I am trying to contert analog VHS to common DVD. Excuse this newbie's DVDA question, but I am trying to minimize the amount of software for this project, wondering if everything I need is in the Nero 6 package of software(?)

Assuming I want NTSC/VHS quality, what are the best compression settings and file formats for capturing video? The ATI software which belongs with my 9700 AIW card seems to work best for capturing video (better than Nero's software), but I am open to suggestions.

While experimenting, what I have captured as 768x480 MPEG-2 is too large to fit 2hours on a DVD. Is it possible to use NeroVision to DVD-author the collection of files, create a minimal menu, and write to a TS_VIDEO directory that Nero Recode will understand and fit to a 4.5Gb DVD??

tia

Go to http://www.digitalfaq.com/ for all the information you need for your AIW card.

And yes, you already have everything you need with Nero and ATI's software.

Thanx Dave for the excellent collection of tutorials!

I am having problems with the menu buttons ... but first:

I captured 3 1-hour videos from VHS as 352x480 ~4kbps, and there total size is ~4.9Gb. NeroVision gives me a clue tis is too much for a DVD, but allows me to proceed ... and I believe Nero Recode will fit them on a DVD anyway.

Proceeding with Nv, I create 3 buttons for the 3 segments, and burn the project to a directory on my hard drive. I haven't yet burned to a DVD, but as a test, I've been trying to play the project with my DVD player software (as from folder). The Nero "Showtime" player recognizes the menu, but refuses to play any segment (blank screen). WinDVD 5 recognizes the menu, plays initially ok, but if I ask for the menu and a different segment, the screen will split and I see a list of names on the right I do not recognize. However, " Power DVD" will properly recognize the menu and play the segments.

Should I burn this project to a DVD and hope a generic player will work??

tia

Best thing would be to try it, IMHO. I wouldn't recommend using Recode to make the video fit. Just put 2 hours on each DVD. The quality of the captured VHS video will not be the best to start with and recoding it can only make it worse.

I only used NV a few times, but it did make very compliant DVDs. I did not have a problem playing them on my stand alone players.

BTW - the author of most of the tutorials on digtalfaq.com reads and responds to messages on dvdrhelp.com. They (dvdrhelp) are more focused on making movies than cdfreaks.