3 ways of capture

[hammer]

I want to capture vhs to dvd.so far I have captured to hardrive on computer and then used dvd author to write to dvd the result was ok but not as good as i had hoped. I realize i am starting with vhs quality but can i improve on this by ether capturing with either my panasonic or sony dv.Or can i use cce or tmpeg en to improve the quality of what i capture to pc.I am not sure of what way to go.any guidance appreciated

phillips vr600 video player with scart output

list of tools
Computer
medion
pentium 4 cpu 3ghz
512mb ram
200gig h/d
medion 713wdmvideo capture
medion tvtuner 7134mk2/3

panasonic dmre85h dvd recorder with 80gig h/driv with progressive scan

sony trv25e digital video camera will capture analoge and output digital
software
tmpg dvdauthor 1.5
cce sp version.5
tmpgen plus 2.5

[Kalicrys]

my three cents:

dvd recorder - Qualitywise this would be the same as what you're already doing. It would take less time. :)

dvcam - You might percieve a small improvement due to the filtering block inside the cam. Actually my sony dcr-pc9 does a relatively nice job smoothing out colors while keeping edges crisp.

software editing - This would be my choice. Deinterlace, smooth, and it should look a lot better.

[hammer]

Thanks for reply and i take on board your comments.This has had quite a lot of views and noone has offered any other feed back.so either you have said it all or nooene so far knows any different.cce will not improve captured vhs i am to asume and the best by a short way is maybe camera.unless you no better.

[trevlac]

A comment on the general process ....

1) Play VHS into PC/DVCAM/DVD Recorder

As you've pointed out, VHS is a bit limited in sharpness and color quality. Being analog, it's subject to noise. Being mechanical tape, there can be alignment and stretch problems.

This is the 1st point in the process to improve your quality. It requires hardware like a different VHS machine, a time based corrector, or an analog filter box. Depending upon the problem, this may be the best place to fix things.

2) PC/DVCAM/DVD Recorder Digitizes

Some devices do this better than others. But the differences are minor in my experience, when talking about VHS.

3) PC/DVCAM/DVD Recorder 'Filters' the Digital video

This is the next place to improve. It's also cheapest and most flexible (and most time consuming) spot, if you are talking using a PC and software. You can of course Digitize with a DVCAM (or even a DVD Recorder) and do more filtering on a PC. The DVD recorder probably tries to clean things up, and the cam most likely does too. That is, after they have digitized the analog signal. With a PC you can filter with tools like avisynth/virtualdub.

4) Encode (CCE, etc) Author ....

Although encoders have some filtering abilities, I would not look at this as the point where things are improved. An encoder is actually reducing the quality, although it may not be noticable. Given a high enough bitrate, the major encoders probably have only minor differences. No doubt, some encoders do some things better ... but for VHS, I'd focus on the steps before encoding.


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In summary ... break down the process and look for improvement in each step. As Kalicrys said ... Step #3 on the PC is usually the best spot. Step #1 is also worth looking at.

[Chainmax]

I agree with Kalycris and hammer, you should try to use some Avisynth filters. You should post a thread in Avisynth usage with some screenshots or video samples so that the gurus in there can help you out.
I have a somewhat-related question which was posted as a thread almost a week ago and hasn't been answered yet: what should yield a better result (without taking postprocessing into account) capturing with a card like the Hauppauge 401 or something like the JVC HR-DVS3U (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000066R6Z/103-0063532-7328672?v=glance)?

[Kalicrys]

Gosh, those DV decks cost a lot don't they?

[Chainmax]

Not really, it can be found at less than 800 dollars which is actually cheap for these kind of decks.