Encoding Quality

[70tas]

I am a rank amateur to digital recording. I have an Adaptec 2010, PCI capture card, and I've been trying to figure out what bit rate (encoding level) looks acceptable to me for recording. I plan on recording my old VHS tapes, and would rather not have to split the streams on to multiple DVD's.

I tried recording a 1 minute segment in various bitstreams as shown in the following table (in MB's):

(monochrome/bw) -Sz/1min -Sz/2hrs
Good -25150 -3018000
DVD_Extra_Long_Play -27604 -3312480
DVD_Long_Play -40964 -4915680
Best -50414 -6049680
DVD_Standard_Play -52672 -6320640
MPEG2_Max -95418 -11450160

(color)
DVD_Extra_Long_Play -26546 -3185520
Best -50430 -6051600

My conclusions are that DVD_Extra_Long_Play is probably the best for fitting a roughly two hour capture on to a single DVD. It also seems that there is no discernable difference between bland and white (monochromatic) vs color captures.

I followed up by viewing the different segments and trying to discern the difference between the different bitstreams. I could not see any difference. I looked very closely at the segments and although I think I could see a small difference in the 'good' level I cannot be sure.

I burned all segments on a single DVD and tried to judge them on my television. I still could not figure out which one was better. What's going on?

Is there really a visible difference between the different encoding levels? If so, what should I look for in trying to judge the level I should use? Can someone help?

Thank you

[70tas]

So, can anyone tell me what the difference is?

Thanks

[glbrown]

In the eye of the beholder?

The first issue you need to resolve is the display device. A standard TV is pretty low resolution and is going to mask a lot of quality problems. An HD display is obviously more true fidelity but then highlights quality issues with the original content.

The second issue is the quality of the content. Using a digital display, I now see a big difference between the quality of a local analog broadcast vs. digital hbo and the like that I never saw on a standard tv. The quality of commercial dvds varies too, sometimes because that's the way the director wanted it. VCR tape quality is just generally poor.

1- Get a test dvd. I use Avia to make sure that the video and sound are correctly setup.

2- Make sure that your hardware/software is not adding more quality problems in the mix. 64k blocks, fast hard drives, and such. Do your best and don't obsess over it.

3- Realize that the quality of content varies and just get over it. The absolute finest machine and software are not going to 'fix' a low quality vcr tape. You can manipulate the video stream to make it more appealing but in the end, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. For archive purposes, use the highest quality you can suffer.

[fidget]

Originally posted by 70tas
So, can anyone tell me what the difference is?

Thanks

As you saw, there is not much difference in picture quality for most television programs. Where you will see a difference is when you watch programs with a highly dynamic picture (i.e., a backetball bame, or a show that pans the camera quite a bit).

When I had a TiVo, a backetball game was unwatchable at anything but the highest two bit rates (I don't watch basketball much so can't tell you how the Hauppauge cards compare in that area). Also, the MPEG encoder for the TiVo was rather poor and you could see artifacts (a "halo" around a newscaster) at all but the highest quality (I haven't seen a halo using the Hauppauge cards). Cross fades between two images were a problem with the TiVo, but seem to be fine with the Hauppauge cards.

Some people have said that they have created a special record option for sporting events (around 5+ GB/hr).

[70tas]

I guess the answer is that the low bitstreams are just as good as the high ones for my current needs. I will have to try experimenting with action sequences to see the difference. Most of what I will be putting on DVD however, are old VHS tapes.

My conclusion, is to a low enough bitstream to fit the program on to a standard DVD. Generally this should be less than two hours.

Thank you

[DoughBoy]

70tas, I would agree with your conclusion, my input would be to check out your now converted vhs to dvd on a hdtv and see if it is exceptible, my guess is in anoter ten years it will be hard if not impossible to get an analog tv. So, check out what it looks like on a hdtv and make your decision based on that. Just my 2cents.

[70tas]

I don't currently own and HDTV. I haven't seen the overwhelming reason to get one yet. But you are right in that I should check it out and see if it is acceptable.

Thanks
Tas

[falchulk]

Watch it on your PC monitor, there is no need for an hdtv.