Anyone know what causes the 'smoke' effect?

[JumpinJackFlash]

I just made my first proper capture last night. Converted to SVCD no problem; Media Studio took an hour and gave a 630mb file (2375 variable), Procoder took 3hrs 15 minutes (2520 vbr). Those were the default outputs. They both look gorgeous on the comp and when I've tried both encoders before there was very little difference. Not this time.

The Media Studio encode looked great on TV, but there was a strange 'smoke' effect blowing across the screen. That's the best way I can describe it. Most noticeble on black, and sometimes it was minor other times quite significant and spoiled what would have been a great encode. I have seen this effect occasionally in downloaded movies. Does anyone know what causes it and how to get rid of it? Is it my TV?

It didn't happen on the Procoder encode, but that was messed up in other ways - the sound had gone out of sync and there was red 'blocks' in any black scenes. Tests I'd previously done with this encoder never showed this.

Thought at first it might be my disks (just got some new Ritek ones). The Media Studio encode stuttered and started before grinding to a halt. I then tried some Philips disks I'd got for Christmas. Apart from the 'smoke' effect the Media Studio encode was fine, but the Procoder gave the above symptons (and at first it said 'no disk').

Thought it might be the player going on the blink, but I tried other recorded disks -some really old cheap ones - and they played as usual.

I burned with Nero at 8x. Could it be the burner, or Nero?

I don't think there is anything wrong with the mpegs because they look absolutely fine on the comp.

Anyone know what's going on?

Thanx!

[lordsmurf]

Blended deinterlace?

[JumpinJackFlash]

Don't know what you mean Lordsmurf.

I've kinda sorted the 'smoke' thing out. Think that must be the player because when I unplugged the machine and tried it again, the smoke was gone. Which was a relief, as that means it's not on the encode. Unfortunately I'm still having major trouble playing the disk. I did another one last night (from the same DV), this time in CBR and it looked wonderful on the TV, so I've got my 'settings' for this program when I encode again, but.......

Unfortunately 30 minutes in it just stopped dead and I could hear it making this whirring sound. Even unplugging it and trying again didn't help. Didn't stop in the same place, just after a similar period of time. Natch I thought it was the player and I'd have to get a new one, but playing some of my other disks and there is no problem. It's not the disk because I've used two different types and they are fine on the comp (though actually I haven't let them run more than a few minutes. Possible they could also grind to a halt after 30 minutes). I think it's the file though.

I grab it with the Canopus ADVC as DV type 2 using the default Ulead Direct Show capture thing. I put it in Media Studio Pro Editor and create an mpeg from the timeline of the precise area I want - in this case minus a few frames from the begining with the station logo. Everything seemed to be fine, and Nero passes the file ok. However curiosity made me check the 'smart check and convert' the other day and it said that the file (DV) was in a mismatched format. When I loaded the new mpeg into the editor it also said that was a mismatched file name. I decided not to 'convert' as it looks as if it's reincoding them. I'm gonna try capturing in DV type 1 and see if that'll make a difference.

I also tried the trial of womble but it won't open my DV file (said it was unrecognised!). Won't open in Virtual Dub either, said something about it can't use Direct Show codecs.

Someone on Usenet mentioned they'd captured with Video Studio in mpeg but were having a problem burning and it was suggested that the mpeg needed to be converted from DVmpeg to DVD mpeg or something. Mmmm.

I'll try capping with Movie Maker I think, and see if the file will then open in Womble. As my probs happen with both MSP and Procoder, I'm tending to think the problem is in the capturing.