Quality difference between variable bitrate XVCD & SVCD?

[TheManuel]

Given the same resolution, is SVCD any better inherently than XVCD at the same bitrate or is the difference only the format specifications?

[WarpEnterprises]

There is no inherent quality difference. But you can encode SVCD as interlaced, which of course gives much better quality if the source is interlaced and the bitrate is high enough.

[TheManuel]

Thanks for the answer.
That's good to know.

It would be nice to find out how TMPGEnc double-lines originally interlaced sources to generate MPEG-1 progressive video.

Then that could be compared with a 540p or 480p HDTV-ready TV and see how you get the best results. I'll try the that when I buy one.