IMPROVE VCD QUALITY TO FOR DVD-R

[dabwee]

How do improve the video and sound quality from a vcd, so it is better quality for a dvd-r?

I want to burn a dvd-r and I have a music vcd but it looks very computerised.

I have "Ulead Dvd Moviefactory SE v 2.0" and "Nero Express", how can I use these to create better video and sound quality from a vcd to a dvd-r?

[dabwee]

I need help with this.

If you convert it to a dvd file(TS files), will the sound and video be automatically upgraded to dvd quality or not?

[lordsmurf]

It is impossible to make something better.
Garbage in = garbage out.

[dabwee]

that didnt help Lordsmurf. Do you know of any free tools or have any advice?

Also, you know of any vcd cutting or editing tools that are free?

[Solarjetman]

tools and advice? As Lordsmurf's said, it is not possible to make a DVD look any better than the source from which it came.

You could try running filters on the video to make it a little better with Virtual Dub or a similar proram, but overall it won't do miricles. Usually the filters will just trade off bad things (like remove blockiness by reducing sharpness). There are lots of guides how to use Virtual Dub.

[presto]

I once lost the orignal tape of a family wedding (It was just my tape not THE wedding tape). All I had left was a vcd that I had burned as an experiment. I looked in the tools section and found a program to rip the video from the cd I think it was then an mpg which I converted to avi with another program. I then used the filters in virtual dub to smooth out the picture and sharpen it a little. It did help but don't expect miracles. I also had to learn about getting the audio into a format that my DVD authoring program would accept.

I did this a couple of months ago and don't have the step by step.

Good Luck

[presto]

Solarjetman.
I laughed when I saw how similar our answers were regarding virtual dub. We must have been typing at about the same time.

[Solarjetman]

I laughed when I saw how similar our answers were

Well, you know... great minds think alike!

[lordsmurf]

I work a lot in video restoration. Most of my video hobby has been spent restoring family videos and cartoons.

The best that can be done is to prey upon a tv's lack of detail and blur video in the hopes of "removing" (actually hiding) the noise. However the ONLY way to REALLY improve video is to have access to the degraded ORIGINAL source and run it through VIDEO HARDWARE (JVC VCR, TBC, etc) and then add some soften and temporal/still noise reductions (which are variations of Gaussian and other blurs) in software. But again, that's using the ANALOG source.

Once it has gone digital, little can be done except to blur it out or augment colors. Sharpening normally does nothing more than enhance the macroblocks or digital noise prints.

You're asking how to magically improve a poor signal to something of higher clarity and depth... or at least that's how I'm reading you. And again, the answer is "impossible".

The best that can be hoped for is to, as said above, trade off one error for another, and stop when you've found the lesser of all evils.

As far as tools, I use use TMPGENC, and the basic version (MPEG1 only) is free. I also use SoundForge 6 and DartPro for audio, as well as ATI MMC for the video (using 8.x version with VideoSoap). But those are not free. Most good software costs money (DVD copying aside).

I'm in the midst of completing my VIDEO RESTORATION guides at lordsmurf.com, but it'll be several more days before I get around to an upload.