Question about best format for DVD - from old VHS
 

I don't know a whole lot about different formats. I have an older video, that was shot with a VHS camcorder. Current format I have it in, is MPEG-4 Movie. I'm using Sony Vegas.....and want to get the highest quality of the original I can onto a DVD, that will play on most DVD players. The video is 1 hour 47 minutes long.

Re: Question about best format for DVD - from old VHS
 

Hi David

I did our wedding from VHS and onto DVD. Firstly bear in mind that we are talking a 2nd generation copy and at little more than 200 line resolution you won't get it looking too good anyway!!

Personally I would take the original tape and capture it into SD DV-AVI and then render in Vegas to MainConcept MPEG2 which is pretty much standard for all DVD compilations.

If you only have the MP4 to work with then render it out to MPEG2 using the NTSC DVD preset and you should get a reasonable image to watch ..that's about the best you will get. However I find the dropping the "Sony Sharpen" plugin onto the video track (but leave the setting at zero) does help when rendering SD MPEG2 files.

Chris

Re: Question about best format for DVD - from old VHS
 

I don't have the VHS.....have no clue where it is either, lol. Just have the digital copy. I'm not expecting alot quality wise....just wanting to get the best that will fit on a single DVD and play in most players. I'll do what you said as far as rendering it as MPEG2 and see what I get. Thanks!

Re: Question about best format for DVD - from old VHS
 

Hi David

You might have an issue with squeezing all that onto one DVD but at default bitrate using the preset you might just get 107 minutes on with no problems.

If it's just too much for a DVD then re-render and under "Custom" change the average bitrate from 6000 down to 4200 and it will easily fit on!!

Chris

Re: Question about best format for DVD - from old VHS
 

According to my bitrate calculator, you can use a custom VBR setting of 9,256,000 / 5,288,000 / 3,168,000
Use the default AC-3 template for audio.
Do this as a two-pass render to maximize quality.

Re: Question about best format for DVD - from old VHS
 

Thanks Mike

My rough calculations figured that the default average of 6000 wouldn't have made it..with your calculations it shows that if definately wouldn't have made it with the 9000/6000/14200

The calculator is a useful tool!!!

Just for interest what do you allow on a DVD for video file size so there is still enough space for the leadin/leadout and inf files to be written??? I always try to keep the video file/s total under 4.5GB but I think one can squeeze a tiny bit more in practice??

Chris

Re: Question about best format for DVD - from old VHS
 

Chris, I use the tried and trusted Mark's DVD bitrate calculator (David, you can find it at http://www.johncline.com/bitcalc110.zip), with two customizations.
Click "Settings" on the main screen, click "1 kilobit = 1000 bits" and (more important) set the "Safety Margin" to 5%.
I've done thousands of DVDs over the years and these settings have never failed me.

For David, here's a screenshot of the custom Vegas settings tab.
Remember to set the "Quality" slider to it's highest setting (i.e. 31).

Re: Question about best format for DVD - from old VHS
 

Hi All,

A really simple bitrate formula that I got from the Adobe website a few years ago is 560/minutes=bitrate. In this case, 560/107=5.23. Assumes using Dolby audio.

I usually round down a bit to allow for menus and such, so 5.1 should be perfectly safe (not to say 5.2 wouldn't work, but may be cutting it close).

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

Re: Question about best format for DVD - from old VHS
 

Check to see if you mpeg-4 movie is interlaced. If it has already been deinterlaced to 30p consider using a DVD authoring system that allows you master a 30p progressive DVD. I do not think DVD Architect allows this, but it is in the standard. If the mpeg-4 movie file is interlaced, procede as above.

Re: Question about best format for DVD - from old VHS
 

DVDA does allow you to author a 30p DVD. That's what I use for most of the dance rectial videos I do.

Re: Question about best format for DVD - from old VHS
 

I rendered the video again today with these settings. Took around 3 1/2 hrs.....now the final doesn't have any audio. Thoughts?

Re: Question about best format for DVD - from old VHS
 

Render your audio using the default Dolby Digital AC-3 Pro template.
Give it the same name as you did your video file and render it to the same folder.
That way, when you load your video file into DVD Architect, the audio will automatically follow.

Re: Question about best format for DVD - from old VHS
 

This is interesting. Could you copy one of the .VOB files from your 30p DVD and check with mediainfo

MediaInfo

to see if it is reported as 30p or 60i?