Ulead VS7 MPEG2 to TMPEGenc Plus MPEG1

[miki]

HI all, Im a newbie in video stuffs. First of all, forgive my limited english since im not a native speaker. Ive been visiting this site for almost 2 years now but this is my first time to post a question. Below are a little history of what im doing and what i want to achieve. I hope experts here can help me out..thanks

**HISTORY**
* Im making VCDs out of our home made videos taken from Hitachi DVD Camcorder.
* Captured it through USB. No firewire port on the camcorder. only USB1.1 but my computer is USB 2.
* Capturing from camcorder to computer no problem but it take soo long. I used Ulead MovieFacrory SE for DVD Camcorder.
* I made 5 working VCDs just fine by using MF for capturing, Videostudio7 for editing & encoding, burn to VCD1.1 image file by using VCDEasy since my other VCD player supports only VDC1.1 playback, then i finally burn to disc by using nero.
* I put transition effects in evry clip and some filters (VS7)
* I add pictures taken from my digital stll camera (Kodak DX3600)

**PROBLEMS**
* Most of my shots are dark
* Lost of quality (watery) when made to vcd
* most faces of people (still pictures only) are gumbled or misformed especially the eyes and nose..this is my major problem.

**QUESTIONS**
* is there a way for me to capture to firewire port?
* How to solve the problems listed?
* will editing & encoding to VS7 (MPEG2 or mpeg1) and encode it again in TMPG to MPEG1 to make VCD will make better results?

As of this writing, I am encoding my VS7 generated video(MPEG2) to TMPGenc Plus to make MPEG1 for VCD but its taking soo long. ..Elapse Time: 9:20Hours Remaining Time: 9:17 hours

Thanks for any help you can give

[MachineMan]

Render to MPEG2 using VS7 then use TMPGenc to convert to VCD (MPEG1)format. This might give you the best quality however I think that the newer Ulead products including VS7 have improved encoding capabilites. Set the encoding quality on VS7 to the highest or best quality setting. You might not notice a difference between the VCD you encoded with TMPGenc and the video file you encoded with VS7. You will have to experiment.

Use your Moviefactory to author but be sure and check the "Do not Convert Compliant Video" box so MF does try to convert it.

If you add transitions to still pictures/slideshows then they will be renderd to VCD format whcih will reduce the quality of the stills.

If your camera has no Firewire port then you can't use firewire.

[miki]

Thanks for the quick response MachineMan

I had just finished encoding from TMPGenc, made image file in VCDEasy and burnt to nero. the results are slightly better & sharper video quality, split second out of sync audio.not quite noticeable. overall its ok. The only problem is it took me 18hours and 40minutes to finished the encoding process in tmpeg. Is this normal? (pls. take a look at my computer specs)

Do you think its better for me to buy a ram drive to capture or get the video from my Hitachi DVD camcorder w/c uses mini dvd-ram disc? if so can u suggest any cheap ram drive and what software should i use to to get the video to make vcd.

many thanks again MachineMan. hope to get more suggestions and advises from you and other experts here.

[MachineMan]

TMPGenc also takes forever on my system which has a PIII 1GHz.

Do you have Ulead Movie Factory 1 or 2? If you have 2 then try to convert your Rendered MPEG to VCD format, author, and burn with MF2. Set the quality seting to best. It might not take as long.

Converting to VCD will take a long time if you want to get the best quality no matter what program you use.

Im not to familier with DVD-RAM discs. You might wan't to just buy a DVD burner instaed and skip the whole VCD conversion step. Render your video in VS7 to a DVD format (MPEG2) and just burn it.

[miki]

Thanks again.

I thought about that (buying a DVD writer) but from the time being my budget keeps pushing me back. and i think i might need a ram drive someday to capture faster.since my camcorder dont use tapes. it uses dvd-ram disk and connects only thru usb1.1.

Yes i did my first 3 vcds by editing in vs7 and burning it with MovieFactory SE.The outputs are just fine,but not the same w/ encoding with tmpg. as what i did yesterday.

Btw, in your first response,did you mean that if i wont add transitions/effects in my pictures/slideshows with movie clips (w/ effects) results will be better? I also have MF2 but never use it,since it dont have dvd-vr plugin for capturing from my camcorder.

if you have it your way, will u do the same as i did to make good vcds? or you'll use other programs or better softwares?

Thanks for the time and efforts given to help a newbie like me.

[MachineMan]

Here is how I made my VCD's

1. Capture through Firewire from my sony handycam to VS7 in MPEG2 DVD format. Usaully 6000 to 8000Kbs (Deinterlaced, Field order A)

2. Edit and create(render) a DVD compatable video file in VS7. Same settings as the capture using smartrender so it is fast becuase it only renders edited sections. (Deinterlaced, Field order A)

3. Use TMPGenc to convert to VCD compliant format video file. (Deinterlaced, Field order A)

4. Author and burn VCD using MF2, no video conversion.

Now since I make DVD's I skip step 3 and MF2 does no conversions. The difference in my VCD's that my video files were no longer then 20min so they only took a few hours with TMPGenc. I would author a couple video files and some slidshows with MF2 to a VCD.

Have you tried captureing to VCD format and editing and rendering to VCD format so no TMPGenc conversion is nessasary? I suspect that the quality won't be as good since the rendering will be at VCD format.

For VCD slideshows, the JPEG resolution is much higher then the VCD compliant resolution. Unless you already take the digital pictures at low resolution. So with out transitions the authored VCD just cycles the JPEGS stills at a high resolution (702x480 or something??). When you add transitions it needs to convert the JPEG still to motion picture in the VCD format resolution (352x240 NTSC) which will reduce there quality. If you Author a DVD (720x480 NTSC) then the JPEG stills with transitions will retain good resolution when coinverted to motion. Some where on this website this is described.

If you put MPEG2 files into MF2 and author to VCD it will convert them for you then burn. I have done this once or twice and the resulting VCD quality was good but I never did a TMPGenc vs MF2 direct comparison.

[hoyboy]

It may be quicker and easier to invest in a Drive that supports DVD-RAM than continue to capture through USB. IMO, and the opinion of a lot of people firewire is really the only way to go to capture. USB is just too limitd in data transfer speed. VCD's in general (esp. on home movies) are pretty limited, as the source is usually not that fantastic to begin with. Movies are a bit better, but the lack of resolution and bitrate is apparent.