Relative quality of formats

[odwoh]

So....if a full DVD- 100% quality then whats the % for a SVCD or VCD. And when you use Shrink to compress a DVD to say whatever a SVCD is in % is that equivalent or are there other factors that would differeniate them?

thx

[guns1inger]

A very good VCD will give you VHS quality. By very good I mean a VCD with minimal blocking in dark or action scenes. I have a couple of commercial VCDs that still suffer from these problems. I would put VCD at around 30 - 40% of DVD. You also have to change disks mid movie

A good SVCD is probably around 70% - 75%, however, as with VCD, you have the inconvenience of having to change disks mid-movie, sometimes twice.

[odwoh]

Thats interesting to know. Especially when converting my SVCDs to DVD.

So......if using Shrink the compression gets to the 70-75% range then its about the same as a SVCD.........interesting again. I think the lowest I've gone is 75-80%.

[Jester700]

You're really massaging numbers here. A Shrink compress at 80% isn't necessarily "80% of a DVD". Sometimes it's visually indistinguishable. Shouldn't that still be 100% then? But 100% of WHAT? There's a whole range of quality levels in that format we call "DVD".

And I've NEVER seen a standard SVCD that would outdo a Shrink; it's in another class entirely.

[Gurm]

I've seen PLENTY of SVCD's that look better than the average transcode. Period.

The problem here is that there is no such thing as an "absolute DVD quality number", and transcoding is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from re-encoding.

An SVCD is re-encoded video. A good SVCD has flawless compression (zero artifacting, zero blocking, zero jumping, 100% smooth, sharp, and flawless) but only 480x480 resolution.

What you get out of DVD Shrink is transcoded video. The resolution is still 720x480, but the compression data has been monkeyed with. A shrink at "85%" or higher, provided you use deep analysis, will likely have minimal artifacting, blocking, and jumping - but rarely NONE.

Now take into account that the SVCD is 2 cd's at 700MB each - or 1.4GB.

The DVDShrink output is the full size of the DVD. For just the movie let's say it's 3.5GB, with another gig of extras and menus.

If you "shrunk" a movie to 1.4GB, or even down to 2.5GB, it would look HORRIBLE. Absolute shit.

But let's also remember that the resolution is nearly TWICE that of an SVCD.

On a 19-27" television, the difference between a perfect SVCD and a perfect DVD is visible, but subtle. Not enough to wreck your enjoyment of the movie.

The difference between a pristine DVD and a highly-"shrunk" disc CAN wreck your enjoyment of the film, macroblocking and jerkiness SUCKS.

I'm rambling, but the main point here is that we're discussing two ENTIRELY different processes which have NOTHING to do with one another except that the end result is a movie.

[Jester700]

We have different experiences, but I'll chalk that up to my relative inexperience with SVCD. I've only made a half dozen or so, and these were re-encoded from DVD sourced material, not from an AVI. But I didn't like the results enough to continue making them. High motion scenes in particular were a problem.

With Shrink, I am pleased with most of the transcodes, though I admit on heavy duty movies I generally use DVDRebuilder/CCE Basic (generally 80% and less).