Avi to mpeg through TMPEgEnc

[getaman]

I have had some issues converting avi videos captured from PAL VHS tapes with TV card. I convert to DVD PAL720x576 mpeg-2 with TMPEGENC Plus. While in the wizard after loading the video file I sometimes see the message judging field order and the video type is automatically set to Bottom field first (field B). In some DVD players this setting made the picture go kind of bad. I made a different setting when re-recording the videos, but then it looks wierd on the computer instead, but good on TV.

I dont know what setting to use, if Ishould trust the auto setting every time. I dont really understand the meaning of Fields etc..

[sanlyn]

Don't use the wizard. If your video isn't BFF, use the settings and advanced interface to set TFF and any other options you want, including some very effective color correction and anti-ghost filters.

[getaman]

Okay. I'm sorry but what is BFF and TFF?

[sanlyn]

BFF=Bottom Field First.
TFF=Top Field First.
Each frame of interlaced video has an Even and an Odd Field. 100 frames of interlaced video has 200 fields. Regardless of whether the field priority is BFF or TFF, the rule is that the "first" field displayed is the Even field, the second field is the odd field. Even fields are numbered 0, 2, 4, 6, 8..., odd fields are numbered 1, 3, 5, 7, 9...

The above is extremely basic stuff. Not knowing such basics, you're at a serious disadvantage. Whether you're using the most basic of encoders or more sophisticated NLE's like Vegas or Premiere, you're at the mercy of wizards and default settings if you don't know what you're doing. You don't have to be an MIT postgraduate to work with video encoding, but you should at least know what fields, frames, and bitrates are. Your initial query indicates that you don't know whether your source video is interlaced, progressive, telecined, BFF, TFF, and likely you're not aware of frame sizes, aspect ratios, etc. You're asking for a complete course in video structure and processing.

I wouldn't even know where to start. Try starting here: What is interlacing?

Here are two TMPGEnc Plus guides. Both are somewhat dated, but the interface hasn't changed since 2004. Each discusses different aspects of encoding and different types of video. They have illustrations and screenshots (in the first link, click on the pictures to expand them):
Rui's Guide To TMPGEnc
Lordsmurf's early guide to TMPGENC

And here is some material on a lot of basic stuff you don't know yet: http://www.digitalfaq.com/guides/video.htm

Otherwise, you have to take whatever results that wizards and automation give you. That's the great problem with wizards: one never learns anything or understands what's happening.

For more detail about your current videos, you can post a brief few seconds of your source here (before encoding). If you want suggestions about how to extract a brief video cut, ask here. But to describe the problem as making "some videos go bad" doesn't tell us enough to allow a reply.