can i increase my video quality

[goldenvirginia]

hi, guys, i have a tv recording on my computer but i set the bit rate pretty low and its in mpeg, i was jsut wondering if it was possible to run this recording through a program to increase its quality to avi standard, i understand it would increase its size but i dont mind, thanks

[daamon]

Hi goldenvirginia,

Welcome to the forums...

Sorry, but it's not looking good for you. Go to the glossary (the link's in the top-left under "What Is") and look up "GIGO"...

Also, you should know that "AVI" isn't just one type of video, like MPEG1 is. An AVI file just contains Audio and Video Interleaved with each other - the video and audio can be either uncompressed, or compressed using a range of different codecs.

As an example, DV AVI invariably has uncompressed audio and video compressed using a DV codec. Divx AVI can have audio as MP3 (among others, including AC3) and compresses the video using the Divx codec. And so on...

Why am I telling you this? Well, because you're asking for a program to run your MPEG through to get it "to AVI standard", this kinda suggests you think AVI is better than MPEG.

Although it can be, the rule is that any video format (DV AVI, Divx AVI, MPEG1, MPEG2) is only as good as it's source and it's quality limitations. Although AVI can be uncompressed or DV AVI, they are only high quality if the source is high quality.

So, if you've got a crappy MPEG, converting it to DV AVI (for example) won't improve the quality. It'll just be the same crap in a different format.

However... AVI is easier to work with - in terms of adjusting and filtering. So, it may be worth converting your MPEG to AVI and trying some filters on it depending on what needs doing. But note, you can never increase the quality, but you may make it look more pleasing to the eye (e.g. lightening a dark picture, adjusting the contrast etc.).

I'd suggest DV AVI over uncompressed - only because there's no gain terms of how easy they are to manipulate, and DV AVI is about 5x smaller, though still big files at about 13.5Gb per hour.

Download and install the Panasonic DV Codec. Then download VirtualDubMod. The latter can accept MPEG files, and the former can be used by VirtualDubMod to give you a DV AVI. VirtualDubMod (and / or just VirtualDub) can also be used to use a lot of different filters on the AVI.

Good luck...

[goldenvirginia]

thanks for the reply, the quality is good but only when it is in its original size which is small but not that small, the problem is when i change it to full screen or half full screen thats when the quality goes a bit naff. i understand if the source looks badat any size then not much can be done to improve it but my source only looks bad when you increase its size which is why i have a little more hope. the file is 512,000 Kb adn about 50 mins long and is acceptable at original size of 1/4 the screen but any bigger and it looses its sharpnes

[daamon]

Hi,

Download the latest version of GSpot (free) - this is v2.52 beta - and post the details of your MPEG here, especially the resolution.

The resolution is shown in the "Frame" field, roughly half way down and to the right of the GSpot window.

Also, in the section just above that, there's a field named "kbps" - quote the numbers in that field (to the right of the field name).

Hell, while you're at it, quote the codec used too...

[mats.hogberg]

Moving this thread, as it's not that related to capturing

/Mats

[goldenvirginia]

i downloaded g-spot, the problem is it only shows me information about my avi files and they are perfect quality at any size. the mpeg (the ones im having difficulty with) files it jsut gives me a load of n.a answers and i have to change the bottom thing to select all files because it says my mpegs arnt supported

thanks

[mats.hogberg]

You need the latest (2.52 beta IIRC) version of GSpot to look at mpg files.

/Mats

[daamon]

What version of GSpot did you get?

v2.52 says so at the top...

[goldenvirginia]

clicked on your original link, ill try the new link

thanks

[goldenvirginia]

if these are the same versions then i have them,

[goldenvirginia]

i have version 2.21, ill try and get te .5 one

[goldenvirginia]

right im in business, give me a minute to post the stats

[goldenvirginia]

frame 350x240
mpeg 1 system stream
pic/sec 29.970
frams/sec 29.970
Kbps 1150
Q.f .454
far 1.467
par 10.11
da 1.333 (4;3)
codec mpeg1_payload

[goldenvirginia]

sys bit rate 1411 Kb/s

[daamon]

OK, you've got standard MPEG1 - it could be worse.

Now, before we get into anything, describe (in reasonable detail, with screen shots if need be) what it is that you feel needs improving.

We know what you've got. We'll soon know what you want to "improve". From there, people can make suggestions.

[goldenvirginia]

basically the pictuyre looses its sharpness when increased, i recorded celbrity poker but when increase the picture size the cards are unreadable, the colours arnt as sharp and look fafed. Also it is as though there are waves running vertically through picture, its not noticable unless you increase the screen size. the picture is just too cloudy
thanks

[daamon]

basically the pictuyre looses its sharpness when increased, i recorded celbrity poker but when increase the picture size the cards are unreadable

This will happen with any video when you increase it above its original resolution which, in your case, isn't all that big. As a guide, your MPEG1 was encoded at a bitrate of around 1,100kbps and a resoultion of 352 x 240. DVDs use MPEG2 encoded at bitrates of up to 9,000kbps and a resolution of 720 x 480 - that's 9x the quality (amount of information) on a picture that is 4x the size (area).

the colours arnt as sharp and look fafed.

Not sure why this is - it may just be the scaling up beyond 352 x 240, could be settings used while recording etc. Not sure.

Also it is as though there are waves running vertically through picture, its not noticable unless you increase the screen size. the picture is just too cloudy

The waves may already be there, just not clearly visible until you (effectively) zoom in by increasing the resolution.


In summary, I'd say it's not looking good for you. I'll leave the final comment to those who have more experience in this particular field of the video quagmire.

I wish you luck...

[Nelson37]

Your video quality is kinda like saying "That girl (or guy) looks great from 50 feet away, but get close up and Ugh!". The quality, resolution in this case, is just not there. Filtering can help, but re-doing the original capture would be the best option.

[jimmalenko]

frame 350x240
mpeg 1 system stream
pic/sec 29.970
frams/sec 29.970
Kbps 1150
Q.f .454
far 1.467
par 10.11
da 1.333 (4;3)
codec mpeg1_payload

NTSC VCD-compliant if I'm not mistaken.

What's your preferred final format ? VCD ? DVD ? or just for best playback on a PC ?

[goldenvirginia]

just playback ona pc would be good but it would definatly be nice to put it into dvd format

[jimmalenko]

just playback ona pc would be good but it would definatly be nice to put it into dvd format

Well then, VCD and/or DVD is easy - it's already VCD-compliant so you could author it as VCD and burn, and/or all it needs to go on DVD is for the audio to be upsampled to 48KHz from the existing 44.1KHz (everything else is DVD-compliant already) and then authored and burned. Luckily a number of programs will do this resample for you without you having to think about it too much (TMPGEnc DVD Author is one such program). The beauty of either of these methods is that you shouldn't need to re-encode the video.

As for playback on your PC, that's going to be the tricky part (or at least making the video "look" better is, anyway). However with the right combination of filters you could resize up and still have it watchable. I'm guessing you're just using Windows Media Player's 200% and Full-screen modes to make the videos larger on playback ATM ?

[goldenvirginia]

no im using real player and just double the size

thanks

[jimmalenko]

no im using real player and just double the size

Either way, you're just using a software player's inbuilt resize algorithms, which often leave a lot to be desired.