transfering using firewire card & ulead video studio 7

[dike]

Been trying so many times to transfer digicamcoder shots to vcd. my computer specs:

- p4p8x, 2.4ghz
- hd, 120gb
- ram, 2x512mb
- video card MSI geforce fx 5200, 128MB
- firewire card

am using video studio 7 for transfering into vcd but I got poor quality video when I play it on my vcd/dvd . I just follow the instructions I downloaded from ulead site, step by step. I select AVI for my output as per the instruction, I’d tried mpeg doesn’t accept coz he’s telling about bit rate compatibility.

Guys could you please help me on this? And also what is DMA, where will I enable it?does it help on my video quality?

[troyvcd1]

I will save you some time and tell you that your never gonna be satisfied with vcd's especially from videostudio. You need to capture with videostudio to avi and then use tmpgenc or Cinemacraft or another encoder to create at least half decent mpegs for your vcds. You need to get a dvd burner to make anything of quality from your camcorder. DMA is just a setting associated with your hard drive. If you can capture with no frame drops then dont worry about this.

[dike]

i did try encoding my avi file into tmpgenc 2.5, same result i got. don't have cinemacraft neither a dvd burner. got only a cd writer. how about adobe premiere or the movie maker are they good in encoding avi file? could you give me some pointers in encoding maybe my settings are not correct. thanks for the help, really need it.

[bugster]

If this is home video you will NEVER get a good quality VCD (well, most unlikley anyway). Home video using hand held cameras just eats up the available bitrate due to camera shake. As VCD is low bitrate anyway this just results in loads of macroblocks or blurry video. You could try the 'soften block noise' option in Tmpgenc which might help. Another option is to try SVCD. Get about 30-40 mins on a CD at higher quality than VCD.

[dike]

can't find "soften block noise"?? u mean i'll encode my dv avi file into svcd using tmpgenc?? haven't done that, i'll try?? what will be the settings??

[bugster]

can't find "soften block noise"?? u mean i'll encode my dv avi file into svcd using tmpgenc?? haven't done that, i'll try?? what will be the settings??

soften block noise is on the 'quantize matrix' tab of the settings dialog.

[broadway]

I tried capturing video from VHS tapes to VCD and was only half satisfied.

It there isn't alot of movement ie an interview segment, then VCD is just fine. But I have some tapes with lots of movement, and the VCD looked very blocky.

I've decided to go with DVD-R.

[dike]

found soften "block noise", the ouput is the same. i'd tried wincode/winproducer in encoding for SVCD the same thing i got, can't do in tmpgenc. when i view my AVI file into my computer, its the same thing when i view it in my camcorder, very good quality. so i think there is a possible way to transfer the same into vcd.

[bugster]

i'd tried wincode/winproducer in encoding for SVCD the same thing i got, can't do in tmpgenc.

when i view my AVI file into my computer, its the same thing when i view it in my camcorder, very good quality. so i think there is a possible way to transfer the same into vcd.

When you say you can't do it in TmpGenc, do yuo mean you can't do SVCD because the trial period has expired?

If so thats a shame because a TmpGenc produced SVCD should be much better than any VCD. Having said that I will repeat what I said earlier, you will never get great quality VCD from home video due to things like camershake, no matter how good the source looks. Also, the avi on your computer is essentially the same data as on your mini DVd tape, just stored in an avi wrapper, thats why it looks as good as whats on the camcorder.

One thing to remember when encoding DV to SVCD with whatever encoder. DV is interlaced, mpeg-2 (as used for SVCD) supports interlacing (mpeg-1 used for VCD does not). So set your encoder to produce an interlaced output. Also set the field order. DV is bottom filed first IIRC. Then play the output mpeg in PowerDvd or WinDVD (not WMP) as these players size the video correctly and certainly PowerDVD (not sure about WinDVD) has an on-the-fly de-interlacer for correct display on aprogressive PC monitor.

[dike]

trial period is not expired just downloaded few days back in the net. well i'll try to capture the message & post it here,maybe am doing wrong. so now i need 2 software TMPGENC(for encoding) & POWERDVD(sizing the video correctly).thanks for the help, i'll try this.