Ideal capture resolution for lossless, MPEG, H.264 files?
 

Hello! I know it's been more than a year and a half since I last posted, but I got sidelined on my capturing project with a new baby. (Yes, we now have two under two... which explains my absence. =P)

I went back through all the old posts to refresh my memory (thanks, again, in particular to sanlyn and lordsmurf... you both really helped me understand how to get a world of difference in improved results from where I started), and am back to feeling comfortable with the capturing process.

That is... except for one point on capture resolution which we never actually discussed.

I wasn't sure if I should resurrect our old thread:
http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...tup-input.html

but, I just realized that I wasn't sure I had good justification for capturing old VHS home movies at 720x480.

As a reminder, I am capturing lossless AVIs via VirtualDub using Lagarith YUY2, and am using an ATI AIW 7500 AGP, AVT-8710 TBC, and a JVC SR-V101US.

I have gone through the old posts, the Capturing with VirtualDub [Settings Guide] and the Understanding your Source Guide, and I'm still not sure what the best choice is for me (or why I never asked earlier).

From what I have read:
1. I really only need to capture VHS at 352x480, which also saves space
2. Capturing at 704x480/720x480 doesn't get me anything more quality-wise, and might introduce false detail
3. Capturing at 720x480 is nice, however, because the workflow to encode blu-ray sd or dvd is simpler

So, up until now, I have just been capturing at 720x480... but, 1 and 2 seem like possibly good reasons to change to 352x480. (Even though realistically, disk space is insignificant in the whole scheme of things.)

Would appreciate your advice on this before I get back to resuming capturing these old home movies.

Also as a reminder, I am encoding to H.264 M2T using Premiere Elements. You guys thought the quality ended up great, and I was having a jumpiness in motion when streaming MP4 to my Oppo player. (sanlyn confirmed the same issue playing my files on his Oppo, too.)

I also plan on burning some blu-rays and dvds for family members to view the movies easily later, so having an easy workflow for that is nice, too.

Thank you!

The aspect ratios 4:3 and 16:9 are landscape-styled frames with higher horizontal resolution than vertical resolution. 720x480 and 704x480 have higher horizontal than vertical resolution, which is appropriate for the data needs of 4:3 or 16:9 display. 352x480 has low horizontal resolution and generally looks softer and more blurry than the larger frames. From the outset of DVD, 352x480 was included as a lower-quality utility format than the wider frames.

The BluRay spec does not include 352x480. You can create such videos, but they aren't guaranteed to play correctly with BluRay players. It will work OK with some players, but others could balk with it. 704x480 and 720x480 are both valid for BluRay and DVD as 4:3 videos, but BluRay spec requires 720x480 for 16:9.

Capturing at 704x480 is sometimes done, but the final display will be slightly more narrow because of the way most capture setups occupy less than 100% of the frame horizontally (you will still have black side borders with most capture setups on 704x480 and 352x480). 720x480 is preferred for its greater resolution and workability for post-processing, which almost always destroys some data. A smaller frame gives you less to work with from the outset. Another consideration is that you can't mix frame sizes in the same video, e.g., you can't mix 704x with other frame sizes in the same video.

This link has tables laying out the official BluRay spec for both HD and SD video and encoding with MPEG and h.264: https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=154533.

And I bet it sounds like this: :cry:
Correct? :laugh:

If capturing lossless, just do 720x480 and call it a day.
If MPEG capturing, or even MPEG encoding from the lossless, then we can talk about 352x480.

When converting H.264 for streaming, you'll use a 4:3 SAR, either 640x480 or 720x540.

Note: Premiere hates non-720x480 SD source. So, again, 720x480 for the lossless. Most NLEs, even plain non-NLE editors, hate non-720. It either makes aspect mistake, or flat refuses to import.

And DVD gets back to encoding output as 352x480.

Important here.