Ulead MF2 Quality Sucks

[oiscoot]

I have captured my video and edited the file using Windows MM and saved as DV-AVI & WMV. Quality is so so on both of these when played. I have converted with TMPGEnc Plus to MPG. Quality is fine!
But when I add the mpg to Ulead MF2 and view the final results...it is all fu**ed up! It is very blocky playing, like it is not smooth....wtf happened? Please help me!!!

[Moonstomp]

Did Movie Factory re-encode the MPEGs you added to your project ??

Check the "Project Settings" and make sure that the "Do not convert compliant MPEGs" is ticked. Otherwise MF 2 with convert the MPEGs again.

This can take a long time and will also reduce quality.

[oiscoot]

Oi! Oi! Moonstomp!!!
There was a check there "Do not capture".
You can see the choppiness even before exporting or saving the project (when you view the menus and stuff). I think this might be the TMPGEnc Plus that is causing it...I noticed the chop very slightly when viewing the mpg.
Could it be the output of Windows MM to DV-AVI at 30fps then encoding to 29.whatever using TMPGEnc???
Basicaly, I need to capture this footage, add a title screen, some music, then add DVD menus, then burn it to DVD.
Software is not a problem (most can be found hint hint), but I do like the Ulead MF2 that I have configured after numerous hours to get a template. So any info or advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Moonstomp]

Yo Oiscoot !! 8)

I think probably the problem may be with how you are capturing. I’ve never used MM so I can’t comment on it’s effectiveness. What source are you capturing – VHS ??, Camcorder ?? How are you connecting to the PC – TV Card ?? Firewire ?? How fast is your CPU ??

I’ve done 3 (VHS to DVD) projects using Ulead MF2 with no quality problems. On each one I was capturing old VHS music concert/video footage from my VCR to my TV Card (Pinnacle “PC TV Rave”, WDM TV card).

The first time I captured as AVI using Virtual VCR & Huffyuv Codec (Big file size !!). Then I converted to Mpeg2 with TMPGenc Plus. I just added this Mpeg 2 to my MF2 project – no problem.
*Good thing about using this method is that you don’t need avery fast CPU – I did this with a PIII 550Mhtz CPU – no dropped frames.

The 2nd & 3rd time I used a quicker method. I simply used the “Capture” option in MF2 itself. You can adjust the Bitrate / Quality etc in the “Capture Settings”. However you need a fast CPU for direct MPEG2 capture – I have a Athlon XP2600.

I hope this helps somewhat.

Moonstomp.

[Specialist]

There was a check there "Do not capture".

Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2's codec will not even touch your source video/audio - as long as you follow the correct steps.

1. Click the second button (the button with the large CHECK) in the lower left corner of the Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 interface;

2. Click the CHANGE MPEG SETTINGS button;

3. Adjust your project settings to conform in every way to the properties of your source video/audio;

4. Check the DO NOT CONVERT COMPLIANT MPEG FILES box.

I sometimes work with DVD-compliant MPEG-2 files recorded by a DVD disc camcorder by Panasonic (model VDR-M30).

The source MPEGs have the following attributes:

NTSC drop frame (29.97 fps)
MPEG files
24 Bits, 704 x 480, 29.97 fps
Field Order B
(DVD-NTSC), 4 : 3
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 8800 kbps)
Audio data rate: 256 kbps
MPEG audio layer 2, 48 KHz, Stereo

So I adjust my project settings in Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 to match.

I also check the DO NOT CONVERT COMPLIANT FILES check box.

As a result, no re-encoding of the source media occurs.

Quality is preserved.

Cheers,

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net