I am looking for some ideas or tip on the topic of “VHS Videos to DVD/VCD Conversion”. Any help would be greatly appreciated.



Here is some info on what I have:



I have the software and hardware to capture video to my PC and a DVD/CD burner to make the discs.
I have been using my VHS-C video recorder for past several years using, I believe, the “LP” mode on my video camera to be able to record 90 min video on a 30 min VHS-C tapes. I realize that the video quality is a bit worse than the “SP” mode; don’t know how much worse though.
I have used software like Sonic myDVD that came with my DVD burner and/or the video capture card. This software captures the video creating an mpg file and then processes it to burn the DVD. This DVD has the audio coded as “LPCM 2-ch unspecified” and the DVD runs fine in my old (1999) Sony DVD player.
I have another software, Honestech VHS to DVD Deluxe 3.0, that captures the video and burns a DVD with “MPEG-1 2-ch unspecified” audio. This DVD has difficulty playing in my Sony DVD player getting stuck at places or simply doesn’t play to begin with (showing “C:13:…” on the TV screen). This DVD plays fine in my Philips DVD player, though.




My questions are:



I vaguely remember reading somewhere that for a “DVD standard” the audio must be at least either Dolby Digital or LPCM. Is it really true? Although, when my Sony DVD player plays a DVD that has audio coded as “MPEG-1 2-ch unspecified”, it shows as “PCM” on the player display.
I am wondering about the video quality of my original videos on VHS-C tapes recorded using “LP” mode on my video camera. Any guidance here?
If my original videos are not as good as “DVD quality”, what’s the point in making DVDs out of the tapes? Instead, I am thinking I could make DivX videos after capturing and burn the DivX files on CDs and or DVDs. I am thinking DivX videos would not come out any worse than DVDs made from the original VHS-C tapes. Would this be true?
My Philips DVD Player has a DivX logo on it. So, the DivX video files on a CD or DVD should play fine, right?
I have heard that DivX format video would take about 650MB for a 60-90 min video. Is it true?


Any comments would be greatly appreciated.



Thanks,