Not satisfied with quality of CCE encodes

[videocheez]

A few weeks ago I started a thread saying that CCE was faster but TMPGE gave better quality. I got some interesting info but am still looking for ways to improve the quality, (reduce the noise) while encoding with CCE. Here is my typicial script:

LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\DVD2SVCD\MPEG2Dec\MPEG2DEC2.dll")
avisource("pinb.avi")
BicubicResize(352,480,0.0,0.6)
ConvertToYUY2()
ResampleAudio(44100)

Nothing fancy. What kind of magical filters could I add to sharpen up the picture. I tried reducing the resolution but now the people look funny. They're long and skinny. I would like to know two things.
One, how to reduce noise? Two how to resize avi so that the images are not distorted at this lower resolution. My original avi was 640 wide x 352 high. Even a list of other resolutions that are dvd compliant would be helpful. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

VC

[disturbed1]

LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\DVD2SVCD\MPEG2Dec\MPEG2DEC2.dll")

Why load this plugin? It's only used for decoding mpeg2 sources.

Which version of AVISynth are you using? This matters because of the available filters. Create a blank avs file with just version wrote in it. Play it back in media player. Decide if you need to update or not.

Read the documentation that gets installed with avisynth. http://www.avisynth.org/

My favorite two filters are Msharpen, and Msmooth.

Have a look at convolution3d, and some filters by Donald Graft http://shelob.mordor.net/dgraft/

Of course your people look elongated, you destroyed the AR. Try resizing

BicubicResize(352,400)
addborders(0,40,0,40)

That will preserve the same AR in the 640x352 (1.82:1 AR) avi. It will still be wrong if the avi was resized incorrectly, let your eyes be the judge.

[PyRoMaNiA]

You could try resizing with GripFit to handle the aspect ratio properly.

LoadPlugin("C:\...\Gripfit_preview.dll")
AviSource(C:\...\whatever.avi")
ConvertToYUY2()
GripCrop(352,480)
GripSize(resizer="BiCubicResize")
#...filters here...
GripBorders()

get it here.

[SaSi]

Perhaps I'm missing something. Your AVISynth script refers to things done before encoding with CCE. Are you trying to reduce noise before feeding the avi to CCE (perhaps frameserving it?)

This would be possible, perhaps if you use a smoother filter. Such a filter reduces noise.

However, I would "attack" the problem at CCE itself. The settings you select have a large impact on the final encoding result.

For example, careful selection of VBR rates is important. Also, for low bitrates you should not use the (default) DCT coefficients that are optimized for DVD. CCE provides for low and very low bitrate coefficient matrices that actually improve signal to noise ratio at the lower SVCD bitrates.

Additionally, doing a 2-3 pass VBR will do a much better bitrate allocation which by itself helps reduce noise.

What are the encoding settings you use for CCE?

[digitalmaster]

Convolution3D or STMedian are great AVISynth filters that reduce noise. If you use AviSynth 2.08 another great filter is Dust.

[videocheez]

I'm using Avisynth 2.07 and CCE 2.5. for the particular movie that I listed above. I've been using the following CCE settings:

Actually with this movieplays nicely on the comp but when burnt to DVD it's got a large green bar across the bottom. Also I should mention this is a black and white movie.

Multipass VBR (4 passes) with AVG bit rate set to 6500
Min = 0
Max = 9300
Under Video tab I have the following checked:
add sequence end code
progessive frames
linear quantizer scale
zigzag scanning
DVD compliant
Luminance 16 to 235
intra DC precision is checked
DAR is 4:3
Timecode is all zeros
Under GOP I have m=3 n/m= 4
Under quality I have image priority =5 and antinoise =6

I guess i want to add a bunch of filters to see if the quality can approach that of the original avi. I'm not too frustrated yet because I having fun experimenting and checking out the results.

Thanks in advance,

VC

[videocheez]

Also what is an example line in a script for any of the above listed filters.

Thanks in advance,

[videocheez]

Thank for the suggetion to use gripfit for keeping AR while lowering resolution. I'm not sure if im using it correctly or perhaps the CCE settings are overiding gripfit.
My problem:
When i test my script that contains gripfit in media player. It appears to have lower resolution with the correct aspect ratio. After I encode with CCE 2.5 the final mpv file is the same resolution as the original avi. Do you have any suggestions?

I'll attach the script that I used.

LoadPlugin("C:\avs plugins\Gripfit_preview.dll")
aviSource("C:\cce encoding\jackie\jackie.avi")
ConvertToYUY2()
GripCrop(352,480)
GripSize(resizer="BiCubicResize")
LoadPlugin("C:\avs plugins\DustV5.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\avs plugins\MSharpen.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\avs plugins\Convolution3D.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\avs plugins\msoften.dll")
GripBorders()
ResampleAudio(48000)

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

VC

[BodyMaker]

CCE 2.66 gives much better quality than 2.5 Upgrade to this !

[txpharoah]

videocheez, are you starting from a capture or existing downloads or DVD rips or what?

That's important. At least for me to help you, it's important.

And what is the final product? DVD, VCD, other?

And if captures, what is your video card?

I can encode sharp pictures in realtime with TMPGenc (in CBR up to 8mps bitrate) or 2x realtime in 2-pass VBR. (That mean two times longer than realtime for you math geniuses out there.) My settings are mostly max'd out and quality is perfect DVD. No need to have eon-long encodes. CCE may be faster than TMPGenc when converting from AVI to MPEG, but I never even mess with AVI. I start with I-frame only MPEG2 at superb crisp quality 8MPS CBR files. Frameserving an MPEG in CCE to MPEG output is ridiculous in time and quality.

Just get back to me.

[videocheez]

So far I have been fooling around with existing Divx 3 avi's downloaded from the web. After I get good at these I want to pick-up some kind of camcorder and make some home movies before the children get too old.

Thanks for your time,

VC

[txpharoah]

Aha! Part of the time is spent decoding the Divx, as it is more than just a normal AVI (usually HuffyUV or other non-divx format) that most people use.

Yes, it this Divx conversion, I do know TMPGenc can take longer than CCE, but I also preferred the quality of TMPGenc over CCE in decoding Divx.

Keep asking though, I'm not the right guy for converting existing materials. I start from analog source and finish to DVD.

The material is probably not greater than max bitrate VCD in terms of quality and resolution, so I'd suggest that you use MPEG1 files at 1856 bitrate for the encode. It will look like the Divx, and take less time than a full MPEG2. You can use MPEG1 files on DVD (1150-1856 bit range only) too, and they play just fine. I make many MPEG1 DVDs when quality was not perfect to start with, as a Divx file won't be. I mean imperfect too, which is still darn good, not a bad thing.

Maybe give MPEG1 at CBR 1856k bitrate (closed GOPs), set to ESTIMATE on motion search, and you'll end up with good quality. Try it once, just for me, even if it's a 30-second clip.

And if you like it, then you can run overnight batches in TMPGenc, and wake up the next morning (or even wait until you get home later in the day) and have finished work waiting for your next use.

Good luck to you in CCE.

Let me know how you like the TMPGenc settings.