Newbie has questions making/playing XVCD

[swiftsword]

Hi all,

I'm trying to get presentable (VHS or better quality) DV to play in my Panasonic RV31. From lurking here, I figured out that my player won't do SVCD, so I've been trying to do XVCD. Vancouverite says in his recent post he gets "as good as DVD" performance on this same player, at bitrates up to 2500 kbs. At that rate I'm getting choppy play, plus lots of artifacts.
If I do a standard VCD, it plays smoothly, but has tons of artifacts - almost like you see the video through a haze, or like there's a layer of vaseline on the TV.
I downloaded the spaceballs sample XVCD from this site, and if I can get that kind of quality I'll be happy. (at least until DVD burners get cheaper)
What should I do? Are there settings I miss? Should I use different encoding software? Sacrifice my firstborn? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Here's what I'm using:

- Camcorder: Sony DCR-TRV17
- Adobe Premiere 6.0
- LSX MPG Suite.
I export at 480x480, 2500 kbps, 224kbps Audio, aspect ration CCIR 525, under rendering I picked "no fields"
- I use Nero 5.5's VCD option to burn the file, with compliance switched of.

[tjdavis1138]

I am having the exact same problems with a JVC xva95gd. Vcd's work great, but look like crap. Xvcd and svcd will not work properly at 2500kbs.

I'm also burning to sony cdrw's. Could this be a problem?

[swiftsword]

I've had problems with some CDR brands and audio, so I imagine that could cause problems with video as well.

[jayace]

Also have Panasonic RV31 and was under the impression that SVCD's will play. According to DVD Players - Compatibility list on the left <----. Will update once I have finished trying my first SVCD. 24 hrs or so.

[swiftsword]

Actually, I've made some progress last night. I've been using tmpgenc and Nero 5.5 to burn XVCD's. I wasted a whole bunch of CD-R's but I'm closing in on a good setting.
Currently the best setting is 720x480, 2200 kbps, everything else at the XVCD template default.
Picture quality is now very good, minimal artifacts, however, there is a peculiar blur going on when a lot of fast movement occurs.

One question I have is this: if you're encoding MPEG-1 at a constant bitrate, is the VBR buffer of any importance??

I didn't think so, but it seems that different settings make a difference here. If that is the case, how do I figure out the optimal setting?

Thanks~


Oliver

[Thurbs]

Why don't you make a test CD on a CD-rw?

[swiftsword]

I agree that CD-RW would be much more economical, however, I tried a couple and got completely different results than with CD-R. So I figure if I'll blow through $20 of cdr's so be it - as long as I end up with good results.

[jayace]

No luck with SVCD's, but XVCD's working very nice. 720x480, high quality, CBR at 2300, non-standard compliance when burning with Nero. Better than VHS for sure.

[jntaylor63]

Jayace,

Could you tell me what converter you use and what the settings are to make a 720x480 @ 2300 cbr XVCD? How much video can you fit on a 80min CDR?