not happy with SVCD encoding results

[wilmort]

Hi,

I'm trying to master the mpeg encoding thing, but I think I'm far from it.

I try to get a SVCD from e.g. TVcaptures in Huffyuv or DVDrip. Sometimes I try Vdub for resizing (precise bicubic 1.00), frameserve to cinemacraft
Other times I try directly TMPGenc, 2-pass 2520 kb/s, motion search very slow

In any case I'm not happy with the results, I have the impression that other people's VCDs look better than my SVCDs

Any hint about the reason?

[lordsmurf]

What are the specs of the video files you captured (the AVI) ?

[wilmort]

In the case of TV captures the problem could be source quality, but it is impossible in the case of DVDrip.
For TV captures I've tried WinDVR, MPEG2 720*576, 10.000 kb/s and VirtualVCR AVI 704*576 huffyuv or mjpeg (quality 19).
I reported the resizing method in case it's not the best one.

[Heavensent]

it depends on the qulity of the show that you put into your pc
(digital makes better source) and the type of connection you use connect it to the capture card.
are you using s-video/composit or RF ?
the best way to go is s-video or composit
RF has a very bad qulity so try not to use it.

if you end up with good looking avi capture, there is no reason for your
svcd's to look so bad.
the other thing that whould make the final mpeg look better
is a better bitrate.
try to use cbr 2500 just to see if bitrate is the problem here.
you might be capturing a high action movie, so using VBR might
NOT give you the resolts that you wanted.

why dont you write WHY you think your svcd's look bad?

[lordsmurf]

In the case of TV captures the problem could be source quality, but it is impossible in the case of DVDrip.
For TV captures I've tried WinDVR, MPEG2 720*576, 10.000 kb/s and VirtualVCR AVI 704*576 huffyuv or mjpeg (quality 19).
I reported the resizing method in case it's not the best one.

Problem #1 = WinDVR (uses deinterlaced capture method).

Possible Problem #2 = Are you retaining the interlace?

The tv source is interlaced. The DVD rip depends on the DVD video. Could be either interlaced or progressive.

[Gazorgan]

My TV captures look exactly like they did on TV (noise here and there, and the occasional macroblock from the sattelite signal). For didgital capture they look like a DVD (except for the HBO logo in the corner :P ).

TV capturing is an art, and generally speaking you need to know your filters. You ahve to filter 98% of TV captures. You have noise, lots of signal noise to deal with. Your computer is about the worst thing you can capture with, it's an incredibly noisy place. Useing S-Video in helps tremendously over RF in.

Proper grounding of all components can eliminate a lot of noise. Changing you capture resolution can help also, it depends on what the final product is going to be. And most importantly, keep everything interlaced. I use IUVcr because it's the only program in the whole dam software pages on this site that does a decent job for me.

[wilmort]

Thank you for all your advices

My main complain is that I've seen films on VCD (maybe xVCD) which had great quality. Meanwhile my SVCDs are blocky, even though the motion is not really heavy. In a couple of seconds you realise you are watching a PC-encoded film.

I'll keep on trying diffent settings and follow your advices hoping it helps

[Jim the ripper]

use TMPGenc to encode ,tick the noise reduction box put on high quality
bitrate should be constant quality ( cq) 2500 go into settings slide to 100%.motion search should be very slow setting encoding will take anything upto 10 hours depending on your pc

give it a go ,should be worth it

Jimbo