Home DVD has Jitter on DVD Players, but is OK on PC???

[Holden]

I'm putting home videos on DVD. I've created a few DVDs of the same material through both Sonic MyDVD and DVDLab. I've used both DVD-RW and DVD-R

Capture and encoding are no problem. Authoring and burning go well.

However, played to TV through either my Philips or Sony DVD players, camera pans and fast motion cause bad jitter problems. These same DVDs play jitter-free on my PC, through two different DVD drives (Optorite and Cendyne).

Any ideas?

TIA

Greg

[trojanrabbit]

I can only add that you are not alone.

My first DVD I edited and encoded with Studio 7, authored & burned with TMPGEnc DVD Author and it worked fine.

In between the time I burned my 2nd DVD I had to completely wipe my PC and start over, most of my edited MPG files I was able to save (they were also done with Studio 7), but I had to do one over again, editing in Arcsoft Showbiz and encoded with TMPGEnc (can't fine the original CD to load Studio 7). That one segment had jitter problems, the ones done with Studio 7 on the same DVD play fine. The DVD looks OK on my PC. So it looks like there's something in the way that the last file was encoded. I haven't had time to investigate further.

[ImaWeTodd]

However, played to TV through either my Philips or Sony DVD players, camera pans and fast motion cause bad jitter problems. These same DVDs play jitter-free on my PC, through two different DVD drives (Optorite and Cendyne).

What's the difference? The viewing device. TV is interlaced. PC monitor is Progressive.

The jitter problem you describe sounds to be a problem with interlaced video.

Something is wrong with either capture or encode. Field order is a term to look for. You don't give enough info to help.

[argiris]

I am also new to this, and I have the same problem. I tried the evaluations version of CCE and TMPGEnc. The results I got a somewhat strange:

1. TMPGEnc standard DVD templates do not show any jitter (both CBR and VBR). (This is good!)

2. CCE standard template does indeed show jitter, and I have not been able to produce jitter-free output. (I have read the guides on CCE)

3. I tried to change the field order, but the result just became more jittery! While tmpg was OK before, with the inverted field order it showed jitter (as normally expected). CCE just showed MORE jitter.

4. If I do not use the Wizard in TMPG to create a project, but load a settings file instead, then the output is with jitter (Even if I specify the correct field order).

It has been very confusing, but it seems that at least the tmpgenc is working, using the wizard!.

Source material was 25fps full-frame PAL capture from camcorder (720x576).

What is in the back of my mind is that maybe the fast encoders like cce may be optimized for Intel CPUs, while on Athlons (which I have), not only they run slower but also have some other "compatibility" problem? Some small instruction difference??

[ImaWeTodd]

What is in the back of my mind is that maybe the fast encoders like cce may be optimized for Intel CPUs, while on Athlons (which I have), not only they run slower but also have some other "compatibility" problem? Some small instruction difference??

It's not the cpu. For Some versions of CCE the 'field order' option does not work correctly.

To understand this, it is best to break it down.
Here is some of my understanding:

- For interlaced video, there are 2 fields that are displayed on a TV at different times. This makes up a frame of the video.

- DV is spec'd to be lower field first. Counting from zero, this means scan lines 1,3,5, etc. are first displayed. Then scan lines 0,2,4, etc. are displayed. (If you count from zero, the concept of odd/even gets confusing)

- Analog capture cards can muck up interlaced source. They may mark the video as upper field first, but it may be lower. They may also put the upper field in the lower spot.

- To fix this stuff, you need to know what you have. There is a good method posted by adam for determining field order using TMPGEnc.

- In my experience, resizing to different aspect ratios may also introduce problems. Especially noticable with cartoon source.

I have made countless test clips and checked them out on my TV. This is a good idea to really understand what you are doing, and what the options do.

[bmiller]

I had the same problem with Tmpgenc.I changed the field order from bottom B to top field A,and no more problems

[Holden]

Thanks. I'll look into field order. Since this is not an option in Showbiz, I'll have to re-encode with TMPG.

FYI: I captured with a Datavideo DAC-100 and encoded with Arcsoft Showbiz.

The weird thing is that out of seven MPEG clips from a single DV file, the first one is fine and all the rest have the jitter problem. I encoded them all with the same tool. Wierd.

Greg

[Holden]

Getting better! I encoded with TMPG's DVD Wizard and authored with DVDLab.

The video looked great, best I've gotten yet, but the on the TV, the DVD played at a faster than normal speed and all the voices were shifted to chipmonk level.

The DVD plays at normal speed and normal audio on my PC.

Any ideas?

TIA.

Greg

[Holden]

Good news folks. After two months of tinkering and learning, I have finally produced a DVD of my home movies that has the same quality of my source Hi8 tapes.

As for my last question, I was able to make elementary stream authoring work after converting the WAV file with BeSweet to AC3 or something, but a head to head comparison with elementary streams vs. a singe MPG file showed no difference, so I've stuck with MPG for simplicity.

So.... I used Showbiz to capture, TMPGEnc to encode and DVDLab to author.

I'd never have gotten this far without this forum. Thanks!

Greg

[trojanrabbit]

OK I finally got a chance to try adam's method for checking field order, and yes, using the TMPGEnc default, the field order was wrong, so I'm doing the reauthor now. Hopefully this will work.

This video capture was a VHS tape played through my Sony GV-D200 (Digital8 deck) to get a DV output. Can I expect that all of my videos done with the Sony will have Frame A first, or do I have to check every file before I encode? Or is it possible that this is a variable in the VHS VCR?

[andkiich]

99.9% of the time in cases of jittery plaback on a TV it is field order. I'm confident that after the video in question is re-encoded with teh proper field order, there will be no problems.

[trojanrabbit]

Yes, it looks fine on the TV now.

I'm doing another video now, again with the VCR going thru the D8 deck. On the first file I checked, the proper field order is B first. So it looks like each one needs to be checked. Bummer.