THE VIDEO SIGNALS from an analog VCR are not only in composite
video form but are also fairly limited in luminance (Y) bandwidth, due to the
limitations of VHS recording. In fact, the luminance bandwidth is typically no
more than about 3MHz, which corresponds to a horizontal resolution of about 240
lines.
This is only about half the luminance bandwidth and resolution
capability of DVD video discs. These can usually provide a luminance bandwidth
of about 6.4MHz, or just on 500 lines of resolution.
As a result, when you’re transferring video from a VCR onto DVD
via your PC, you may get better results by applying some judicious video
enhancement or "sharpening". It’s true that this also tends to degrade the video
signal-to-noise ratio but most people feel that the overall picture quality is
improved – provided that the sharpening isn’t overdone.
In practice, your eyes can best judge how much enhancement is
worthwhile and how much is "too much".
