MPEG2 vs MPEG1 for a progressive source

[eas]

My DVD player (JVC XV-523) doesn't support SVCD, but appearantly people have been able to use the VCD header trick to play MPEG2 video.

However, my first experiement failed, and I'm wondering if it is worth mucking around with further since my source material (high-quality Xvid AVIs of some TV shows) is in progressive format.

My understanding was that MPEG2s primary advantage was on encoding Interlaced material, though it does offer some smaller improvements on Progressive.

So, is there something I am missing, is it going to be worthwhile to see if I can get MPEG2 playback working, not to mention incurring the expense of licensing a decent MPEG2 encoder?

Also, does the fact that my video is in a rather nonstandard resolution (512x384) influence the decision in anyway?

Thanks!

[zilog_jones]

If the TV shows you're talking about were recorded on video cameras, i.e. not film (I dunno about other people but I find it really easy to tell the difference), then MPEG2's interlaced video capabilities would be of much benefit. If they are taken from film, e.g. animations and the majority of US pre-recorded TV shows, then you'd be better off just using MPEG1 - though if you're talking about film on NTSC video you'll need to do some Inverse Telecine!

But as you say the resolution of your videos are 512x384, the interlacing (if any) would be lost from the content anyway - it needs to have 480 (NTSC) or 576 (PAL) horzintal lines for TV-standard interlaced video to be intact. So, you need not bother with MPEG2 then!

Just don't forget to resize it to VCD standard resolution!