses USB 3.0 for the PC connection is the only way to go.

[josey]

I figured out how AVS "compresses" videos into 1 SL or DL DVD if selected. It does it by dropping the bit rate. After several trials runs (without burning to DVD - I just by viewing the VOB files created after a few minutes of creating) I can decide on an appropriate compromised setting. I zoom in on each and compare the results side by side. Depending on the length of the video it might drop the bitrate say 5% to 20% or more. In a couple of cases it reduced the bitrate too much so I chose to simulate a write to a DL DVD and it was OK after inspection even though it still compressed it somewhat. Now if I had a Blu-ray recorder I wouldn't need to worry about any of this but then again these are poor quality VHS tapes so it would be overkill. As another experiment I looked at the differences exhibited by initially selecting High Quality (9400 kbps), Good Quality (6200 kbps), Standard Quality (4600 kbps) and Long Play (2150/2300 kbps) modes. I started off with a trimmed video of only a few minutes to avoid any compression (and save time). As it turns out I don't need to go beyond a single DL DVD for my old tapes using Standard Quality, and in most cases a single SL DVD is OK.

[Jim_Hardin]

Quality is in the eye of the beholder, not the percentage...

 

I have a very critical eye, and anything under 8,000 kbps and I just leave the room.

 

Have some others look at it before you commit, don't tell them what it is, just tell them you have some latitude and ask what they think

 

You can do the same thing with EVD, just go into the Advanced Settings.

[josey]

Quality is in the eye of the beholder, not the percentage...

 

I have a very critical eye, and anything under 8,000 kbps and I just leave the room.

 

Have some others look at it before you commit, don't tell them what it is, just tell them you have some latitude and ask what they think

 

You can do the same thing with EVD, just go into the Advanced Settings.

 

Yes I agree with the resolution point but as I have stated a number of times the VHS tapes in question are of such low quality (some in black & white) lower bitrates are sufficient. If I was using good quality tapes I would definitely be using higher values, and where necessary I would be spanning across multiple DL DVDs.

 

I did play around with the Advanced settings but that only works for file outputs and not DVD authoring, unless I'm missing something. I suppose I could save the file and import it back in to create a single DVD. In any case I need to augment EVD with AVS so I can squeeze the captured videos onto one SL or DL DVD in one step, which EVD didn't allow me to do, as well as do a number of other things, such as color adjustments, sharpening and chapters. Roxio Creator NXT 5 does much the same things but I already had AVS.

[Jim_Hardin]

Good logic for today but what of tomorrow?

 

When I started video, only thing was tape and VCD...

 

My VCD's are 352 X 240. NOTHING today can make them better as there are just too many pixels missing to allow upgrading.

If I had kept the original screen caps, there would have been some 'meat' to work with. (probably on floppies)

 

Do you have NXT 5?

[josey]

Nope - I already have AVS so there was no point doubling up on the things I needed to do.

[Jim_Hardin]

Sounds good

[josey]

Did another experiment. I used AVS to author a Blu-ray disc but given I don't have a Blu-ray writer I just viewed the media that was created on the hard drive (using VLC) and compared the results frame by frame and zoomed in with that of DVD versions at Standard and High Definition. The results are that DVD HD was somewhat better than SD and Blu-ray was just a tiny bit better than DVD HD (most people would not notice it). When compared to the original mpg file generated by Roxio the Blu-ray version was the closest as expected in particular for color (the tapes were in PAL format and not that horrible NTSC format so the color was good all around).. Normally I am fanatical and so I would go for either HD or Blu-ray but as I said before several times the quality of the tapes are so bad (and the content not that interesting anyway) it doesn't warrant such action at this time.