VHS to DVD: which video capture compression?

[vhs2dvd]

Hi there, I'm new to video capture so I'm asking for advice...
I'm going to convert all my old VHS tapes to DVD and I'm going to use my new pc:
- Pentium IV 3,20 GHz, 1GB ram, WindowsXP
- ATI Sapphire X700 256MB DDR Dvi VIVo Pci-Ex
The question is: which is the best compression pfr this purpose?

I'm starting with VirtualDub (which is correctly "seeing" my graphic card) because Adobe Premiere won't let me capture any video apart from a DV source (why is that by the way? Premiere is not accepting my X700 card apparently).

Anyway what should I do with VirtualDub? Which kind of compression should I use to find a good compromise between size and quality for a dvd playback?
On "capture mode" I select my "ATI Rage Theatre video capture (direct stream)" device, but there is no compression available (video menu - compression...); what am I doing wrong? any codec missing or something?

Thank you in advance for your reply!

[vhs2dvd]

VHS to DVD - additional note

Just to give you an idea of what I've been doing with VirtualDub:

- "capture mode":
- File menu - set capture file (*.avi)
- Device menu - 1 "ATI Rage Theatre Video Capture (DirectShow)" - that's the WDM driver for my graphic card
- Video menu - Preview
- Video menu - Video Source - either Video Composite (for VHS source) or Video SVideo (for SVHS source)
- Video menu - Capture filter - Standard video: PAL_B (please note I'm Italian)
- Video menu - Capture Pin - Frequency 25, Colour UYVY,
dimension 720x576
- Video menu - Compression (and this is the problem...) - the only available option is "(No recompression: UYVY)"

Result: 610 MB for a 30" clip!! Any idea to compress it while acquiring it?

Thanks in advance.

[jm1647]

I did all my VHS tapes to DVD on a standalone DVD Recorder in the 3 hr and 4 hr mode putting (2) 1 1/2 or 2 hour movie VHS tapes on 1 DVD with no loss of quality as it appears to me.

[vhs2dvd]

I did all my VHS tapes to DVD on a standalone DVD Recorder...

Thank you for your reply. I actually need to edit these old VHS tapes a little bit before putting them on dvd, that's why I need to bring them on my pc in the first place...

[atifsh]

since ur using a vivo card there must be a bundled software with it for capturing , pls look into ur cd's. u can capture straight to mpeg2 [dvd].

i had a leadtek winfast vivo card , with it's software i can capture to mpeg1, mpeg2, vcd/svcd, and dvd compatible files.

[tigerman8u]

IMO the ATI MMC is still the best software to use for capturing with an ATI card. I do like Virtualvcr also

[paglamon]

- Video menu - Compression (and this is the problem...) - the only available option is "(No recompression: UYVY)"

It seems Virtualdub cannot "see" ur codecs.Plz confirm that u have ur codecs(Huffyuv,Picvideo etc.)correctly installed.This can be done from My Computer/Control Panel/Sound & Multimedia/Hardware/Video Codecs--Properties.If they r ok then try to reinstall Virtualdub.