To Interlace or DeInterlace ?

[ubaddala]

All Video Gurus,

I've captured the video from Sony Hi8 (NTSC) at 480x480 (raw AVI) using VirtualDub and during encoding it to a NTSC VCD using TMPGEnc, I have the following questions :
(1). What are the various Stream Types MPEG-1 System (automatic), MPEG-1 System (VBR) and MPEG-1 Video CD ? What are the differences and will each of these will create a VCD compliant MPEG file ?
(2). Can I select any thing other than the CONSTANT BITRATE under the Rate Control Mode to create a VCD compliant MPEG (assuming I stick to the audio size, bitrate, video size etc. as per the VCD requirements)
(3). On the Advanced tab, should I now check the DEINTERLACE or not ? I know that my captured video is interlaced. What are the advantages or disadvantages of checking/unchecking this option ?
(4). When I am done with the encoding, to check the quality of the encoded MPEG file, instead of buring the VCD, I usually play it on my PC (with 800x600 resolution) and output to the TV. Is this the right way to check for the quality of the MPEG file or not ? I do this inorder to save the CD for each of the experiment I do with the settings in VirtualDub & TMPGEnc.
(5). How to play with the Quantize Matrix values ? Which one should I choose DEFAULT or MPEG Standard ? What's the difference between the two ?

Thanks

[Triffid]

For VCD complient video I believe the answers are as follows. Note however that beeing noncomplient does not necessarily mean you can't do it, just that it MIGHT not work in all cases..so feel free to play around.

1) Use MPEG-1 Video CD

2) Use only CBR 1150

3) (Assuming your source in full frame) One way or another you will deinterlace if you are doing VCD, as MPEG1 does not handle interlaced video. SO, it's just a matter of choise as to how. I prefer to throw away one field, as it produces the least blurring. But it is a matter of preference and, to get the result you like best, may vary depending on the content of the video, amount of motion etc.

4) It's proabaly OK, but it depends on how well your TV out stuff works. Best is to burn it (on CD-R/W if you don't want to commit is to CD-R yet) and try it, or part of it out in the real world). Bit rate veiwer may also be useful if you are trying to tweak things a bit and want to get an idea of how it is effecting the qualtization, and to ensure that the file has the characteristics you intended.

5)Playing is easy...just change it (only joking). The differenct between the two is that the 'default' one makes higher quanisation of the upper frequency components of the non-intra coded macroblocks. Now, these are supposed to be the bits you don't notice so much, and it won't effect the intra coded ones (that make up at least the I frames), so it should be fine. It has the effect of requiring less bitrate for the non-intra coded parts, therefore freeing up more bitrate for the intra-coded parts (which are the basis for everything else that is predicted etc.) So, IMO, you should use 'default' if you are bitrate limited (as you probably are with VCD).

Hope this is helpfull......but my advice is play around with the settings, look at the results, and make up you own mind what you like best.

Good luck