Upping res on mpeg, will it look better???

[seantree]

i want to re-encode an mpeg i have so i can burn it to DVD. will the re-encoding to DVD specs improve the picture quality or just make it compliant?

[vhelp]

seantree,

In short, NO!

About the best you can do is reach the same quality.
What you need is the origonal source (or avi) and re-encode
with revised setttings (ie, higher res. and more bitrate)
Please don't be under the ossumption that if you take an 352x240
and you up it to 720x480, that it's gonna give you even better quality,
cause you're wrong!

Only if the source is, ie, 704x480, that if you go down, will quality still
be good, but not going up. Some people ARE fooled by this - to each
his/her own.

As for me, I prefer to make ALL my encodes to 352x480. Heck, your
tv will only bump an 704x480 to a 352x240. NO! Don't think that it's
better, then, to cap and encode straight to 352x240!!! Don't be fooled
too!! MY recommendation is to cap / encode at 352x480. You won't
be dissatisfied!! Trust me when I say this!! Course, if your card doesn't
support this res (352x480), then you'll have to shoot for 640x480 or
704x480 and then bump down to 352x480. One thing that will shorly
come easy is that if you bump down to 352x480, you'r encodes will
be much quicker, than if you stay with 704x480.

Something to think about!

------------------------------------
Visit my DC10+ Samples Site

[seantree]

i thought so. thanks for the reply, but are the resolutions you listed compatible with DVD? i want to burn this movie onto a DVDR for playing.

[vhelp]

seantree,

Lets see. . .

352x240 - faget-about-it!! (but pepole LOVE to use it for VCD)
352x480 - ***** 5 stars!! (I call this the sweet spot)
480x480 - (if you really think it'll help - NOT!) but, its there & will bump tv to 352
704x480 - (704/2) = 352 (a smooth bump down)
720x480 - These are mostly DVDs

All of the above will work for DVD or DVDr or VCD or SVCD, etc.

Cap at 352x480 and you'll never go back to anything else (given the above)

Get this. . . I'm in the middle of testing one of my very OLD and First Capture card
the Hauppauge Wintv PCI card. the date stamp if 1996.
I've ben on a roll with this 352x480 bit for the last month maybe, and I've ben
testing some of my old capture cards. The hauppauge wintv pci card seems to
be holding up to captures at 352x480. It took a while (many trial and error) before
I finally got it to produce GOOD quality captures. And, I must admit, it seems to
be capping even better then my DC10 - oh noo. . . did I say better than my DC10???

I'm just telling you the truth! IT IS!! And, not only that, but my encodes are running
a lot quicker then my DC10 caps. (the avi's that is)

The one thing I don't like about the cap from my DC10 is the Star Trek Enterprise
caps. Being that this show is mostly on the dark side, my final encodes are not that
good. And, anything with dark scenes in it, don't look so good. But, I've learned to
live with this handy cap for the DC10. Don't get me wrong. The DC10 is IMO, a die-hard.

I'll still need to do some more testing, but the above is what I have come up with.

Anyways, just try and follow my guidance. Cap at 352x480.

I think what I'll do is, do a cap test of ALL my capture cards and put them up for display
to test or compare quality. I have the hauppage/ati-tv/rage fury/pvr/etc.
If I ever do reach this point, I'll have to post them up here for all to see.

Ok, enough rambling on. cap at 352x480 and get back to me. Let me know what
your WHOLE process is - that is, if you're still interested in getting best quality, even
for DVDr creation.

Good night!

------------------------------------
Visit my DC10+ Samples Site