Help With Video Capture Settings

Bronson7 · 10-14-2006, 05:15 AM

Well, I just installed a capture card to convert commercial VHS movies to DVD for viewing on TV. but I'm have a bit of difficulty in coming up with the optimum settings. I'm using KWorld's DVD Maker PCI capture card and PVR Plus as the app. I have an older VCR, so I'm using RCA jacks. This is a mono (sound) VCR so I've combined both sound channels of the card to the single channel on the VCR using a splitter (two RCAs into one). The problem is, I'm trying to get the best reproduction without running out of DVD space. I really don't want to buy dual layered disk. I just did a movie that was 2 hrs 10 min long and the file was 5.43 Gigs. The video looked very good on my 17" LCD monitor. Here's a screen shot of my settings. Can I do some tweaks to get the file size down without noticeably degrading the quality? I'm a nubee at this capture thing so any/all suggestions are most welcome. Thanks.
Bronson7

PC eye · 10-14-2006, 05:53 AM

The problem isn't when capturing but when going to burn to dvd. If your burning software allows for a change of settings from "best" to "better" you simply reduce the burn setting to the better. That will see the disk indicator out of space alert disappear. The main problem with burning long videos like movies to disk is the size of the initial file and the processing onto the available 4.2gb seen on most dvd blank media.

You want the quality capture not the better setting for this. The burn setting is the thing to lower in order to shrink the total space used. See if you have that option there.

**The_Other_One** · 10-14-2006, 08:58 AM

Capture quality up, bitrate down, and FPS should be 29.97. You're audio is set to mono. I know you said you only recorded mono, but I'd still set it to stereo to keep with DVD standards(probably wouldn't matter too much, though)

As for what to adjust the bitrate to, check online for bitrate calculators.

PC eye · 10-14-2006, 11:13 AM

The one thing to mention here is plan on having a large drive installed if you going to capture a number of movies off of vhs. A second drive or at least second partition will keep the system from locking when you run out of drive space on the drive or partition where Windows is installed. I've burned enough from vhs to dvd where some files were over 13gb.

The trouble with most burning softwares is that they have only one type of burn quality. One bitrate calculator can be downloaded from http://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm
The jpeg that shows the level setting for Neodvd can be seen here. http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/5...ettingsci2.jpg"

10-14-2006, 05:15 AM	#1 (permalink)
Bronson7 Silver Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 103	Help With Video Capture Settings Well, I just installed a capture card to convert commercial VHS movies to DVD for viewing on TV. but I'm have a bit of difficulty in coming up with the optimum settings. I'm using KWorld's DVD Maker PCI capture card and PVR Plus as the app. I have an older VCR, so I'm using RCA jacks. This is a mono (sound) VCR so I've combined both sound channels of the card to the single channel on the VCR using a splitter (two RCAs into one). The problem is, I'm trying to get the best reproduction without running out of DVD space. I really don't want to buy dual layered disk. I just did a movie that was 2 hrs 10 min long and the file was 5.43 Gigs. The video looked very good on my 17" LCD monitor. Here's a screen shot of my settings. Can I do some tweaks to get the file size down without noticeably degrading the quality? I'm a nubee at this capture thing so any/all suggestions are most welcome. Thanks. Bronson7 Attached Images

10-14-2006, 08:58 AM	#3 (permalink)
The_Other_One Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Lexington, NC Age: 25 Posts: 13,297	Capture quality up, bitrate down, and FPS should be 29.97. You're audio is set to mono. I know you said you only recorded mono, but I'd still set it to stereo to keep with DVD standards(probably wouldn't matter too much, though) As for what to adjust the bitrate to, check online for bitrate calculators. __________________ Primary- i7 920 \| 6GB RAM \| 9800GT \| 160+160+500GB Secondary- Athlon X2 4200 \| 2GB RAM \| 7600GT \| 80+250GB Netbook - Atom N280 \| 2GB RAM \| GMA945\| 160GB

10-14-2006, 11:13 AM	#4 (permalink)
PC eye banned Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 21,092	The one thing to mention here is plan on having a large drive installed if you going to capture a number of movies off of vhs. A second drive or at least second partition will keep the system from locking when you run out of drive space on the drive or partition where Windows is installed. I've burned enough from vhs to dvd where some files were over 13gb. The trouble with most burning softwares is that they have only one type of burn quality. One bitrate calculator can be downloaded from http://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm The jpeg that shows the level setting for Neodvd can be seen here. http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/5...ettingsci2.jpg" Last edited by PC eye; 10-14-2006 at 11:15 AM.

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10-14-2006, 05:53 AM	#2 (permalink)
PC eye banned Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 21,092	The problem isn't when capturing but when going to burn to dvd. If your burning software allows for a change of settings from "best" to "better" you simply reduce the burn setting to the better. That will see the disk indicator out of space alert disappear. The main problem with burning long videos like movies to disk is the size of the initial file and the processing onto the available 4.2gb seen on most dvd blank media. You want the quality capture not the better setting for this. The burn setting is the thing to lower in order to shrink the total space used. See if you have that option there.