my VCD worse than VHS

[Peterout]

First of all I am just getting into making VCD. In the past I have made long videos on VHS. I use MSPro 6.5, Pyro firewire, and a Sony digital camera.

I capture using DV settings in MSPro. I then used TMGe for converting to Mpeg and then Nero for burning to the cd.

No problems in getting the video from the camera to cd in VCD format. However I find the quality is poor when viewed on the PC or the DVD player. The image looks like it has occcassional wavy spots ( like heat vapors on a hot country paved road ). I also noticed blocky ( like large pixels ) appearing in dark areas.

I'm not sure but I am thinking about sticking with VHS. Too bad since I thought VCD would give me at least, if not better, picture quality.

Any ideas guys?

Peter

[Macros746]

You'll have to tell us the settings you used in TMPGenc. Unfortunately, though it is possible to have an AMAZING picture in VCD, it largely depends on the source. Therefore, a VCD made from a DVD-rip (ie a perfect source) CAN look as good as a VHS tape. I don't have a lot of experience with DV but I would recommmend posting your TMPGenc settings and then letting us make some suggestions for quality settings in TMPGenc. It can make a huge difference.


Mark

[Peterout]

Hi Mark

In TMPGenc (the latest version) I have tried numerous settings including their default template "Video-CD (NTSC).mcf". I tried some tweaks in the advanced setup as well. Nero would pick up any errors in the format if my settings were wrong. Eventually I got the conversions from AVI to MPEG-1.

I am thinking that maybe I should do a different video capture format other than the DV-NTSC. The format was always used for recording back to my sony digital. It gave me the best results for output to DV tapes and then to VHS. Could be that different capture settings are needed for a video more suited for VCD.

For example I downloaded the "SpaceBalls" VCD-NTSC sample and burned it to a CD-RW with Nero. The quality was poor as I already indicated. Maybe I'm missing some key drivers or updates (although I don't get any error messages).

Thanks

[Macros746]

How are you capturing the digital video into your computer? What program are you using? Also, what do you want to be able to do with the VCDs? If you just want to be able to play them on your computer then your options are MUCH greater than if you want them to play on a stand alone tv-top DVD player. You see, there is a standard "white book" VCD that will play in most stand alone DVD Players. This standard CAN look very nice but, overall, the bitrate is low and it must use CBR (constant bit rate) rather than VBR (variable bit rate). You can even experiment with the higher reaches of SVCD if you are really ambitious. If you just want it to play on your computer though you can dramatically boost the quality overall by deviating from the template. If you do want to play on your DVD player the important questions are these: First, are you using virtualdub to get your DV onto your harddrive? Virtualdub can use a lossless codec that takes up LOTS of harddrive space but, as the name implies, doesn't loose any quality. That is a great place to start for encoding down to VCD. Second, try playing with non-interlaced as an option in TMPGenc. Then, on the filter page, you might want the sharpen filter (I don't know what your video looks like) but the best course is to experiment with just a few minutes of your video and play with different filters. The filters don't affect in any way whether or not your disc is VCD compliant. So answer those questions for me and I'll see if I can help a little more.

[EricB]

Peter

I use VCD primarily for stuff I have created using DV video so I "feel your pain". A couple of ideas:

The comparison of VCD to VHS is really for an ideal source. This means not just high resolution, but great lighting etc. Less than ideal sources really aggravate the low bit-rate of VCD and indeed VHS tapes will look much better.

If your player will support XVCD or better yet, SVCD, try higher bit-rates. If Nero won't accept these, download the free trial of ULEAD DVD Movie Factory. It will warn you that a file is not VCD compliant, but then allow you to burn an XVCD. Check the DVD player list to see how far you can push these bit rates.

Using TMPGenc standard SVCD template, I get super results from DV. Remember to change the motion setting which isn't part of the basic template. I think it defaults to "fast" and should at least be set to "normal".

[Peterout]

Eric:

Trying out the Memorex MVD-2027. Have your tried capturing your DV video into another non-dv NTSC format?

Mark:

I'm at work right know but will get details tonight on capture specs. Programs used are Ulead Capture and/or Scenalyzer.

Thanks guys