pixelation effects

[Syndrome]

Hey all,

I capture using virtualdub to avi... and it looks phenomenal. However, when i encode it using TMPG, the high motion areas get all pixelated (such as a mosh pit scene when everyone is jumping up and down) is there any way to prevent this? and make it stay clear (i know it is not a lossless program) like the original avi?

Syndrome

[SaSi]

Risking to sound rude, please allow me to point out that this is not an advanced conversion topic question. Converting AVI to mpeg is a basic encoding action and depending whether you want to make an MPEG-1 stream (for VCD) or an MPEG-2 (for SVCD) your question would perhaps be better placed in the appropriate forums (or in the newbie section) where it might get better attention. Such questions tend to be ignored in the wrong forums.

Now to your question.

Yes, MPEG is a lossy encoding algorithm, as are most. And depending on bitrate, you loose much or even more. If you encode for MPEG-1 for VCD then you must also reduce resolution if capture was done in full frame, otherwise you will have very low quality picture.

Try first using one of the Tmpgenc templates that is closer to your final needs (VCD or SVCD). If you encode for VCD then CBR 1150 kbps is what you can have. You can only reduce audio bitrate (down to 96 or 64kbps joint stereo) to increase VCD capacity without go too far away from compatibility with standalone players.

For SVCD, you can also try single or 2 pass VBR at 2520 kbps. VBR is better than CBR because it allows bitrate to be better expended in high motion scenes and saves it in low action scenes, thus improving overall quality. Again, you can also reduce audio bitrate to increase capacity of a single CD.