backups look great except for blocky pixelation sometimes

[j123vt_99]

Kind of new to all this, but will everyone's help, i've been backing up dvds with dvd-shrink or using tmpgenc to take care of divx... everything has been great with the sound and picture looks fine, but on the dvd-rs i've watched every now and then, the pictures become pixelated for a frame or two and then goes back to normal..... i'm sure i'm not the 1st to experience this... what would you recommend? i'm burning at 2x on a pretty generic burner (burner doesn't seem to let me do 1x)

[Supreme2k]

Are you saying that you rip, convert to divx, then burn? If so, too many steps.

If not, make sure that you have deep analysis turned on in DVDShrink. It seems to give better results. Also, if you go below about 70% (live-action movies), you'll probably see the pixelation no matter what you do. Animation is a little more forgiving, sometimes letting you go under 60% before seeing (heavy) pixellation problems.

[j123vt_99]

no.. sometimes i rip.. sometimes i have divx files.. always use deep analysis... for the less than 70% would the pixelation be constant or just every now and then

Are you saying that you rip, convert to divx, then burn? If so, too many steps.

If not, make sure that you have deep analysis turned on in DVDShrink. It seems to give better results. Also, if you go below about 70% (live-action movies), you'll probably see the pixelation no matter what you do. Animation is a little more forgiving, sometimes letting you go under 60% before seeing (heavy) pixellation problems.

[Supreme2k]

I've found it to be fairly constant on action/high motion films. Lots of macro-blocks during transitions and explosions.

[j123vt_99]

would cheap media make a difference?

I've found it to be fairly constant on action/high motion films. Lots of macro-blocks during transitions and explosions.

[nufan292]

Yes it could also be read errors from cheap media.
Why don't you give the DVD a quick view in powerDVD or something similar and see if it is present in the same place before you burn the DVD again.

[teegee420]

If it's cheap media you're more likely to get strange discolorations and freezing, not just macroblocks.

When you convert Divx to mpeg-2 you are even more likely to get macroblocks because most Divx encodes are far smaller than 720x480, which most people tend to favor for creating DVD mpegs. Using a smaller resolution such as 352x480 will help to minimize blockiness. If that still doesn't eliminate the problem, the real problem lies with the source.

[j123vt_99]

what do i need to change in tmpgenc to reduce the resoultion?

[teegee420]

If you're using the project wizard, click on "other settings" in step 3/5, then click on the word "size" to unlock the value.