Is 320 x 480 worth capturing? (PowerVCR calls this 1/2 D1)

[alandla]

I've tried capturing the MPEG2 at 640x480 but I get stuttering video and then the audio seems out of synch. However 320x 480 captures great. I wanted to burn CVD's but will the video be compromised too badly to encode up to 352x480?
My system is a 650Mhz Duron with 192 ram and Windows 98SE. I looked at the regedit to see if I could change settings to capture at 352x480 but I am terrified of the registry. I can follow directions very well if it is just a simple addition to a line!
Does anybody find PowerVCR lacking in the flexibilty department? I am disappointed because this is the only program that I got working with my ATI TV Wonder VE card. The initial excitement of just seeing it work is now worn off because of this limitation.
Does the jittering video on the computer display necessarily mean that is what it will look like on my DVD player?

[BJ_M]

1/2 D1 can be a very good format ...

[Xtasy2002]

However 320x 480 captures great. I wanted to burn CVD's but will the video be compromised too badly to encode up to 352x480?

Why not just capture 352x480? What are you using to capture? You shouldn't have to use the registry to capture at that resolution.

BTW: Going up from 320x352 should produce only the very smallest of tiny quality loss. Not enough to worry about.

[alandla]

Power VCR II ver 3.0 won't allow capture at 352x 480. They allow quite a range but not 352x480 or 480x480.
I've heard that you can edit the registry entries for Power VCR but I don't like hacking the registry.
If my computer was a little faster, I would just capture at 720x480 but I played around with resolution sizes and 320x480 gives me the best res before the video gets jittery.

[Fozzee]

Changing the registry for PowerVCR2 is simple.
And you can do all sorts of resolutions.
360 x 576 (1/2-DVD PAL)
480 x 480 (SVCD NTSC)
480 x 576 (SVCD PAL)

And more

Fozzee

[alandla]

Fozzee can you let me know how to do that in Windows 98SE? I used TMPG to encode my captured file (MPEG2, 4000 bitrate, 320x480) to VCD and it looked OK on the computer (I haven't burned it yet to play on DVD player) but I would like to capture at CVD specs so that I carn burn it directly to play on the DVD player.

[Fozzee]

I can only tell you how to do it in XP.
But I imagine it will be similar.

Start Menu / Run
Type REGEDIT
Goto "HKEY_CURRENT_USER" / SOFTWARE / CYBERLINK / POWERVCRII
On the right hand side will be a heading "AllVideoSize" Right-click on that heading. Select "MODIFY" then at the end of the sizes type in your chosen resolution e.g. 480 x 480#. You can type more resolutions after it.

With XP u need to change the same heading in "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SOFTWARE / CYBERLINK / POWERVCRII.

I don't know if Windows 98SE is different but it should be in there somewhere.

I hope that explains it ok. It's hard to put into words.
After doing this you just need to set up a custom profile in PowerVCRII.

Hope this helps

Fozz

[alandla]

I can only tell you how to do it in XP.
But I imagine it will be similar.

Start Menu / Run
Type REGEDIT
Goto "HKEY_CURRENT_USER" / SOFTWARE / CYBERLINK / POWERVCRII
On the right hand side will be a heading "AllVideoSize" Right-click on that heading. Select "MODIFY" then at the end of the sizes type in your chosen resolution e.g. 480 x 480#. You can type more resolutions after it.

With XP u need to change the same heading in "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SOFTWARE / CYBERLINK / POWERVCRII.

I don't know if Windows 98SE is different but it should be in there somewhere.

I hope that explains it ok. It's hard to put into words.
After doing this you just need to set up a custom profile in PowerVCRII.

Hope this helps

Fozz

Thanks for the help. Last nite I ran regedit and found the first line but I was too nervous to modify it. I didn't even know about the second line.
Do you know if I capture at this setting, can I just burn it directly as SVCD in VCDEasy? Do I need to encode in TMPG since it already is an MPEG2 file? Again thanks.

[edsmith77]

To All.
I am using ATI MMC 7.6 to capture at 352x480 and on my standalone the results are spectactular. From the ATI website I found this registry tweaker that allows you modify the MMC templates that you create (ala changing the bit rate to alter file size amongst others as well). I tried 480x480. It captures just fine however, my dvd player (daewoo 5800) did not like that resolution. I seemed to have edge blockiness. But at 352x480 it plays just fabulous with no edge blockiness. I have used both W2K and XP with the same results.
I cannot capture at 720x480 due to cpu speed. just to many dropped frames. cpu 800 MHz FSB 133MHz. But 352x480 works just fine for me. Now if I could only get 120 minutes at 2500 bit rate to fit on one CDR, life would be just great.

[Fozzee]

Thanks for the help. Last nite I ran regedit and found the first line but I was too nervous to modify it. I didn't even know about the second line.
Do you know if I capture at this setting, can I just burn it directly as SVCD in VCDEasy? Do I need to encode in TMPG since it already is an MPEG2 file? Again thanks.

Yes you can burn straight to SVCD as long as you set your bitrate to a compatible level to your standalone DVD wil play.
The standard is usually around 2520.

Fozzee

[Fozzee]

Please let me know how you get on.

Fozzee

[alandla]

Something very strange happened. I added 352x480 & 480x480 in the registry just as you said and then went into Power VCR to customize a profile. The resolution options were both there so I thought that I was home free.
I tried capturing Star Trek Voyager and this is where the strange part comes in. The 352x 480 captured 176 x 480 and 480x480 captured 240x480!!!!! Why did the horizontal capture in half? I double checked and the options still says 352 or 480 x 480.
Any ideas? Thanks for your help by the way. The registry entry was a piece of cake (so far).

[alandla]

Even stranger. I just played around some more with the profiles and edited a different one to change the res to 352x480 and it worked!
Now I am just comparing video to video on my computer but I think that the 320x480 MPEG2 that I encoded (TMPG) to VCD looks better than the straight 352x480 MPEG2. I suppose the real test is to burn them and play them on the DVD player.
Again thanks for your help. I'll let you know which looks better on TV.