VHS Capturing ADVC - Resolution Q

[acemedusa]

Have captured some vhs tapes through the advc 300 and they look great. However, once I convert them to mpeg2 and put on dvd, the picture looks somewhat blocky.
Can the pal 720x576 resolution be scaled down at all. And if so will this improve the picture?

[pjsssss]

Was your bit rate as high as possible?

[kbosward]

How are you converting your DV files to MPEG2? If the DV files look great but the MPEG2 files don't, then the problem is in the conversion.

If burning to a single-layer (4.7GB) DVD, you should generally not put more than 3 hours on a disc, otherwise the encoding bit rate becomes too low and you will see the blockiness that you are describing.

Scaling down the picture to less than 720x576 will reduce the quality of the picture.

Ken.

[acemedusa]

I was capturing from neo 2 and printing the file direct to dvd beforehand. Results were poor.
Now just I did a 30sec clip using virtual dub and then used procoder to do the mpeg conversion to VOB files. I think the bit rate was 6000 and the bit rate type was CBR. I then used Img burn to do the DVD and the end result was amazing. Super bright colours and a really nice picture without the blocky picture.

[acemedusa]

One last question. Would encoding a 2 hr movie be ok at the 6000 bitrate if it is going on a 8.5g disc? Thanks

[kbosward]

Sure, but that will leave wasted space on the disc! See this MPEG bitrate calculator here:

http://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm

or a more sophisticated one here:

http://dvd-hq.info/bitrate_calculator.php#Calculator

You can fit nearly 3 hours of video on a 8.5G (DVD9) disc at 6000 Kb/s, or you could increase the bitrate significantly (I normally don't go above 8000 Kb/s as I find some DVD players struggle to read burned discs at higher rates) to fit 2 hours.

You will also get reasonable quality wih 2 hours on a 4.7G (DVD5) disc (around 4800 Kb/s), particularly if your source is VHS tapes which aren't the best quality to start with. The problem with lower bit rates is that you may notice blockiness on segments which are fast moving or where the whole screen changes quickly (e.g. fade to black). At lower bit rates, variable bit rate (VBR) is usually better as it can give higher bit rates where required and lower rates where the picture is mostly static, while still maintaining the average target bit rate. I have found as a rule of thumb I try not to go below 3500 Kb/s, but this is very subjective and you may prefer higher.

I suggest buying a rewriteable DVD (DVD+RW) and trying a few different bit rates to see what suit your tastes.

Normally an encoding/authoring program should calculate the highest bit rate to fill the target DVD size, while staying withing the DVD specs.

Ken.

[acemedusa]

Thanks for the calculator and the help. Cheers!

[SoundFreak]

Originally Posted by kbosward

Normally an encoding/authoring program should calculate the highest bit rate to fill the target DVD size, while staying withing the DVD specs.

Too bad Edius export doesn't follow this like e.g. Procoder Express used too ..........

[bucanero]

I have an ADVC 110 and using it with a Mac and iMovie. I cannot get iMovie to capture any video from old VHS tapes. It looks like it is importing, but nothing really is downloaded to the computer. Could the problem be with the DIP switch settings? I have tried different combinations, but nothing works. I have checked and rechecked that I have connected the cables correctly.