Old VHS tapes to DVD poor quality

[Colleen]

I have tried several methods of getting old (17 yrs) VHS and VHS-C movies to DVD. One was use DVD Recorder to record them from a VCR player. Quality terrible. Used a video capture card (WIN TV-PVR150) and VCR to record to computer. Still not good. The quality of the dvd is good at 480x320 resolution, such as real player desktop size, but terrible if in enlarged to Theatre Size. The movies play clearly directly from VCR to TV. I saw where several users of the Canopus ADV110 being used by with high recommendations from this group. I have no problem buying the Canopus if this will fix my problems. Do think this would resolve my poor quality of my vhs tape transfer to dvd's?

 

Thanks,

 

Colleen

[ggrussell]

but not the same as if I were just playing the vhs tape directly from the TV.

And it never will. Simply due to the compression technology used. There will ALWAYS be quality loss regardless of source file. With that said, some created DVDs will look better depending on the source. For example, a DVD created from miniDV captured as DV AVI will look much better than an analog VHS captured through an analog capture device.

 

Also HOW bad it looks may depend on HOW you are viewing the DVD. Are you viewing it connected to a CRT TV or a large screen LCD/Plasma? Anytime you watch a 720X480 on a large screen, the image has to be stretched and no way that will look 'good' unless you're 6 feet or farther away from the screen.

[ggrussell]

For best quality, only record ONE HOUR per 4.7GB disc. Just a little less than 2hrs for dual layer, 8.5GB discs. Make sure the DVD recorder is set for one hour mode. The video should be 720X480 @ 8mbps bitrate at least.

[Colleen]

This poor quality is reproduced even if I only record like 5 minutes of vhs to computer. I just tried using Capture/Import from EMC9 from the video capture card and quality is better, but not the same as if I were just playing the vhs tape directly from the TV. Been trying different things for several days now. Maybe, I am just expecting too much.