Hambone
07-18-09, 02:01 PM
Trying to make this really brief: I'm digitizing about 100 VHS and 8mm tapes from my cousins family. Because of the software I'm using, this is all comming out as MPEG2 files and of course from the VHS days this is 640x480 interlaced.
I'm getting her one of these (as a cheap option - DVD player w/ USB port) and I'm going to give her one of my old USB external drives so she has access to everything on demand in the living room:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8701844&st=philips&type=product&id=1199495403415
I have these paid for tools where I can batch job all the MPEG-2 files:
-Total Video Converter (http://www.effectmatrix.com/total-video-converter/)
-Xlisoft HD Video Converter (http://www.xilisoft.com/hd-video-converter.html)
-Digital Media Converter (http://www.deskshare.com/dmc.aspx)
So for 640x480 from VHS and 8mm currently in MPEG2 format: My issue is I'm not the smartest dude on video file formats. I know that MPEG2 is uncompressed video that is massive in size compared to what it should be. I assume I should be looking at DIVX or MPEG-4 (with a non-interlaced option going).
The full specs on that DVD player include: MPEG1, MPEG2, DivX 3.11, DivX 4.x, DivX 5.x, DivX 6.0, DivX Ultra
Although if you read around MPEG4 and WMV seem to be supported as well (has long as MPEG4 isn't h264).
Any thoughts? My guess is I should look at MPEG4. I probably should also be thinking about what file format is fairly compatible on non-techy computers.
I'm getting her one of these (as a cheap option - DVD player w/ USB port) and I'm going to give her one of my old USB external drives so she has access to everything on demand in the living room:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8701844&st=philips&type=product&id=1199495403415
I have these paid for tools where I can batch job all the MPEG-2 files:
-Total Video Converter (http://www.effectmatrix.com/total-video-converter/)
-Xlisoft HD Video Converter (http://www.xilisoft.com/hd-video-converter.html)
-Digital Media Converter (http://www.deskshare.com/dmc.aspx)
So for 640x480 from VHS and 8mm currently in MPEG2 format: My issue is I'm not the smartest dude on video file formats. I know that MPEG2 is uncompressed video that is massive in size compared to what it should be. I assume I should be looking at DIVX or MPEG-4 (with a non-interlaced option going).
The full specs on that DVD player include: MPEG1, MPEG2, DivX 3.11, DivX 4.x, DivX 5.x, DivX 6.0, DivX Ultra
Although if you read around MPEG4 and WMV seem to be supported as well (has long as MPEG4 isn't h264).
Any thoughts? My guess is I should look at MPEG4. I probably should also be thinking about what file format is fairly compatible on non-techy computers.