<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><BR><DIV><DIV>On Dec 15, 2006, at 1:22 PM, Brett Kosinski wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV><BLOCKQUOTE class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><DIV bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">I have some confusion as to what format I should be recording in.<BR> <BR> I have a haupage pvr-150 and am recording straight out of the wall cable ( 70 Channels no set top box. ).<BR> <BR> I do not have my myth box setup to display on a TV. Instead I just display on my 20 inch ( 1680 x 1050 ) widescreen monitor.<BR> <BR> I have it setup to record 720 x 480 lines. Im assuming that I am getting some benefit from this setting recording from standard cable.</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR>Actually, given that you're pulling straight from coax, you could probably reduce that to 640x480 or even 480x480. But much of this is quite subjective, so it's often worth it to play with the settings until you get something you like. Remember, generally speaking, at a given bitrate, the higher the resolution, the lower the encoding quality, as there's more frame to encode. So if there's no increase in detail going from 480x480 -> 720x480, your encoding quality will end up suffering for no good reason. <BR><BR>As an aside, there is one other major reason to capture at 720x480: it's the native resolution of a DVD. Thus no scaling is necessary if you plan to burn the content.<BR></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV>That is very true, and a useful point.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Have a look at :</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><A href="http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/tutorial/bitrate.html">http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/tutorial/bitrate.html</A></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Note that there is a plateau beyond which all you are doing is making your files larger.</DIV><BR></BODY></HTML>