My SVCD quality is poor!

[afaulkes]

Hi everyone,
I'm fairly new to the area of video editing etc. I have recently purchased Studio DV along with the full version of Studio 7 and Pinnacle Express.
My problem is I have tried producing SVCD with very poor results. The picture is very blocky and in times unwatchable.
If I produce the same video in VCD format I get a better picture without the blockiness!
I’ve tried producing DVD compatible, which gives me an excellent picture, but when I have burned the CD (in SVCD) using the latest Nero version with the SVCD component I get break-up in sound and picture.
Can anyone help as I have many VCD and SVCD’s that are far better than I’m able to produce at the moment.

Thanks,
Andy.

[asturian]

Hi Andy,

I had the same problem times ago.
Try download TMPGEnc Plus and use a tool called tooLAME because the TMP's sound encoder is not very good...

thx
Rodrigo

[macleod]

The answer is more than likely your source material. If your source is 352x240 at, lets say 2000bps, then your vcd which is 352x240 1150 will look pretty good. If you try SVCD at 480x480 at bps2000 (because thats all you have to start with) it will look worse.

Tell me/us your source material(vhs cap, dvd, divx, etc.) with intial resolution, bit rate, and stuff like that and we should be able to either tell you why its happening.

On the dvd rip to nero, I have been told (and witnessed personally) time and time again that nero's reencoding stinks. How did you get that to the point of having nero reencode. Did you use one of the guides to the left for making a DVD rip (which one).

[Feuerwehr]

I use Studio 7. and it is a great editing program but its MPEG2 encoder frankly stinks. In order to output a passable MPEG2 file you have to increase the bitrate to the point you have a non-standard SVCD that will not play on most standalone players.
A good method to make an SVCD with Studio 7 is to output your video to an AVI file then encode the AVI file to MPEG2 using TMPGEnc or CCE. (See the HOW TO section.) If you are just starting out you probably will find TmpGEnc is cheaper and more user-friendly than CCE. Go ahead and burn with NERO. I do this consistently with excellent results.
Also, as has already been mentioned, your scource video has to be very good quality. If your AVI file looks good you should be able to make a decent MPEG2 file.
Jim

[afaulkes]

Sorry Guys if I didn't include enough detail.

I'm capturing the video direct from my Sony DCR PC6 MiniDV camcorder. The quality when I have produced the final video in DV format is excellent and likewise in DVD compatibility.

The orginal format in regards to screen resolution and bit-rate I couldn't tell you, I assume (rightly or wrongly) it's the standarded. The capturing format is at full DV quality (my software doesn't give details of these settings)

In regards to Nero re-encoding, it only does it when I select recode when I try and produce a SVCD when I'm using none standard mpg, i.e. higher bit rate or screen resolution.

Hope this additional info is usefull in my quest for the perfect CD.

Andy. :P