Choice of MPEG2-DVD and H.264 compression

[nharikrishna]

Hi,

For videos whose source is DV-AVI, which compression produces best picture quality (assuming same duration of the video and ignoring audio compression choices, same file sizes) for playback on TV through a media player?

MPEG-2 DVD (or) H.264 (MKV)?

Background: I capture old B&W movies from Satellite box via Canopus ADVC-110 and convert them to DVD-Video format. If H.264 can achieve better compression & result in better picture quality, I can go for a media player & H.264 compression in stead of DVD-Video.

Regards

[jagabo]

h.264 can deliver the same quality with smaller file size, or better quality with the same file size. It's not DVD compatible though. And it will take longer to encode and more power to decode.

[Cornucopia]

Not sure if you realize this, but your sat box is likely a digital device, so your method really has been to capture as compressed digital (probably mpeg2) and output analog, then reconverting it to digital (dv) and then converting it yet again to your final form of digital, incurring quality losses each step along the way.
What would be much better from a quality perspective would be to see if your sat box has a way to export stored digital files, or barring that, see if it has a firewire output port. Then you could at least bypass the analog stage, and probably the dv stage too and save directly as mpeg2.


Scott

[nharikrishna]

h.264 can deliver the same quality with smaller file size, or better quality with the same file size. It's not DVD compatible though. And it will take longer to encode and more power to decode.

Thanks jagabo.

Not sure if you realize this, but your sat box is likely a digital device, so your method really has been to capture as compressed digital (probably mpeg2) and output analog, then reconverting it to digital (dv) and then converting it yet again to your final form of digital, incurring quality losses each step along the way.
What would be much better from a quality perspective would be to see if your sat box has a way to export stored digital files, or barring that, see if it has a firewire output port. Then you could at least bypass the analog stage, and probably the dv stage too and save directly as mpeg2.

Yes, I am aware of the back and forth conversions that are happening. Unfortunately, my satellite box doesn't provide a way of 'copying' the files from it (it has a record functionality with built-in hard drive). Even if I remove the hard drive and try to copy the files from it, I guess they would be encrypted to protect them from copying. It has a HDMI output, but I am sure it is also HDCP protected. There is no Firewire out from the box either.

[jman98]

Unfortunately, my satellite box doesn't provide a way of 'copying' the files from it (it has a record functionality with built-in hard drive). Even if I remove the hard drive and try to copy the files from it, I guess they would be encrypted to protect them from copying.

The odds of this being true are just about 100% and I commend you for recognizing this.

[nharikrishna]