VCD picture quality?

[javarn]

Hello,

I am wondering how to sharpen the picture of my VCD. It is not horrible, but it is a little blocky, a little fuzzy and definitely not as good as a VHS tape playing in a VCR.

Video was captured from a digitil8 camcorder and I used the software that came w/ my Adaptec Firewire card/cord to capture/burn the VCD. Is my problem likely the source video or might better software give me the ablility to have more control over the picture quality? I see VCDeasy and TMPGEnc are discussed quite a bit here. Maybe one of those?

I definitely don't expect or even care to have DVD quality video, but VHS quality would be nice.

Thanks for your help.

[bugster]

You should be able to achieve decent quality using TmpGenc to encode the video to mpeg-1. Just use the wizard or load the appropriate VCD template.

Another optin that may be available if your DVD player supports it is SVCD, this is higher res and higher bitrate. Cna fit about 40 mins on an 80min CD.


One thing to remember though, home video is notoriously difficult to encode to low bitrate mpeg. This is due to camera shake caused by the use of handheld cameras. You may not see this but the encoder does and it eats up the available bitrate, reducing overall qualty. There are methods thet may help but you can start getting complex. Better to make sure you understnd the basics first.

[Ripper2860]

Some of the filters in TMPGenc may help. Under FILTER SETTINGS / OTHER SETTINGS there is a noise filter, video sharpener, color/saturation adjustment, and various other tools. Under the MATRIX tab there is a SOFTEN BLOCK NOISE option as well. They work quite well, but do add to encode times.

Check the TMPGENC guide on Lord Smurf' site -- http://www.lordsmurf.com . Great information and briefly touches on these filters!!

[duet]

One thing to remember though, home video is notoriously difficult to encode to low bitrate mpeg. This is due to camera shake caused by the use of handheld cameras. You may not see this but the encoder does and it eats up the available bitrate, reducing overall qualty. There are methods thet may help but you can start getting complex. Better to make sure you understnd the basics first.

Hi Bugster
Reading your reply, I really hope you can help me on this. I've been trying for weeks to resolve this....

I shot holiday movie using JVC DV NTSC Camera. Sent it to my PC through Canopus ADVC-100 through Firewire IEEE1394 Compliant Card. Software used to capture is Adobe Premiere Pro into avi file. I want to produce two formats -- VCD and DVD.

DVD - no probems with using Adobe Premiere Pro's native Mainconcept encoder and Nero. No problems using TMPGENC and Nero as well.

VCD (compliant standard) - Used APPro's Mainconcept with Nero; TMPGENC with Nero; Ulead Moviemaker with native author s/w. Big problem. The same scene that comes out well in DVD does not come out well in VCD. The scene -- little children in a line walking from right to left and I panned left to right. There seems to be jitter/combing shadow with the little children. Otherwise, everything is very clear and sharp.

I'm at my wits end... I tried to rip the DVD to VCD, the same scenes have the same jitter/combing shadow.

I really hope you or someone can help me. I've been working on this for the last few weeks and can't get pass this problem.

[bugster]

There seems to be jitter/combing shadow with the little children. Otherwise, everything is very clear and sharp.

Hmmm, that sounds like an interlacing issue.

VCD is mpeg-1 which does not support interlacing. Make sure that whatever de-einterlace method is used that the field order is set to bottom field first.

I shot holiday movie using JVC DV NTSC Camera. Sent it to my PC through Canopus ADVC-100 through Firewire IEEE1394 Compliant Card. Software used to capture is Adobe Premiere Pro into avi file. I want to produce two formats -- VCD and DVD.

I am not sure I fully understand what you did here. Did you use analog out from your DV cam into the ADVC-100? If so why? You should use DV-Out from your cam straight to the firewire card, no ADVC needed, your method will introduce some loss of quality, potentially quite significant.

[duet]

Hi Bugster, thanks for the very prompt reply. My reply in <>.

There seems to be jitter/combing shadow with the little children. Otherwise, everything is very clear and sharp.

Hmmm, that sounds like an interlacing issue.

VCD is mpeg-1 which does not support interlacing. Make sure that whatever de-einterlace method is used that the field order is set to bottom field first.

< Originally, I kept thinking it's an interlacing issue and tried all types of permutations. Finally, to encode mpeg-1/VCD, I used de-interlaced, bottom/even field first. There is this 'jitter/combing shadow'. But if I encode to mpeg-2/DVD, interlaced, bottom/even field first, the same scenes are fine. The original DV-cam output to TV looks good too although, I would not classify as 'perfect', me a novice! I need to produce both VCD and DVD using the same dv avi files. I read your earlier reply and wonder if it is due to the inferior quality of mpeg-1/VCD encoding and if that is the case, I'll just have to accept the jitter/combing shadow. By de-interlacing and playing back on TV, I've already thrown away 50% of quality! If this jitter/coming shadow can be eliminated, I really hope you can help. Alternatively, owuld a viable solution be encoding to mpeg-2/SVCD (2-pass vbr) using the VCD header trick?>

I shot holiday movie using JVC DV NTSC Camera. Sent it to my PC through Canopus ADVC-100 through Firewire IEEE1394 Compliant Card. Software used to capture is Adobe Premiere Pro into avi file. I want to produce two formats -- VCD and DVD.

I am not sure I fully understand what you did here. Did you use analog out from your DV cam into the ADVC-100? If so why? You should use DV-Out from your cam straight to the firewire card, no ADVC needed, your method will introduce some loss of quality, potentially quite significant.

< Sorry about this confusion. For DV cam, I used the DV-out directly to the firewire card. I use ADVC-100 for other analog purpose. Please jump the ADVC-100. >

[bugster]

It is impossible for me to say for definate what the problem is. If you have tried various de-interlacing methods then it could well be simply the lower quality of VCD.

Encoding to SVCD and using the VCD header trick would improve quality if the DVD player in question can play such a hybrid disk (It is surprising just how many do).

[duet]

It is impossible for me to say for definate what the problem is. If you have tried various de-interlacing methods then it could well be simply the lower quality of VCD.

Hi Bugster, many thanks for your prompt replies. There are must be tons written on this. In any case if anyone is still reading this thread, let me share my findings. This is the final verdict of my experiments on TMPGENC Plus:

1. dvd - interlace, lower field, 2pass vbr -- EXCELLENT
2. svcd - interlace, lower field, 2pass vbr - EXCELLENT
3. vcd - non-interlace, lower field, cbr - POOR
4. svcd per #2 with VCD header trick - EXCELLENT

The process:
DV Cam (NTSC) ---> Firewire ---> Capture, DV NTSC, Adobe Premiere Pro ---> edit APPro ---> export clip, lower field, uncheck data rate, Microsoft DV with Panasonic Codec ---> avi file ---> TMPGENC Plus ---> either mpeg-1 or mpeg-2 file ---> Nero author

For various reasons I prefer TMPGENC Plus rather than APPro native Mainconcept encoder and that's why TMPGENC is used.

BTW, does anyone know whether a SVCD with VCD header trick plays on a standard VCD player?

Cheers!

[bugster]

BTW, does anyone know whether a SVCD with VCD header trick plays on a standard VCD player?

Cheers!

Unlikley, a VCD player won't support mpeg-2, the resolution, the bitrate or have a CD reader that can read fast enough. Any one of those issues would cause failure.