DVD Authoring Quality Issues (TMPGenc) Any advice welcome

[vettesea]

Hello All

I feel like I have been in this position before. For some time now I have been trying to edit home DV and produce output on DVD. My process is as follows:

Capture with Windows Movie Maker 2 in DV-AVI format (type1)
Edit using Windows Movie Maker 2
Output to disk in DV-AVI format
Pull sound from file using ffmpeggui
Encode avi file to mv2 using TMPGenc (ES Video only)
Author DVD using TMPGenc DVD Author with the two files earlier created

I have used mainly the guide provided here

http://dvd-hq.info/Compression.html

I have no concern whatsoever about time it takes to encode, I am entirely concentrating on quality. I appreciate that bad camera work can effect quality, but I notice that the blockiness can occur even when there is very little camera movment, often when there is no natural light on the screen, ie filmed indoors under light bulbs.

My bit rate is set to 9600fps with the audio taking up 192. All the other settings are as the guide instructs with best (slow) settings etc.. Everything is set geared to PAL, DVD, 4:3.

Can anyone else offer any other advice that I may be able to use to improve the quality?

Would different capturing or editing software help, or is this purely down to the encoding settings?

Any advice welcome.

[Baldrick]

dvd authoring isn't conversion. i'm moving you.

[vettesea]

Your absolutely right. I am not sure what happened there. I originally went into the Authoring section, however my post timed out as I had to leave my desk for a while. When I logged back in and re-wrote the post it must taken me to another area.

Thanks anyway.

[daamon]

Capture with Windows Movie Maker 2 in DV-AVI format (type1) ... Output to disk in DV-AVI format

I don't know Windows Movie Maker 2, so I shall only offer a guess / opinion:

Can it capture in DV-AVI type 2? Can it save to disk as type 2?

The reason I ask is that I've read a few times that TMPGEnc works better with type 2 DV AVI. You could always capture with something like WinDV or DVIO and then continue with your process...

Pull sound from file using ffmpeggui

Into what format? WAV? Or WAV then encode to a less "hungry" format, say MP2 or AC3? All are OK, but with longer footage WAV will take up more space and so leaving less for video or forcing a lower bitrate for the video = lower quality.

Would different capturing or editing software help, or is this purely down to the encoding settings?

"Capturing" from DV is the wrong term - it's transferring. The difference? When transferring it is exactly that - the data stored on the DV cam is transferred to a different medium - your hard drive, like transferring a file from a floppy to your hard drive. The data isn't affected and so not quality loss. So, yes, it's down to the encoding settings.

This won't improve quality, but could save time and having to save to AVI then encode from AVI to MPEG2 - look into frameserving between your editor and encoder. Some apps do, some don't. Some you can get plug-ins for that will allow it.

Everything else you mention (including the guide you use) looks like how I do it, and I'm happy with my results.

Hope that helps...

[vettesea]

Hello

Thanks for the feedback

Unfortunately WMM2 only captures and works with AVI type 1. I think it may be time to purchase a new editor. Perhaps one that allows frameserving. I have heard the Puremotion EditStudio is very good.

The format for audio on the ffmpeggui was the default and did not create a large file. My video was only 22 mins long, so nowhere near maximum space on DVD.

[bugster]

From what you have said theree seems to be little wrong with your process. Your video bitrate is maxed out as are the other settings that affect quality so the problem must lie with your source material. Video shot using a hand held camera always requires more bitrate due to camera shake. You may not be able to see the movement but the encoder can. Also low light conditions or artificial lighting can introduce noise in to the signal.

About all i can suggest is that you experiment with a few filters. There are 'image stabilizer' type filters that can supposedley help to reduce the camera shake problem that work with DV video and various apps. Some googling should turn up a few candidates. Also some simple noise reduction filters might help to clean up the image a bit before encoding. Virtualdub or avisynth are definitae candidates here with many suitable filters available. Also the noise reduction filter in Tmpgenc is pretty good even on its default settings with the main drawback that it is SLOOOOOOOOW. (qudruple current encode times quite likley).

Hope this helps.

Oh, and invest in a tripod.

[daamon]

Unfortunately WMM2 only captures and works with AVI type 1.

Both WinDV and DVIO can capture in type 2 and are free.

The resultant "type 2" AVI should / may be OK to be used with WMM2. Give it a go - nothing to lose. Try a short clip to experiment with.

Good luck.

[victor010170]

Are you using firewire or usb2? I tried both on wmm1+2, only firewire showed better qa, usb is not. Besides, wmm is not good compare to windv. I do not know why, just based on the result after transfer the movie.

[jellied]

With respect to WMM2: I noticed that when I captured DV (using DVIO) as type 2 avi, the resulting avi had a quality rating of 98% using Avicodec.

When I edited the avi using WMM2, and exported the edited movie as DV -avi (type 1, the only type that WMM2 allows), the resulting avi had a quality rating of 54% percent. There was noticeable macroblocking in the edited avi relative to the raw avi.

So, I would definitely avoid WMM2 as an editor. Also, it has also been my experience that TMPGEnc has problems with Type 1 files, so that is another reason to avoid using WMM2 either as an editor or for capturing DV.

[BSR]

Also, it has also been my experience that TMPGEnc has problems with Type 1 files.

Is this only if your trying to convert the audio also in TMPGEnc? I have used TMPGEnc with ES(Elementary Stream) video only and have had no issues.
Just curious what kind of issues would be seen.

[jellied]

Nope, this is also with ES. The issues I see in TMPGEnc are:

1. Random refusal to open file, even with DirectShow filter priority bumped up. For each file, it opens about 50% of the time.
2. Bizarre encodes: like it will encode just the first frame over and over again to give a 45 minute movie consisting of just one frame.
3. When it finishes an encode, the program just closes without warning. This means that batch encoding doesn't work because just the file first is encoded, then the program closes.

When I switched to type 2 avi and avoided WMM2 for editing, none of this occurred. TMPGEnc now works perfectly.

[ZippyP.]

Encode avi file to mv2 using TMPGenc (ES Video only)

What resolution are you using? I assume you're using the DVD template and full 720x480. Try using 1/2 DVD or 352x480, right click on "size" next to the resolution box under the video tab, select unlock then change the resolution.