2.5 Hours onto DVD-Quality???

[Mike Kujbida]

If you were starting with much higher quality source material, I’d say go ahead but with VHS (in my opinion), the quality will suck.

My bitrate calc says a CBR of 3700 or a VBR of 6600, 3700, 2200.

Try doing a short (5 min.) clip with these settings and see what you think. You may find it acceptable.

If you don’t have a dual layer burner, you could try splitting it over 2 discs to maximize quality.
This way I get a CBR of 7700 or a VBR of 8000, 7700, 3800.

Either way, do a 2-pass encode to help clean things up.

[George Wing]

[dpetto] “If I lower the bitrate down in Vegas to get 2.5 hours of a 22 year old VHS wedding tape onto a DVD will the quality suck or can I get away with it? The tape picture quality is still fairly decent although it does jump a bit upon playing.

Also when I go by the bitrate chart in the newletter it always seems like my mpeg2 file size is bigger than it should be and I usually need the re-render it again at a lower rate–any ideas why?”

How did you capture the VHS to your computer? What devices were used, and what format are they? I’d be tempted to go Half-D1 resolution considering your source is VHS and the low bitrate you will be using (but that depends on how you made the original transfer/capture).

If your mpegs are larger than expected, is it possible you are using LPCM audio (vs. Dolby Digital audio)? Or are you setting the bitrates properly (Min/Avg/Max)?

Regards,
George

[Gary Kleiner]

Low quality sources with a low signal-to-noise ratio such as VHS actually wind up as bigger files for a given bitrate because the noise is seen as more information that needs to be encoded.

Gary Kleiner

Learn Vegas and DVD Architect

http://www.VegasTrainingAndTools.com

[Dave Petteruto]

Thanks for the replies guys. All very helpful info.

I captured the video through a Canopus ADVC 110. The format is .avi

George

[Allen Zagel]

2

[Mike Kujbida]

Dave, half D-1 is 352 x 240 and is a valid DVD (and DVD Architect) image resolution.
Since the Canopus doesn’t allow it during capture, you’d have to do this size conversion (preferably to DV-AVI) after you’ve captured the original footage. Select your usual DVDA template and then customize it to alter the size.

Here’s the link to the bitrate calculator I use. Be advised that the link is to a zipped file, not a web site.

[George Wing]

[Mike Kujbida] “Dave, half D-1 is 352 x 240 and is a valid DVD (and DVD Architect) image resolution.”

Actually, Half-D1 for NTSC is 352×480 (Pal=352×576). Try doing a few scenes at both resolutions (using the same low bitrate you intend to use on the final dvd), and see if either looks better when played on your TV.

Regards,
George

[Mike Kujbida]

Actually, Half-D1 for NTSC is 352×480…

Thanks for the correction George!!
Obviously a minor (??) brain malfunction on my part.

[Dave Petteruto]

Thanks again for all the info guy’s. I will be doing some tests per your suggestions.

Thanks Mike for the Bitrate Calculator. It looks like it’s pretty detailed and it’s much better than what I was using.

Have a great weekend

Dave P.

[Jay Allen]

I have been mastering 3.5 hr DVDs for a classroom lecture. Have done over 100 DVDs with 3.5 hrs, and the footage looks better than i ever expected. I use Vegas to render the mpg2 file @ a bit rate of Variable 4 high 2 medium and a 2 low. At these settings, i can get the quality i need and don’t have to re render in DVD architect.
J.