Converting VHS videos to DVDs:

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dstranathandstranathan
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I am cgetting ready to convert old videos from VHS tape to DVDs using iDVD. They are old home movies and stuff, nothing broadcast quality. I have about 20 VHS tapes to convert, so I will be a busy man for a while! I have a new hobby!





I am using a FireWire-based Formac studio A/V I/O box (www.formac.com) using RCA composite cables. I am storing the imported/digitized data on 7200 rpm 80 GB FireWire drives. The Mac I am using is a TiBook 667 with 1 GB RAM. The VCR is a 4 head consumer-grade model by Sanyo from Target.



What compression technology should I use to convert the NTSC data to digital video? I want a decent quality format, but not great. The original data on VHS isn't high quality to begin with. The audio quality is poor, so I don't need pro quality audio either.



My main concern is getting the proper file size to quality ratio. Since each source VHS tape is about 4 hours long, I want to be able to 1) have enough room on the FireWire drive to store the video data (at least 1 tape at a time or more, and 2) I want to try and get 1 VHS tape burned to 1 DVD disc if possible. Can I even get 1 tape on a DVD? a 1 tape t o1 DVD ratio is my goal. is that possible, assuming I get the right compression, etc?



If the video data will ultimately end up on DVD, does that mean the video data must be compressed using MPEG-2?



I won't be keeping the videos stored on my computer for long, instead I will be burning them to DVD using iDVD ASAP, and then cleaning the drive off for the next import session. I am planning on ripping/digitizing 1 VHS tape per weekend. The Formac capture device isn't very fast, so I plan on hitting the record button and walking away for the day.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    I seem to remember not being able to write more than x number of hours of video onto a DVD using iDVD, and I'm pretty sure x in this case is much less than 4 hours



    In terms of digitizing the VHS tapes to your hard disk... if you're just going to go one at a time - that is digitize one VHS tape, then drop the video to DVDs, I would think a DV or MPEG codec would be just fine. A VHS tape has about 240 lines of resolution, so really, there is little a codec can do to it that hasn't already been done by the fact that it is on VHS



    In terms of the Formac being slow, you're digitizing from an analog device, and all analog devices digitize and output back to tape in real time Be glad you never had to work as an editing assistant, it's about all you get the high priveledge of doing
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  • Reply 2 of 4
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    (x == 1.5) == 1



    In other words, iDVD will only write 90 minutes to a DVD. The quality is not variable like with DVD Studio Pro, IIRC.



    If you want these DVDs to play on commercial players, you're simply going to have to use a LOT of DVDs. On the other hand, if you plan to use the DVDs on your computer, you could compress the videos much more (perhaps with MPEG-4 or Sorenson) and burn the actual files to the DVD.
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  • Reply 3 of 4
    dstranathandstranathan Posts: 1,717member
    Thanks for the video advice guys.



    Regarding audio:



    Most of the stuff I am importing from VHS is mono. What format should I use if I ultimately want to go to DVD, and I dont want high quality audio? I am more concerned about the vdieo data than the audio (but I do want to be able to hear it). I am playing around with different formats, and I cant decide which one to use. I want one that has the best compression and smallest size, but not the worst "crappy" quality (low to medium quality is preferred)
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  • Reply 4 of 4
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    Well, since you're going to be outputting to the DVD, and you'd use an MPEG-2 audio codec then, you would normally digitize your audio losslessly. However, since you're coming from a VHS tape, and a mono source, you can't do much more harm to the audio then what hasn't already been done to it by simply coming from a VHS tape.



    Audio doesn't take a lot of storage space, and mono takes half as much as stereo, so you could digitize the audio as AIFF and not even feel it. Ultimately, when it gets on the DVD, you'll be compressing the audio and video as MPEG-2, and you don't really have an option to use something else.



    In terms of quality, the last thing you want to do is to take something compressed in one codec, then recompress it in another codec to go to your master output medium. But with your audio, you'll eat approximately 5-6MB per minute at uncompressed mono. That's the quick and easy way to do it
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