Will This Resolution Look Good On A Standard TV
 

I tried it on my TV and it looks OK. Just wanted to run it past someone more knowledgeable on this stuff.

720x480 is standard NTSC broadcast master resolution. (Actual transmission resolution is much less, however.)

You should not have any resolution-based quality issues...

... but this assumes the file was not downsized before. For example, you can squish a video down to crappy quality, upload to Youtube (lots of recompression, maybe more downsizing), download it, and use some dummy-friendly software to convert it to DVD (which is often using a 720x480 template). While that is also 720x480 resolution, the image contained therein is far from 480i quality.

I'd want to see an actual clip.

VHS tapes, for example, are around or just below 352x480 resolution. That's one reason VHS is soft/fuzzy compared to DVDs made from higher-end non-VHS master sources. (Noting that there are hardware tricks to falsely sharpen a good SP mode VHS tape.)

Here's A Sample
 

Here you go LS. It's a 50 sec sample.

Something is very wrong with that video. It's almost unusable.

The image is inside a 720x480 canvas, but the actual image only occupies a 352x480 area inside it. It's 1:1 352 inside a 4:3 720. It's been captured/recorded wrong. 352x480 only works if you capture it 4:3.

It's also far below the suggested bitrate, which explains the blocks and general degraded digital quality.

Is this one of your captures?
If so, what hardware and software was used? And what settings?

Here's what I've been doing:

(1) Recording from the DVR to a Magnavox DVD Recorder.
(2) Pulling the .vobs from the disc
(3) I load the .vobs into Avidemux 2.5 to delete scenes by frame, and save them to Xvid.
(4) I then load each Xvid file into Emicsoft Converter to convert to MPEG-2.

One thing I noticed that I've been doing is my TV has been set to a "natural" screen instead of a full one, so the black borders show up.

Here's what I done for this sample.

(1) Changed my TV to a full screen, then recorded
(2) Loaded the .vob into Avidemux
(3) Made my frame edits, saved as a straight copy, didn't change to Xvid
(4) Loaded into Emicsoft, saved as a MPEG-2

you should use mpegvcr or mpeg video wizard for removing commercials or other edits.

also sounds like your recording at a bad setting make sure you record to at least SP mode to get 720x480 and not 352x480

use dvdrw discs if you dont want to waste discs

Thanks Konfusion. I wasn't recording in SP either.

OK, here's another sample. Recorded in SP.

^ This was fine.

^ This wasn't. Use an MPEG editor like Womble MPEG-VCR or Womble MPEG Video Wizard.

Even for a 16x9 recording, the ratio of picture:borders was wrong in the first example in the thread.

352x480 is fine. Read this: Is SP MODE the Best DVD Recorder Mode? (NO!)

That assumes the encoder/chipset does well at 352x480 (most do, some do not). :cool:

__

@tebjr: You can attach .mpg files, too -- no need to zip/rar those. ;)

Thanks for the critique LS. After Konfusion mentioned MPEG-VCR, I downloaded that and am really impressed with it.

I assume I'm doing this right now.

I'm pulling from the disc, loadiing the .vob into MPEG-VCR, make my edits, then save.

Did my last sample look OK?

Thanks.