DV capture quality: where I lost it ?

[Gintaronas]

Hello !

Just bought Panasonic NV-DS29 and now trying to create SVCDs from the shots I made. What I did was that I captured the DV stream to PC via noname firewire card using DVIO.exe (small program freely available in internet). I used AVI type 2 for capture. Result is in PAL 720x576, 25fps.
Next, using VirtualDub I de-interlaced the footage (using free Panasonic DV codec for compression/decompression). Later edited with WMW, saved in DV format.
After that, using TMPGEnc Plus I created MPG2 file, compatible with SVCD format and burned to CD with Nero.
And now the final result : the quality generally is very good.
Only concern is that at the scenes where camcorder was moving (like turning around while shooting) the picture is shaking a little from left to right in some places and generally looks quite blurry at the places where the shaking is not very noticeable.
I tried to check the "original", just transferred DV files and they seemed to have the same problem.
When watching the footage on TV directly from camcorder, those scenes look much smoother and clearer.
What could be the issue here ? Is the quality somehow lost during the capture from camera to PC ?

[Dragonsf]

Are you referring to those infamous interlace artifacts (horizontal stripes produced by horz. panning of the camera)?If so, you need more than an ordinary deinterlace provided with vdub.Try avisynth.There something called SmoothDeinterlace, which might help you:

http://www.avisynth.org/index.php?page=SmoothDeinterlaceFunctions

[Gintaronas]

I am not sure those are the things You mentioned. Anyway, I will try to play with it and also Deshaker filter and then let's see...

Thanks for help !

[tmfwy]

Gintronas.

I believe that there is an easier equivalent in Virtualdub. It is called Smart De-Interlacer and it can be found on the VDub Add-ons page

[energy80s]

Why are you even trying to de-interlace? Your original DV footage is interlaced, and your final SVCD footage will be intelaced, so don't go messing about in between times! It will look fine of a TV set and fine on a PC monitor if you use proper DVD player software. However it will look bad if viewed in Win Media Player!

[Dragonsf]

Why are you even trying to de-interlace? Your original DV footage is interlaced, and your final SVCD footage will be intelaced, so don't go messing about in between times! It will look fine of a TV set and fine on a PC monitor if you use proper DVD player software. However it will look bad if viewed in Win Media Player!

Overall you're right.But sometimes (with very fast moved camera pans, the interlacing artefacts are to clearly to be seen - a vertival post for example is chopped up in horizontal blocks - viewed in the DV avi they are good, but converted to mpeg-2 the are quite annoying.So a deinterlace/fieldseparation and weave/bob are doing wonders on such footage.And you can make a progressive SVCD, if you like.

[energy80s]

Sometimes (with very fast moved camera pans, the interlacing artefacts are to clearly to be seen - a vertival post for example is chopped up in horizontal blocks - viewed in the DV avi they are good, but converted to mpeg-2 the are quite annoying.So a deinterlace/fieldseparation and weave/bob are doing wonders on such footage.And you can make a progressive SVCD, if you like.

I've never seen this on a finished file - even examining frame by frame of some rally cars footage I shot at Easter. Maybe I've been lucky.

[spamagnet]

... the interlacing artefacts are to clearly to be seen - a vertival post for example is chopped up in horizontal blocks - viewed in the DV avi they are good, but converted to mpeg-2 the are quite annoying.So a deinterlace/fieldseparation and weave/bob are doing wonders on such footage.And you can make a progressive SVCD, if you like.

I have had the same experience; when burning a VCD or SVCD (MPEG directly from interlaced DV) it had an annoying shimmering effect. Now that I think about it, perhaps I should have adjusted bob/weave or something.

But using VDub's Smart Deinterlacer worked nicely, plus makes it possible to do additional effects like applying effects to the video (moving path, etc.)within the NLE without additional artifacts.

Plus I just like the idea of producing progressive-scan material. It sounds cool to say.

Rob

[sea4me]

Hi,

U dont specify how u will use your svcd's.

If your main objective is to display them on your TV I would be carefull with filters cause u basically dont need deinterlacing.

I once read an article about home videos and that they where difficult to convert with good results. This due to the fact that they where shot by amatours. Lots of movement. Thus it was highly recommended with a decent tripod. This would reduce requirement for bitrate. The conclusion was then that these kind of video's are difficult to convert with good quality within the svcd bitrate limitations.

[ktnwin]

This sounds like a field order problem I had when first making SVCD (VCD does not have this problem since it only use one of the two fields).
In TMPGenc, the Advanced Tab, change the field order from what it was, then re-encode. The problem should go away as it did for me. This is not a shot in the dark, it's logical.

[Gintaronas]

Thanks for all suggestions ! I am playing with smart deinterlacing now.
As I am a newbe, could someone give a link to read about the "progressive-scan", cause I have no idea what it is about...