Although I now use by DVD recorder for all VHS conversions, over the years I have carried out the vast majority on my PC. So what is better, a DVD Recorder or a Video PC, to capture and convert VHS tapes to DVD-/+R? Below are my experiences as to what is better:
- On a PC there is more control of a DVD's bitrate. There are several different settings on a DVD Recorder for different quality but these will always have a set bitrate. With a PC encode there is the ability to make a DVD at a specific bitrate for one's needs. There is also the ability, if using MP2 sound, of robbing the sound bitrate to give to the video picture's bitrate; it won't notice if it's an old mono recording! There is also the ability for the video to have variable bit rates; less needed for slower scenes giving over more to faster moving sequences.
- There is more control of picture shape and size; also the capability of masking VHS overscan areas, especially the bitrate hungry bottom 'stripe'. If a picture size is widescreen and letter boxed within a 5:4 resolution the picture can be resized to fill the screen or convert to widescreen. This also gives the opportunity to remove any video noise that may appear on the sides of the picture or any tearing issues. Sone of these issues can be done with a VCR to DVD Recorder set up but this will need potentially expensive equipment to achieve this.
- There is the ability to encode videos at different resolutions. See the Video Types page.
- Depending on software, I can make my own menu designs or have a choice of no menu at all! DVD Recorders have a limited amount of menu choices but no ability to have a menu-less DVD.
- Restoration or picture improvements can be carried out during the encoding process. Using programs like Virtualdub or AVIsynth errors in the video can be corrected during the encode; the picture can be sharpened, the colour improved, the picture centralised etc. See the Video Restoration page.
- With a DVD Recorder there is a much quicker end product: record the video and edit. A PC can take a long time to carry out an encode but the DVD Recorder records in real time. A DVD Recorder's DVD can be ready very soon after the capture is finished. In a recent VHS conversion of home movies that I did, the tape was four hours long. To achieve this on a PC would be four hours recording time and then a further four to five hours encode. A whole day for one tape.
- The PC can be by-passed altogether for editing and a standard menu can be added.
- Off-air captures are far superior on a DVD Recorder. The broadcast picture is already compressed and the DVD Recorder doesn't need to compress the whole file again as it captures to mpeg directly. Having said that, any device that captures off-air directly to a format (mpeg2, mpeg4) will always be a better picture than capturing to a large file to be re-encoded to fit a DVDR.
When recording straight from off-air, there is no doubt, that the best method is the DVD Recorder. The DVD Recorder's capture is quick, easy and good quality and as the captured picture is so clean there is no need for further enhancements.
However, unless one needs a speedy conversion, the ability to improve upon a VHS tape's picture, during the encoding process, makes the PC a better investment for VHS tape converstion. Of course some restoration work can be done to an already encoded MPEG file (from either a DVD Recorder or PC) but it would be better, quality wise, if the improvements can be done at the encode stage.
Therefore; a DVD Recorder is better for off-air capture but a PC is much better for VHS conversions.
Having said all that, I use both DVD Recorder and PC for general off-air. I would record a programme on a DVD Recorder, transfer it to DVD-RW, copy the video fom the DVD-RW to PC, edit the video, add a menu (only if more than one episode; otherwise no menu) and re-author to DVD-/+R.
So, maybe the two compliment each other?