Convert to DVD (VOB) Highest Quality converter?

[Mark97213]

I'm currently using a host of converting programs such as AVStoDVD, SUPER, DVDFlick, ConvertXtoDVD to name a few but for most conversions, I generally use ConvertXtoDVD 4 as well as ImgBurn. These are fairly simple and straight forward programs but sometimes I think that I am losing some picture quality in the coversion.

If time is not of the essence and the program was fairly easy to utilize, which converter would you suggest to achieve the highest picture quality converted VOB files available?

[Baldrick]

avstodvd with hcenc.

But what is your source?

[thymej]

I 2nd hcenc

[Mark97213]

Generally AVI. I've used AVStoDVD with Hcenc and generally works well, I . . . at times, will get an off-sync audio and occassionally will simply fail to burn even with ImgBurn installed. Though I am FAR from a t expert at the settings one should make. I suppose I am just not sure if I am getting the best picture available from the conveter. Should I assume that AVStoDVD should give me as close to the source's picture quality as I can get?

On a side note: Though I have to say I'm confused on something. For example, I downloaded a free video of
a horse galloping training video which Media Info (under Tree view) "General Format" states it to be an AVI and then the "Video Format" states it as an MPEG-4 Visual . . . are the Video and Audio streams just combined to make up the AVI?

[guns1inger]

Use Mediainfo and post a text view of the video specs.

There are a lot of factors that can impact quality - the quality of the source, the amount of compression required, the resolution of the source (very low res needs to be blown up, very high res needs to be scaled down), the running time, and the settings you use to encode with. if you are downloading the AVI files then you have no guarantee of the quality of the video file. A lot of stuff out on the net is rubbish. It may play in tolerant players like VLC, but that doesn't mean it will encode nicely. Audio sync problems are usually more indicative of the quality of the source than the quality of the encoder.

[Mark97213]

Below is a text view of a download that I converted to .vob files using ConvertXtoDVD 4. Although it converted and burnt just fine using ImgBurn , I noticed a drop in video quality, not significant but a noticeable drop nonetheless. I haven't used AVStoDVD for a while due to the last Audio sync prob I had. On that file, I re-converted using ConvertXtoDVD and it had no sync problems at all so I assumed it was just a flaw in AVStoDVD but it could have just been a fluke or a deficiency in my PC's resource availability at the time I was converting or something else.

It sounds like AVStoDVD should give me the best quality, provided I utilize the best settings for my particular source though correct? It's prety simply to use and I do like it but I suppose I need more education on the Video Preference "Setup Video Profiles" as I've generally used the HCenc VBR 2-Pass profile in the past and I really have no idea with regards to the best settings for the Higher/Lower BitRate Kbps to set . . nor for the Higher/Lower Averages Kbps settings.


General
Complete name : C:\Documents and Settings\Master1\Desktop\Completed Downloads\Your.Horse.Advanced.Complimentary.DVDRip .XviD\Your.Horse.Advanced.Complimentary.DVDRip.Xvi D.avi
Format : AVI
Format/Info : Audio Video Interleave
File size : 698 MiB
Duration : 1h 47mn
Overall bit rate : 909 Kbps
Writing application : VirtualDubMod 1.5.10.2 (build 2540/release)
Writing library : VirtualDubMod build 2540/release
Video ID : 0
Format : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile : Advanced Simple@L5
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, QPel : No
Format settings, GMC : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix : Default (H.263)
Muxing mode : Packed bitstream
Codec ID : XVID
Codec ID/Hint : XviD
Duration : 1h 47mn
Bit rate : 767 Kbps
Width : 640 pixels
Height : 272 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.35:1
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.184
Stream size : 589 MiB (84%)
Writing library : XviD 57
Audio
ID : 1
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 3
Mode : Joint stereo
Mode extension : MS Stereo
Codec ID : 55
Codec ID/Hint : MP3
Duration : 1h 47mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 128 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 99.2 MiB (14%)
Alignment : Aligned on interleaves
Interleave, duration : 24 ms (0.58 video frame)
Interleave, preload duration : 142 ms
Writing library : LAME3.90.
Encoding settings : -m j -V 4 -q 2 -lowpass 17.6 --abr 128

[guns1inger]

That is a (very) low quality, low res source. Converting it to DVD is not going to make it look better, or even as good. You have to resize the image, for starters, which will produce a softer outcome. You might be able to squeeze a little detail if you tweak the AVStoDVD script to use a different resize filter, but honestly, you aren't going to get DVD quality from that source.

[davexnet]

As mentioned by guns1inger, Perhaps use spline64resize to try and retain as much of the sharpness as possible.
Regarding the preferences/setup video profiles. I *think* (and the author MrC will correct me if I'm wrong)
that all it does is set the demarcation points of the encode modes.
For example, if the calculated bitrate is 4200 it will choose the encode mode (hcenc 2-pass,
hcenc 1-pass or QUenc) depending on how this table is set. The defaults are pretty good,
choosing 2-pass when the calculated bitrate is lower than optimum.

At any rate you can easily override it during the project by checking/setting it directly in edit title/ video tab.

[Mark97213]

Thanks for the education on this; I was fearful the res wasn't that good to begin with and not that I was actually losing any res during the conversion. Is this file with a Width of 640 x Height of 272 pixels, is it that much of a lower res than a typical DVD (720x480 I think)?

[davexnet]

Usually resizing up doesn't give great results. It actually degrades the perceived image because it's invariably softened.
I don't think there is too much you can do when you're starting out with low-res source.

It might look a little better if you choose 4/3 Vs. 16/9 in the project, but then you lose the anamorphic widescreen.

What is the main problem with the result? The softening ? Are you using the latest release of AVStoDVD ?

[Gavino]

On a side note: Though I have to say I'm confused on something. For example, I downloaded a free video of a horse galloping training video which Media Info (under Tree view) "General Format" states it to be an AVI and then the "Video Format" states it as an MPEG-4 Visual . . . are the Video and Audio streams just combined to make up the AVI?

AVI ("Audio Video Interleaved") is a container format which can hold video and audio in many different (compressed or uncompressed) formats.
In the Mediainfo report, "General Format" indicates the container format (here AVI) and "Video Format" the format of the video stream (here MPEG-4 Visual, or Xvid/DivX).

[_MrC_]

Thanks for the education on this; I was fearful the res wasn't that good to begin with and not that I was actually losing any res during the conversion. Is this file with a Width of 640 x Height of 272 pixels, is it that much of a lower res than a typical DVD (720x480 I think)?

Usually upsizing soften the image, that's why AVStoDVD by default uses Lanczos4Resize filter, which is one of the more sharpening resizer, to upsize video frames. But, if the source is already compromised, don't expect miracles.

If the source is a cartoon, you may achieve good results by applying a MSharpen filter (see 'Edit Title'/'AviSynth'). Use default parameters. Impact on encoding speed is noticeable.



Bye

[Mark97213]

Yes, I am using the latest AVStoDVD and although the picture is 'ok' it just appears too soft. I did try 4.3 and like you said, it did improve slightly but with the loss of 16.9 .Thank you everyone so much for the great help with this and giving me some additional education!!!!