[abarrett]

Im hoping someone can help me out.

I am starting to transfer my old VHS tapes into DVD format.

I am capturing the video fine - using Ulead Movie Factory. The output MPEG file is 100% great and looks good when played back in Media player.

However, when I then burn that MPEG to a DVD video format (using Ulead VideoStudio), it burns well except when you view on a normal DVD player, the video quality doesnt look as smooth. It looks like it has changed from 'tape' to 'film' quality. As if its dropped a few Frames per Second.

Does anyone know what I am doing wrong or what is happening? Any info would be most appreciated.

Cheers!

[Partyanimal]

The chances are you're not doing anything wrong! You have to bear in mind that if you are viewing the video on a PC with a 15/17/19" (or whatever) monitor the "quality" will look better because of the screen size/resolution compared to viewing on a larger TV.

Other factors such as whether you recorded the source in SP/LP/EP mode, or how you have your DVD player connected to the TV, will also have an effect. Of course, you can never improve on the original quality. Your best bet (if you have the equipment) would be to copy directly from VCR to DVD Recorder via a scart lead. If not, you could try another burning program (there's plenty of freeware around), but I wouldn't get my hopes up. Sorry!

[abarrett]

Many thanks for the reply Party Animal. I'll try different software.

[ironjade]

It might be worth investing in a DVD recorder and doing it that way, assuming your VCR is destined for a skip. Plus, you'll still have a dvd recorder when you've done.

[abarrett]

I do already have a DVD recorder and that seems to work 100% fine when I copy from VCR to DVD.

I am trying to capture onto a PC from VCR player as this doesnt tie-up my main TV in the house.

With this method I can capture onto my PC whenever, without using my main TV.

[RobAnt]

What are you using as the analogue to digital converter.

VHS isn't great quality, but I've been able to use my Canon camcorder as the analogue to digital converter quite successfully.

Using Pinnacle Studio 9.4 on XP is the software I've used to give the programmes chapter marks and menus. Even the default "window dressings" are good enough for private use. But you can invest hundreds on extra music and professional style titles.

[abarrett]

Thanks all for your help.

Its not the actual capturing thats the problem. I have used two different forms of capture and both are fine.

When I capture from VHS the MPEG output file plays the clip 100% fine no problems at all.

However, when I burn that MPEG to a DVD-Video format it plays abolutely fine on a normal DVD player, BUT... the video doesnt look as smooth.

It looks like it has lost a few frames per second.

Its still very very watchable just not exactly how it was captured.

[stevieboy378]

What settings are you using for the MPEG conversion ? I'd hazard a guess that theres a setting there thats amiss . . .

If I'm transferring footage from VHS to DVD, and I want the best possible quality I'll capture and save the footage as DV ( with no compression ). I then use TMPGEnc. to encode to DVD compliant MPEG.

if you can describe in detail this part
"It looks like it has lost a few frames per second."

then the answer can be clearer.

If it was set at the wrong frame rate the whole film would run too fast or too slow,it wouldn't have the odd glitch,the fault would be consistent from the first minute till the last minute.

Frames can be dropped in large amounts during the transfer process,if it's a decent software it will give you an accurate reading of how many frames have been lost,but if you are using a dvd recorder and sometimes a capture card then that isn't the fault either.If you were only using a capture card then you could look at lost frames as being a problem.I experimented with an external hard drive and a capture card and lost hundreds of frames,so i cancelled that idea and stuck to transferring only to the main partition on the hard drive,the result was barely any frame loss.

Do you know about non interlaced footage and interlaced footage?It could be that you are seeing.Here you are,this gives you an idea what i'm talking about,see the distortion on the picture?
http://worldkayakblogs.com/videoanim...nterlaced1.png
A photo/still image of the screen that you are seeing during the fault would be a great help.As we can only guess at precisely what you mean by losing a few frames in terms of picture playback.

Is the playback staggered for a second here and there?Any tears or rips on the picture?

[stevieboy378]

In my experience the majority of picture quality issues with MPEG conversion are down to bitrate settings in the conversion software, and to the quality of the conversion software. The conversion software in the Pinnacle program is pretty poor compared to that of Adobe Premiere, which itself hasn't a patch on TMPGEnc.
Bitrate is a balancing act - too high and you'll get momentary freezes, as the player cannot handle the amount of data being thrown at it . . . too low and the resultant footage will resemble an old VHS "LP" recording . . .

Videohelp ( http://www.videohelp.com/ ) is a great site, with plenty of guides to getting the most out of you MPEG software .. .

[abarrett]

Im going to try some different DVD authoring software.

Im going to try DVDFlick and DVDForger. Ill try and tinker with all the settings.

The difference is video is hard to explain other than a simple drop if frames per second.

An example would be (if anyone watches Neighbours). When Neighbours was on BBC1 the video quality was excellent. Very smooth.

Now its on Channel 5 the video quality is still excellent but it now looks like its been shot on 'film' instead of 'tape'.

Its difficult to explain. Hopefully this can explain it better: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...d.php?t=746427 (this was a thread dedicated to the subject when Neighbours moved over to channel 5)

[witham1]

I use http://www.vso-software.fr/products/convert_x_to_dvd/ on my PC and I get great looking DVD’s when played on my DVD player.

[abarrett]

Quote:

Originally Posted by witham1

I use http://www.vso-software.fr/products/convert_x_to_dvd/ on my PC and I get great looking DVD’s when played on my DVD player.

Cheers, I'll give that a try as well

[stevieboy378]

When you convert your footage to MPEG are there any options for bitrate ?

The problem you're describing to me sounds like poor picture quality due to too low a bitrate - most MPEG authoring programs allow the bitrate to be raised or lowered in order to get a balance between picture quality and file size - the lower the bitrate the less room the file takes up on disk, but at the cost of a decrease in picture quality.

[abarrett]

Cheers Stevie,

I'll have a look at all options available.

To find out if it's bit rate,how long is the footage you are putting onto disc ,1 hour or 2 hours?and what is the total size once you burn it to a dvd.If it's say 90 minutes of footage and you are using 4gb of the dvd the bitrate thoughout the dvd wil be quite high.

If you are trying to put 4 hours to 6 hour of content on one dvd then the quality will be poor already,the bitrate will be tiny,equal to or less than video cd quality.

Convertx to dvd is very good software,someone else mentioned using that,it's harder to go wrong with manual settings as that software works it all out for you.

One single manual setting set wrongly is enough to ruin your picture quality.

I think only if you are below 2 mbps for bit rate would it start to possibly be a problem,there are plenty of tv channels broadcasting at 3mbps,video cd is around 1 mbps quality,dvd is 6 to 9 mbps.

[abarrett]

Many thanks all for your advise.

I will try out all different options in both the capturing and DVD authoring.

Cheers!