My VCD's look terrible

[digiman]

I'm trying to make vcd's from a vhs tape. Burning with Nero. Capturing with Dazzle and editing with movie star. The picture looks fine on my computer clear as can be. When I burn it and play it in my stand alone dvd player it looks fuzzy. It's like there is an outline not really a ghost but an outline around everything; I mean every person or object has this outline around it. This makes the picture look fuzzy. Is this because when I produce it in movie star using the video cd template and then burn it in nero it's encoding it twice. Is there anyway to make the picture clearer? Any help would be appreciated.

[mopar7]

Ya, anyone know how to clean up the picture. I get the same, with my AIW128Pro. Looks great on the computer, after burning it has outlines around the edges.

[vanillabox]

What format (NTSC/PAL) is nero trying to encode it to?
What format (NTSC/PAL) is TMPGEnc trying to encode?
What type of cable are you runnig from your DVD Player to your television (RCA/S-Video)?

Make sure your are encoding what you need it to be on the first encode, otherwise it may hurt your quality. Also check to make sure that the cable you are using is of good quality. Your image will be only as good as the worst component you use in your entertainment system, which in most cases is the cable people use.

[mopar7]

Hi, I am using MMC7.1 on the AIW 128Pro, NTSC format, and the RCA cables to the tv. And it looks reat on the computer.

[T-rad]

another problem might be that a vcr is only capable of (ntsc) 320x240 so ur encoding up to 352x240 also bitrate of the capture means alot when encoding so u might wanna try capturing at a higher bitrate/ size and encoding down to vcd (it won't help alot, but it will some)

[mopar7]

Oh, ya, the cables are cheapies, however, other vcd's look fine.

[mopar7]

I am capturing at 115000 bits per\sec, I followed the instructions for AIW capture from this website, using the MMC registry tool, the picture is better than what I originally got, but cleaner would be better. It's noticeable on a 55inch tv.

[Stinky]

@mopar7 -- up your bitrate past 1.15 ... keep the vcd bit at 1 and see if your VCD player will play xVCD's

1.15 = standard VCD

anything higher is xVCD - I get great results with 1.55 - 1 hour on a cd-r (after I cut the commercials)

BUT.... if you want the BEST quality you can get - capture to VirtualDub with a lossless codec (as AVI) and then convert to VCD -- plus when you convert you can cut the bottom and sides of the capture to remove the strange stuff you get from VCR recording

there is so much on these topics - just search this forum

[Guiboche]

I would just like to say that if you are trying to encode a VCD from an analog tape source, it will look like crap no matter what you do. VHS, and even SVHS and Betacam SP sources do not compress very well under the VCD standard. I have tried my best using numerous settings with almost every encoder out there and the results have always been less then satisfactory. The digital formats (MiniDV, Betacam SX) compress better, but because of interlacing, sharp edges, and contrast problems, these formats will always look terrible under the VCD standard.

Unless your source is film, don’t expect quality from your VCDs. Of course, other factors come into play (film is always shot with good light, and is not shaky, etc, etc) as to lighting conditions, and tripod use, but even perfectly shot video still looks pretty terrible when encoded to VCD.

Thanks for your time.

Guiboche