Video Capture --> XViD

[WildNeg]

I've captured some video. It encoded with some codec that a howto said would be bessed. The file is 7.6gb in size. I read another howto, on how to do a two pass conversion to XViD. The thing is...if I get something off the internet, a release, the files are like 700mb for a full movie, and very good quality. When I encode mine with the two pass, put the audio at 128kbps Lame MP3, and I select my output file to be like 700mb (and i even went all the way up to 1gb), it is horrible quality (Pixulated... square pixels everywhere). No where like the stuff you can get on the internet.

Is there something I am missing? I have done the deinterlacing too. Anyone have a good howto on what ato do, or am I doing ok with the two pass and I'm just missing one more step?

[rvl123]

Well, you have to remember: "Garbage In, Garbage Out"

Most of the releases over the web are from a "clean" source (such as DVD) and so when re-encoded, the picture comes out cleaner.

Assuming that you are capturing from a VCR or TV (less than half the res. of a DVD) the quality already isnt that great and so when you go to higher compression encoder such as XViD, naturally, you get a lower quality picture.

Try a codec that isnt at such a high compression rate (like MPEG)

[WildNeg]

It's Satellite. Very crisp. The original that I captured is great quality. Perfect from the dish. But uses a 'fast encoder', I think that pegasys one (spelling?). So the file is like 7.6gb. So I run it through XViD encoder via two pass, deinterlace, and encode the audio to 128kbps Lame MP3. But then quality lacks.

Any other suggestions? Anything I can check out?

[DJRumpy]

First off, remember that the encodes you download off the net, are typically done by hobbyists who have a lot of experience with the codec. Second, make sure your source doesn't already have some of these artifacts. The fact that you used a 'fast' encoder would seem to indicate that you captured it ina compressed format, which would introduce artifacts in your captured material. Closely examine the frames where your seeing the noise.

The next thing to remember is that most encodes you download off the net, are reduced in size. Capturing at full frame 720x480 (576) takes a lot of bitrate. Consider reducing the size. Most widescreen encodes from the next are around 640x272. They remove all letterboxing (if any) before encoding.

You should also pre-process your input file, removing any noise in the video. This applies only if it has 'noise' (think mesquito noise, or snow). You said it was from a dish source, meaning digital, but make sure the source file is clean. Satellite companies are known to skimp on bitrate for their broadcasts, giving you a poor quality capture to begin with in order to offer more channels.

Last but not least, you should look at performing IVTC ( www.lukesvideo.com ). If your source is telecined, then you most definately should not deinterlace it. By performing IVTC, you can restore it to it's original framerate (23.976), and reduce the bitrate needed to encode it since your only encoding 24 frames per second, instead of 30. This has the net effect of improving your quality. You can do this only if your source IS telecined though. If it's a true interlaced capture, then you will either need to keep it interlaced, or deinterlace as you've been doing. Check the link above to learn how to tell the difference between IVTC and interlaced sources.