Quicktime and .mpg files ?

Were the files encoded as MPEG-1 or MPEG-2? If the videos were encoded as MPEG-2, QuickTime cannot play them without the optional (and extra-cost) MPEG-2 Playback Component. You can see a list of all the formats and codecs QuickTime supports here:

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/player/specs.html

Note that QuickTime Pro can play multiplexed MPEG files but cannot edit them (you do not need Pro if all you care about is playing the videos). If you're using Roxio's Easy VHS to DVD, it has the option to output in other formats, so you might instead want to choose MPEG-4. That's a more modern codec and will probably yield better quality while not requiring any additional QuickTime components to play. If you just want to play the videos you've already encoded and don't actually need them in QuickTime for some reason, try the freeware VLC Media Player.

Regards.

Message was edited by: Dave Sawyer

That's because you're missing something.
I am not saying any plug-in, I am talking about the QuickTime itself.

As you can see the info on QuickTime's page,

Innovative Technologies

Each and every new version of QuickTime has included breakthrough technologies that have pushed the digital media industry forward. QuickTime 1 pioneered the digital media industry by playing back digital video smoothly on a personal computer for the first time via the video compression format “Road Pizza.” QuickTime 6 led the way for ISO-compliant MPEG-4, 3GPP and 3GPP2. And now QuickTime 7 with H.264 video once again leads the industry.

That means, when you want your VHS to be digitized, you don't use MPEG1 or 2, it's the backward, not forward. MPEG 2 is an old technology. QuickTime is not for it, QuickTime is for better tech.
As you can see, if you want to go backward, there are tons of encode software you can easily have and make lots of MPEG2 files or DVDs, but it's ridiculous to go into the past of tech. It's almost 2010 now, you should start taking QuickTime's advantage and use H.264 embedded in QuickTime 7.

MPEG2? It *****! It's just like windows 95.
In Macintosh, we use H.264 with QuickTime.

According to the support information I've found on Roxio's site, if you use the Send to QuickTime Player command, your captured video will be converted to MPEG-4 and opened in QuickTime Player. The MPEG-4 copy of your movie will be saved in ~user -> Movies > Easy VHS to DVD Capture.

Not in your version?

I noticed that the resulting MPG4 file is about 1/4 the size of the original MPG2 file. I assume that this means that it is fairly heavily compressed. Does this affect the viewing quality (I am converting these things to DVD to play on domestic television and being in the UK, this will also be PAL) ?

It depends on the settings the software is using for the MP4 conversion. MPEG-4 is a more efficient codec than MPEG-2, so it's possible that the quality won't be reduced much in the conversion at the default settings, but I don't know since I don't know the settings the software uses. You'll probably want to take that up with Roxio or in their forums.

Converting from one compressed format to another is something you generally want to avoid, though, so capturing from the VHS deck to a non-compressed or lightly-compressed format (such as DV Stream) would be best for highest quality. But the Roxio software may have very limited options; often software like this trades options for simplicity. MPEG-2 is a distribution codec, not an editing codec, though, so if you want to edit the files once you capture them, you're going to have to convert the MPEG-2 to another format, again such as DV Stream, for editing.

I looked for the Quicktime MPEG2 component in the apple shop and it is nowhere to be seen apart from the US website wher it is $19.99. Has apple stopped selling this now outside the states ?

http://store.apple.com/uksmb67752/product/D2187Z/A?mco=NDc0MjQ3Mw

Regards.

Message was edited by: Dave Sawyer