Video quality is a problem...

[Sac26]

i burned a dvd and put it in my stand alone dvd player and its hooked to a HD Plasma 60 inch and it looks very blotchy. On my computer it looks fine. I used ConvertXtoDVD to burn the movie on the disc. I also noticed when its black on the screen its really bad but not too bad when there is some color added. Any suggestions or solutions to this problem of maybe what program i could use to fix this or is it convertxtoDVD doing this quality??

[redwudz]

It depends a lot on the quality of the original video. I've used ConvertXToDVD to convert Xvids for display on my video projector and I usually see those problems with low grade videos that I convert. Better quality source = Better quality output.

What format and quality is your source video?

There are better methods, but not many as simple as ConvertXToDVD.

Use a standalone encoder like TMPGEnc or similar where you have more control of the encoding settings and bitrate would be what I would advise for the best quality.

[guns1inger]

It is your source, not ConvertXtoDVD. There are two things that will increase the appearance of problems like this. One is the fact that most conversions have to resize the video up to DVD resolution, increasing the appearance of quality issues. The second is that most PC screens display much darker than TV screens - especially LCD and plasma screens. This results in visible blockiness in darker areas that might not have been apparent on the original (although it was always there).

The only way around it is to use filters to reduce the blockiness before encoding (avisynth or virtualdub are good for this), encode with a good stand-alone encoder, and accept that downloaded material is poor source material and will not be restored to DVD quality with the current tools.

[Sac26]

i appreciate the feedback so i know now it is just the quality of my videos i have instead of the convertxtodvd... how do i find out what quality my video is such as bitrate and so forth?>?>

[guns1inger]

Realistically ? Encode a sample at various bitrates and compare. Make sure everything else is equal - scripts/filters etc, and just alter bitrate. A couple of minutes should be more than enough.

[Sac26]

are we talking about using convertxtodvd to adjust this bitrate or what im confused

[guns1inger]

ConvertXtoDVD is great for quick conversions, but if you want control, you have to do it by hand. If you use ConvertXtoDVD, always set it to highest quality/slowest speed. Otherwise, use virtualdub and the MSU deblocking filter, and frameserve to an encoder

[Sac26]

one more question.... by putting 2 movies on 1 dvd does this degrade the quality of the picture also??

[guns1inger]

Anything that reduces the bitrate, degrades the quality. I would not put more than 90 to 120 minutes on a disk at full-d1 unless the source was very high.

If you are encoding as 16:9 (widescreen enhanced/anamorphic etc) then stick to one movie per disc.

If you are encoding 4:3 letterbox or fullscreen, you can consider half-D1 resolution, which will allow you to use a lower bitrate and get 4 - 5 hours to a disk. You can't use widescreen with half-d1 however.