How to improve video quality?

[MovieStar]

I have learned how to convert analog video to digital video, import it into Premiere, edit it, frameserve it out to TMPGenc, create a VCD compliant MPEG1, author a DVD menu using DVD MovieFactory, and burn a DVD player compliant VCD. This is all working.

Now I want to see what I can do to improve the video quality. The video that I have is a business presentation and the completed AVI file looks good and reasonably sharp/crisp visually. Then I run it through TMPGenc to create the VCD compliant MPEG1 and the face of the person in the video now appears to have a soft focus effect. Almost to the edge of blurry. I have tried many different settings and some different TMPGenc templates to create the MPEG1, but I still end up with a soft focus/blurry impression of the presenter.

I am needing to know if there is a way to improve the sharpness/crispness of the images in this video format. Or is this the best that you can expect given that it is a VCD, not a DVD? The presentation is only 10 minutes long and not that challenging. As I said previously, the AVI file looks fine, the resulting MPEG1 is dissatisfying.

I would really like to get as much input on this that I can.

Thanks

[ktnwin]

I did not remember how I solved this problem. I only made a few VCD and did not like the quality so I made XVCD instead (by cranking up the bit rate from 1150 to above 2000, still VCD resolution). This produces high quality XVCD. If your DVD player can handle XVCD then it's worth a try.

[ZippyP.]

Try CVD at 352 X 480 in mpeg2. The CVD resolution is a legal DVD standard. The increased resolution will be a huge difference.