Converting Sony DV to SVCD

[Riker64]

I captured DV from my Sony TRV350 via firewire using Ulead VS 6.02 and it looked great while capturing. I then ran the file through TMPGEnc 2.58 to convert it to SVCD 480x480 2150 bitrate (I think - I used the defaults). I then ran this file through TMPGEnc to do the "header trick" so my set top player would play this (S)VCD. The quality looks terrible. Much worse than my analog captures that I convert this way.

This is a digital camcorder. I bought this because I thought the quality would be so much better. Am I doing something wrong in the conversion to SVCD? Do I need to use a variable bitrate? Increase the bitrate? I capture at 720x480. Please help!

TIA

[Tommyknocker]

First things first: Upgrade VS6 to VS6.5. Then, if there are no filters or effects that are native to TMPGEnc, use VS to encode your DV to SVCD. Select the Start page.

Select SVCD as the project video. Capture your DV as normal. When finished capturing, go to the Finish page and save as a SVCD file for your favorite burner or go ahead select create SVCD and use VS's MMC burner engine.

[Riker64]

I'll try that. Does Ulead VS's MPEG encoder comparable to TMPGEnc?

I'll have to save the edited video to an SVCD file, because I need to run the header trick in TMPGEnc in order to play the (S)VCD disc on my set top player.

[Tommyknocker]

The TMPGEnc encoder is more powerful with more options. There is also a frameserver for Ulead programs that let you capture with Video Studio, but instead of saving to a VS file, save it to a frameserver. Then TMPGEnc can encode this file for you. It is like having TMPGEnc with a capture option. Look in the Tools section for video server if you are interested.