Why does my vcd look blocky on tv set?

[shinomen]

I recently converted a movie from avi format into the standard vcd format to play on my television. I do everything right, my standalone plays it, but when the movie is playing it looks really blocky as though there are not enough pixels per inch for the tv. I also ripped a dvd that I owned and it did the same exact thing. The blocks are more apparent during scenes that have alot of black in them. Is this the best I'm going to get from vcd format. I've seen the professional vcd's you can buy at stores and they all have great picture quality. Am I doing something wrong??

How I convert: for avi, I use TMPGenc12 with the Video CD NTSC template, under setting-video motion search is set at super high quality, under advanced the settings are Progressive, Even Field Line 2 first, 4:3 525 line (NTSC 704x480), and Full screen with aspect ratio.

[Dr Evil]

You are using a resolution of 704X480? What is your bitrate? You indicate that you are using the VCD NTSC template. This means that unless you have altered the bitrate, it's down around 1150. For your resolution, this is WAY too low. You should try using a bitrate ~ 2000kb/sec (or higher), or try reducing the res. to 480 X 480 (and upping the bitrate).

[kriskim]

shinomen, if you want a standard vcd, you'll have to stick with your 352x240 res. what dr evil is suggesting is making an xvcd, and you should probably check if your dvd player can play xvcds in the dvd players list.

in terms of quality, vcd never is really that great. even the crouching tiger hidden dragon's orig vcd release was blocky at times, just the limits of low res/mpg1 technology. also, the people who make those official pressed silvers use better apps than tmpgenc, and make a living on tweaking quality i'm sure.

[shinomen]

I think I'm going to try to work with svcd. From what I've read the quality is much better than vcd and has more features. I'm guessing that TMPGenc is the best program to use for making them. I looked at the guides for making them and it seems simple enough. The only thing I didn't find yet is how to make SVCD menus. Does anyone know of a good program?

Thanks for your help everyone!

[kriskim]

tmpgenc isn't bad, and it's freeware. but if you really want to get the best quality out of your source, i'd look into finding yourself a copy of CinemaCraft Encoder SP. they have a plugin for adobe premiere, which you probably use anyways to edit apps.

nero is not, by any stretch of the imagination, the best for svcds. you definitely want to get yourself a program called i-author. you'll find yourself with a lot more control of what your svcd does, as well as have the ability for many advanced menus/slideshows.

[khai]

He's not using 704x480. He's using the standard VCD resolution.

What he's saying is that he uses 4:3 525 line (NTSC 704x480) for the display mode. I usually just use 4:3 525 line.