preferred format for capturing VHS

[gvm]

can I have opinions please as to the better format for capturing VHS video ... AVI or MPEG? I use Studio 8 for subsequent editing. Thank you...

[echooff]

IMHO always avi over mpeg For editing and encoding reasons.

[bb]

There are several preferrable codecs for quality capturing and editing, all of them to be used in AVI containers:

- Huffyuv (lossless codec)
- MJPEG (lossy, but good)
- DV (lossy, but good, fixed resolution)
- a few others...

Each of these codecs is frame based, i.e. there are no differential frames, which makes cutting an easy and lossless task. MPEG formats use differential frames, so you end up with either being limited to GOP-accurate cutting, or having to reencode parts of the video.

For cleaning up the video (e.g. denoising, deinterlacing) there are excellent filters available for AviSynth and VirtualDub. At least for this part these programs are better suited than Pinnacle Studio.

bb

[ppera2]

Actually format is not so important for capture itself. What is good for you depends from that, what you want further with captured files. Depends from available software too. If want direct capture, without postprocessing Mpeg is OK. But AVI with Mjpeg or similar codecs produces too large files, which are intended for capture and then postprocessing/recompressing.
If you have not many harddisk space, you will again stay by Mpeg.

Most important for VHS is to find hard/software which will ensure least possible dropped frames. Check guides about it...

[gvm]

Thanks folks for your replies, I really appreciate them but they raise new questions for me.

When using Studio 8 to capture VHS (into an AVI file)and to burn a DVD (after doing some editing), I don't appear ever to be given a choice of the codec to be used. And I don't know which codec is being used by default in Studio 8 when burning DVDs. Can anyone shed light on this please?

My problem is the quality of my last DVD burn is poor. The source VHS tape was filmed in bright sunlight by a VHSC camera of early vintage (1985). I captured it via Pinnacle's AV/DV Delux capture card, did some editing and then used an entire DVD to store 1hr of video (Studio said this gave me 97% quality compared with 37% quality if I had saved 2hrs video to a single DVD). Nevertheless quality compared with both the original VHS source and the raw AVI capture file is poor and I wonder if the situation could be improved IF I could select an alternative codec. The quality problem is similar to flaring in that white pixels appear very bright (too bright) and other light colours appear washed out. (This problem is not ameliorated by adjustment of brightness/colour/contrast controls).

I don't know how to compile a complete list of codecs on my system but the "Make AVI file" part of Studio8 does contain a dropdown list of 7 codecs and they are Panasonic DV, DV Video encoder, Indeo video 5.10, Intel Indeo Video R3.2, Intel Indeo video 4.5, Cinepak codec by radius, and PICVideo MJPEG Compressor.

So my questions are
1) does anyone know what codec Studio8 uses to capture VHS as an AVI file and to render/compile a DVD?
2) is it possible to direct Studio 8 to use alternative codecs, eg HuffyUV?
3) is there a codec that might overcome the excessive/partial over-brightness problem I described above?
4) if answer to (3)is "no", then is there a VirtualDub filter that might correct the problem?

[ppera2]

You have V Dub filter 'levels' where you can correct too much brightness.
And you may search for some even better filter with gamma correction.

AVIsynth has filter with same name (levels) where is gamma correction separately for luma and chroma.

[echooff]

It depends somewhat on your input device. I use Studio to capture using a canopus device and it captures in canopus dv. I am pretty sure it uses the Pinnacle dv if usin their device.

When it renders for a dvd it is using its own mpeg2 encoder. All video files placed on dvd must first be encoded into mpeg2.

It is possible to use a different capture codec with studio.

The brightness isn't a codec problem but a filtering problem. You can set the level for this in studio. The correct level for your project is determined by trial and retrial. Set your level and then capture a small piece. If not satisified change the setting and try again until you are happy with the output.

Read your manual or use the help file for location and possible settings.

Virtualdub also allows filtering for this problem.

[gvm]

Thankyou echooff. Please let me confirm my understanding... you say "It is possible to use a different capture codec with studio" and "It depends somewhat on your input device". So I take it that you can change codecs by changing capture hardware, eg a Canopus card instead of Pinnacle Studio's AV/DV card but you cant change codecs in software for a particular card. Is that right?

I will use trial and error to address the brightness problem. Thanks again.

[echooff]

Several post in the forum discuss using a different capture codec. I never bother to try and change it. I use the Canopus advc100 for my captures. It encodes to dv prior to exiting the capture device. It is a little expensive but IMHO worth every penny. Perfect audio sync everytime and not 1 dropped frame. You can filter vhs captures to look pretty good, but they won't compare to dvd resolutions. You have to remember you can clean up a capture but if your source is bad there's not much you can do. I am transfering vhs home video taken over a twenty year span to dvd. My main discovery is I seem to have serious limitations as a videographer. Not much you can do about that.

[bb]

echooff,

the Canopus ADVC-100 is indeed very good for capturing purposes. If you have it, use it. If you don't have it, there are other options, and you can choose from high-quality codecs to be used as an intermediate format (Huffyuv, MJPEG) or fast methods for direct capturing to the target format (MPEG-2, MPEG-4).

The problem with VHS capturing starts at the very beginning: You can't change the VHS tape's quality, but you can have very different quality in VCRs' output signals. I have two VHS VCRs; one delivers a sharp, brilliant picture, whereas the other one gives a blurry low-contrast picture (which I can improve a little by using a video enhancer box). Compared to the different methods of capturing I'm tempted to say that the VCR signal quality has a much higher impact on the final quality than the rest of the encoding chain.

bb

[echooff]

bb

You are of course correct. There are many other codecs that do a excellent job and I don't want to discourage anyone from trying them. I guess you noticed my delight with my capture hardware. I only use it for vhs captures because it does a excellent job in that area. I use another option for tv captures. I also agree with your other statement. My problems whith my home videos is cut off heads, out of focus lens, zipping from one point to the next at the speed of light, and so on. If anyone has a cure for that short of a kick in the seat of the pants for the dumb video guy I'm all ears.:) :)