DV to MPEG 2: shift in black level and interlacing

[petsin]

Dear experts on digital video,

I've just entered the world of DVD authoring after buying a Pioneer DVD burner. I want to convert all my D8 and miniDV tapes to DVD for easy sharing them. I have Pinnacle Studio 7 and I capture all my videos with it. I have no problems editing and putting the results back to DV tape.

Now, to convert to MPEG2 in order to make a DVD I currently have two options:

1) Use Studio 7 and configure it to output a DVD "compatible" MPEG2 file (6000 Kbs CBR I think).
2) Use TMPGenc Plus 2.5 to convert DV to MPEG2 using all the configurable settings it provides.

After many tests using both programs, and trying the recipes fro DV to DVD conversion found on this excellent site, I have found the following:

a) After converting DV to mpeg2 with either of the two programs above, no matter the video settings, when I play the files in the PC using PowerDVD 4, Mediaplayer 9 or ATI fileplayer, they always look like the black level has shifted up to a dark grey... they look washed out, compared to what I get with the same programs playing the original DV AVI files. However, after burning the Studio 7 produced files to DVD (compiled by TMPGenc DVD Author), and play them in a set top player, the black level seems to be Ok (well, almost).

b) When encoding to mpeg2 with TMPGenc Plus 2.5, no matter which settings I use, the mpeg2 files played in Power DVD 4, Mediaplayer or ATI Fileplayer, look bad in terms of interlacing. The horizontal movement appears fuzzy and with double lines, like a bad mix of interlaced frames. This problem does not appear when converting with Studio 7. I tried different options in TMPGenc: change Top to Bottom field first, different bit rates, CBR, VBR, CQ, etc. but appart of some change in video quality, the problem of the jerky movement (and double vertical edges when horizontal panning the camera) remains. I have not tried yet to burn those files to DVD and check what happend when palying them on set top players. I want them to look good on my PC first...

Any help or advice would be most welcomed!

Thank you,
Peter

[daamon]

Hi petsin,

b) When encoding to mpeg2 with TMPGenc Plus 2.5, no matter which settings I use, the mpeg2 files played in Power DVD 4, Mediaplayer or ATI Fileplayer, look bad...

Try this guide for your TMPGEnc settings:

http://dvd-hq.info/Compression.html

I have not tried yet to burn those files to DVD and check what happend when palying them on set top players. I want them to look good on my PC first...

Try burning them to a DVD+/-RW - the rewriteable will save you burning wasted discs - and then test in your stand-alone to view on your TV.

The way the picture is displayed on the TV (interlaced) is different to the way a PC monitor displays the picture (progressive) - I think, might be the other way round. Anyway, it may be the case that the progs you're using to view the encoded video don't like the interlace.

Hope that helps. Good luck...