VHS to h264??

[riverplate86]

Hi, I`m digitalizing my VHS and 8mm video collection using an external USB Pinnacle card and Pinnacle Studio 12 Plus.
Is it better to save theese videos in h264 using Matroska container and to store the videos on a modern format (MKV h264) or to save them on classic DVD MPEG2?
Thank you i advance.

[Blue_MiSfit]

Define better :)

DVD has the advantage of being utterly ubiquitous. It will work absolutely anywhere, and will continue to do so for a long time...

H.264 (x264 in particular) is much more efficient and technically elegant, but isn't as widely playable yet.

It all depends what you want to do. Both are good options :)

~MiSfit

[riverplate86]

Thank you Blue_MiSfit!

I understand what you are saying. I don`t care about popularity of the format because I can save all my videos in my NAS and watch them in my network media player.
I`m making the desition around the video quality. Is it better to save digitalized video from VHS as x264 or asMPEG2? With wich format will I get better quality?
Thank you very much.

[neuron2]

You can get good quality with both of them. MPEG2 will typically encode more quickly but will take more space for the same quality.

[riverplate86]

Thank you. So... isn´t one of them that is better than the other?

[Ghitulescu]

Thank you. So... isn´t one of them that is better than the other?

Nobody here is a fortune teller. It really depends on the future of digital formats.

Your NMP may play h.264 now, but it won't last forever.

However, depending on the used algorithms, the more compressed a file, the more prone for errors (1 deffective bit can create more damage). It's a rule of thumb.

I would opt for DVD (MPEG-2), I'll keep h.264 for HD. You can also save them onto DVDRs (auhtoring), since a correctly burned and handled DVD would outlive a HDD, unless is a special HDD. And you can find always a DVD-player. And you can share your memories with others without having your NAS with you (blocking the whole collection somewhere). However I would not use a digitizing USB card but a DVD-recorder (a good one).

However, there is another side of the coin. Since the resolution of a VHS is generally low (like 352x576i) it may have a little bit of sense to capture VHS as h.264 for mobile applications (GSM, portable players, GPS etc.).


My opinion.

[riverplate86]

Thank you Ghitulescu,I appreciate your answer very much!

[Dark Shikari]

Nobody here is a fortune teller. It really depends on the future of digital formats.

Your NMP may play h.264 now, but it won't last forever.

However, depending on the used algorithms, the more compressed a file, the more prone for errors (1 deffective bit can create more damage). It's a rule of thumb.That is not true at all.

If you want to compensate for errors, use error correction parity data, like PAR2.

Both MPEG-2 and H.264 will be corrupted until the next keyframe if any single-bit error occurs.

[raisinberry777]

I'd suggest DVD for the format versatility, then make an H.264 encoded file from the DVD if you ever need it for something like web distribution.

[Ghitulescu]

That is not true at all.

If you want to compensate for errors, use error correction parity data, like PAR2.

Both MPEG-2 and H.264 will be corrupted until the next keyframe if any single-bit error occurs.

You are an x264 developer, so you must know the things in detail.

But my experience in the past with Divx and MPEG-2 over unreliable media (scratched CD/DVD, internet, recovered files, "bad weather" satellite TS etc.) proved me that the errors in a MPEG-2 stream were extremely easy overpassed (GOP for PAL is 15) while more than 5 seconds, sometimes for minutes, the image of a Divx was "greenish" or presented green trails.

I had no knowlodge of any codec that uses PAR2 files.

[Ghitulescu]

And you can share your memories with others without having your NAS with you (blocking the whole collection somewhere). However I would not use a digitizing USB card but a DVD-recorder (a good one).
I remember the sad day when I accidentaly step close to my external HDD and it hit the ground while on-line. This 5 cm drop was fatal, and I've lost 250 GB of satellite recording of classic movies.

Think about this when keeping your collection on a NAS only.

[riverplate86]

I remember the sad day when I accidentaly step close to my external HDD and it hit the ground while on-line. This 5 cm drop was fatal, and I've lost 250 GB of satellite recording of classic movies.

Think about this when keeping your collection on a NAS only.

You're right... I have a "NAS only" copy for films that I can buy again but I keep also a DVD copy for familiar records that I coud not recover!