Best way to get best quality TVshow to SVCD.

[vetski179]

First, I'm trying to capture Supercross, broadcast on ESPN2, and ultimately convert and burn to CD in MPEG 2/SVCD. Have tried 2 ways so far, without the quailty I want. 1st attempt was simply using my ATI All In Wonder Pro 128 w/TV tuner to simply capture a race. Then, converting what I just captured to MPEG 2 either directly with ATI recorder software, or converting to MPEG2 with TMPGEnc. I've tried all the different settings within the ATI vcr settings, and, the quality is just not there. Basically, when the SVCD is played on my stand alone Pioneer DV-C503, the picture image is poor. When titles, finishing positions, and other small text is on-screen, it's barely readable. So, attempt 2: I just got a JVC HR-DVS2U dual deck (mini DV and S-VHS) vcr. It has a 1394 port on the front, so, I hooked the incoming cable TV co-ax line to the JVC, tune it to ESPN2, then hooked the 1394 to my desktop pc, and fired up Adobe Premiere/Movie capture. Cool! There's ESPN2 in the window, ready for capture. Then, just hit record (without hitting play), and hit stop when I got what I want. (yes, I changed all the capture setting to accomodate the JVC) So, I then took the captured clip I just recorded, shut down Premiere, and started TMPGEnc. Loaded the clip, and chose SVCD template, and let TMPGEnc do its thing. When the conversion was complete, burned to SVCD using Ulead DVD Movie Factory. (Have used Nero 5.5 in testing as well). When this newly burned SVCD is played in my DV-C503, it plays OK, but, when the action gets fast (i.e. bikes jumping, going up and down quickly over rough terrian, basically an entire race!) the picture gets 'pixeley'. Looks almost fuzzy sometimes when showing the dark brown dirt as the bikes race over it. If the shots are not as fast moving, this pixeling is not as bad. If it's slow moving, the pixeling is hardly there at all. I've noticed this exact scenario if I try to make a SVCD of my home movies shot with my Sony DCR TRV900. I capture those home movies to the hard drive the same way I got the races, with Premiere, and get the same pixeling when the camera is moved moderately fast during the shooting of the original footage. I read the guide about capturing from the ATI card, but, having messed with ATI drivers recently, I would like to steer clear of any further monkeying around with them. Any help will be greatly appreciated-Scott

[FranckV]

Here are the seetings I used in TMPGenc:

Load SVCD (NTSC) template.
Hit Settings.
1st Tab:
Select CQ, click on settings next to CQ (constant Quality), move slider to 100
At the bottom, select Highest (very slow)

[Allan55]

Hi,

I capture at 720x480 with a Hollywood Bridge.

I then process using TMPGEnc to it's own SVCD template but with constant quality and a top bit-rate of 2200, everything else is the default.

This gives me a 1 hour TV show, minus commercials, on a CD with some leeway for varying compression.

Nobody that has seen them can tell the difference between them and my cable directly.