DV AVI to MPEG2 Problems

[neo265]

Does anyone have any problems converting DV AVI's to MPEG2 with MainConcept & TMPGEnc?

After I convert an AVI, the MPEG2 output always looks slightly jerky, a bit like its missing a frame. Its not a massive issue but it does spoil the picture quality. It just doesnt look as smooth as the AVI. I know its compressed therefore loses some quality.

Any ideas?

[gadgetguy]

DV AVI is interlaced, BFF. You may be reversing the field order or improperly deinterlacing. I don't use either of those products so I can't help with specific steps.

[Baldrick]

Are you keeping it interlaced and have tried change the field order in tmpgenc and mainconcept?

[neo265]

Ive used G-Spot to check the source DV AVI and its Interlaced, Top Field. Ive converted based on this but it still doesnt look as smooth.

[gadgetguy]

Where did this DV-AVI originate from?

[neo265]

From my camcorder. Its a Panasonic NV-DS60. PAL

[gadgetguy]

If it was capsferred via Firewire it's BFF. Regardless of what G-Spot says.

[neo265]

Yea it was via Firewire. Also tried BFF and looks no different.

I am judging the video via Media Player on a prog scan LCD.

[Baldrick]

Try play with another dvd/mpeg2 software player, like vlc, media player classic or powerdvd, windvd.

[gadgetguy]

If you're familiar with AviSynth you can easily check the field order by using

AssumeBFF.SeparateFields()

Then open it in VirtualDub and step through frame by frame. If it's BFF any motion should be smooth. If motion jumps back and forth it's TFF. You can verify with:

AssumeTFF.SeparateFields()

If field order is not the problem then more details are needed. Perhaps if you could post a few seconds of video to demonstrate?

[neo265]

Tried PowerDVD and it looks very jerky, more so than Media Player. The DV AVI look fine in P-DVD though.

[neo265]

There are tonnes of settings within TMPGenc, are they any which need to be changed? Has similar settings within MainConcept so Im assuming they are common across other encoders.

Not used Avisynth. Is it worth getting?

Perhaps Im being over the top as its only a suble judder with motion. Should I really be seeing MPEGS converted from DV AVI which look exactly the same, motionwise?

[gadgetguy]

When watched at normal speeds there should be no noticeable difference between the original DV-AVI and a properly encoded mpg2.

AviSynth is a free and very powerful editor, but it is not user friendly as it is script based. There are several GUI interfaces available, but I prefer direct editing the scripts. It is what I use for most of my video needs. IMO it is well worth learning.

[neo265]

I'll give AviSynth a try, but its probably over my head.

Thanks for all your help. I was hoping it was a common thing which I could sort by clicking a button, wishfull thinking really. I'll keep trying different things.

[neo265]

Still not having any luck. Think I have tried all the settings within TMPGEnc and Im still not getting a perfectly smooth MPEG2. Im a bit reluctant to try anything else due to the ease of use of TMPGEnc and Mainconcept. What does everyone typically use on here?

[gadgetguy]

All of my editing is done in AviSynth, then I feed my AviSynth script into HCEnc to encode the video and QuEnc for AC3 audio.

[Soopafresh]

"Still not having any luck. Think I have tried all the settings within TMPGEnc and Im still not getting a perfectly smooth MPEG2. Im a bit reluctant to try anything else due to the ease of use of TMPGEnc and Mainconcept. What does everyone typically use on here?"



Avisynth. It's easier than you think.

[neo265]

Thanks for all the advice. Glad Ive found this forum as I've learned lots already.