DVD to VCD Image Quality Issue

[The Confused One]

Hi All,

I'm experiencing the following image quality issue on my VCDs (created from DVDs with SmartRipper, VCD2AVI, TMPGEnc, and VCDEasy:
1) Some shimmering/fluctuating of pixels around the edges of objects/people on the screen. It looks just as if the object is radiating heat causing the image of the areas around the object to be distorted.
2) Some shimmering/fluctuating of patches of pixels in areas where image color is not quite solid, but pretty similar (such as a field of grass).

Are these issues just indicative of VCDs in general, or am I doing something wrong in the ripping/encoding process?

Any thoughts or solutions?

Thanks in advance!

The Confused One

[adam]

Those are common symptoms of having too low a bitrate, something which is unfortunately impossible to avoid with the vcd format.

First off I would STRONGLY recommend encoding in ntscfilm instead of regular film. This saves you %20 more bitrate which is something you simply cannot afford not to use with vcds. Do a forum search on forced film and figure out how and when to use it.

Use the noise filters in TMPGenc. Don't go crazy with them, just add a little. This makes the image softer but it prevents those dancing pixels you are experiencing.

Using both of these can result in some very nice looking vcds.

You may want to consider raising the bitrate and making an xvcd or switching to svcd if your dvd player can support it.

[poopyhead]

if you can afford to not make your VCD standard compliant, you can up the bitrate, use VBR (2 pass VBR is a must if you are using low bitrate)instead of CBR, increase the resolution...also, make sure you set motion search accuracy to high quality (slow)

[The Confused One]

Guys,

Thanks for your help!

The Confused One