Unsuccessful in Creating a Good VCD

[Fashiondon2]

Is there a guide for coverting a downloaded AVI to a quality VCD. I download a 29 FPS AVI file and used VIrtual dub to capture, TMPGNE to encode and VCD easy to Burn but the quality was poor. I have used the TMPGE guide. I am not highly knowledgeable and need a basic guide to walk me through and provide
some background on the topic. Anyone's help would be appreciated

[ian follow]

If you downloaded AVi, what did you capture with VirtualDub?

No. 2, downloadable movies are always of great quality, so maybe your sorce isn't good. Give us some more data.

[ian follow]

I was too fast... There's another thread by same author, maybe one is to be deleted?

[Fashiondon2]

I downloaded the file and then used Virtual DUB to add filters and added a compression code DIVX 3 and then created a new AVI file and then encoded using TMPGE. What do you mean bu No. downlad file. Thank for your suggestions in advance

[gll99]

Some downloaded movies can be cleaned up a bit by filters but most of that is smoothing out detail. Tmpgenc cannot really improve those. Unless you describe what you see exactly we will all assume that it is a poor source video. If its a processing problem then we may be able to help if you describe what you don't like about your VCD.

[Fashiondon2]

The file is pixelated and dark barely watchable on DVD player. The file looks OK when it is small on windows media player but is pixelated when enlarged on PC or burned to a VCD

[gll99]

is the original file pixelated or just the mpeg?

What specs did you use to encode the movie.

[Anonymous65]

You will find some basic infromation on how to create a high quality VCD here http://steve.kittelsen.com/vcd

[mats.hogberg]

Fashiondon - One problem I see with your method is that you're reencoding (while applying filters) to a new DivX3 AVI, thus intruducing a degradation in quality. Why not open the AVI in TMPGEnc rightaway? If you must filter it before encoding to MPEG, then frame server it to TMPGEnc from VirtualDub instead of encoding to the intermediate AVI.
And remember, a VCD MPEG will not match a nice DivX, at least not as long as you stick to the VCD specs. But you can expect VHS video quality with crystal clear sound.

/Mats

[Harley Quinn]

You say downloaded movies are usually very good quality, I 'backup' dvd's using dvdx and the panasonic codec then burn them to vcd using nero. At the same time I have downloaded over 50 movies of all sorts from divx avi mpg vcd and svcd, but none come close to the quality I get when doing my own, I never download the small sized movies as obviously quality is lacking in small movies I always go for movies in 2 parts above 600mb, if I can do it why can't the people who upload these movies do the same?

[Fashiondon2]

If the AVI downloaded is 14.5 FPS and 352X240 will I be able to encode a VCD that has the quality of VHS??

[gll99]

If the AVI downloaded is 14.5 FPS and 352X240 will I be able to encode a VCD that has the quality of VHS??

Need more info even to guess.

1) is the avi video clear to in full screen mode, look at background not just the main characters, is the detail crisp or smooth. Are there any wiggly lines or distortion around the faces.
2) What size is the file
3) How many minutes in the movie

Do you know the compression bitrate?

[Fashiondon2]

Need more info even to guess.

1) is the avi video clear to in full screen mode, look at background not just the main characters, is the detail crisp or smooth. Are there any wiggly lines or distortion around the faces.
Answer: The Video is not clear in Full screen mode

2) What size is the file
Answer: 576K

3) How many minutes in the movie
Answer: about 60minutes

Do you know the compression bitrate?[/quote]
Answer: Where do you find that information

[gll99]

I hope you meant filesize is 576mb not k.

To find the bitrate and other info you can use various tools.

Sometimes the media player gives it
You can load it in Vdub and check file..info
You can go on the left panel and get a tool under Other....tools....
look for GSPOT

Based on the fact that its not clear in full screen mode I can tell you that it cannot be made clearer and therefore a vcd or svcd will not be as good as vhs (unless you have a very bad tape

I'm a bit surprised that its not clear, if I extrapolate the data to a normal capture that would mean that at 29.97 fps it would have produced a 1.2 gig file per hour. Using an mpeg4 based encoder that would normally mean a total bitrate of about 2500 kb/s. Unless the audio is uncompressed and makes up a good chunk of the file it should have produced a better video

[Fashiondon2]

So, what you are saying is if the downloaded AVI file is pixelated or not clear when viewed after downloading than the converted VCD will never have the quality of atleast a VHS fromat. Is this correct???

[gll99]

I am saying that if the input file is not clear (as in foggy) then you cannot make it clearer (as in crisp detail). If it is snowy then you may be able to apply a noise filter or smoother to remove this noise but you will also lose detail. The resulting video will look smooth or blended with small features disappearing or washing out. Noise filters and smoothers work by comparing pixels either left,right, up,down or diagonal depending on the algorythm applied and then blending or averaging them together. They remove noise and rough edges but it also takes away detail. Some are more complex than that but you get the idea.

Some think the movie looks better because they see no snowy pixel but then again the sky is almost a uniform color and the trees have no discernable leaves and even ears fade away, background characters have no faces etc...

The crisper the input video is the sharper the movie will be.

There is a different problem caused by macroblocks breaking up the picture because of improper settings in the encoder. They are square blocks that break into the picture every now and then. They could be in one part of the picture only and last 1 second or so and disappear. If this is what you see then its a different problem.

[Fashiondon2]

This is exactly what is happening. Any suggestions on settings? Thanks

There is a different problem caused by macroblocks breaking up the picture because of improper settings in the encoder. They are square blocks that break into the picture every now and then. They could be in one part of the picture only and last 1 second or so and disappear. If this is what you see then its a different problem.

[Fashiondon2]

Do you know the compression bitrate?[/quote]
Answer: 309 kb/s

I this OK??