Using filters in TMPGEnc???

[Nugrl]

Would someone please tell were to find some information on using the filters in TMPGEnc??? I have been all over this site, and one night did manage to come across a page from someone explaining how they set them, but now I can't find that again. Anyone have any idea what I am talking about?

[kinneera]

Not sure really what you're asking.

I can give the sort of dumb generic answer: the filters are under the advanced settings tab. Click on it to enable it (check will appear in the box next to it), double-click to change settings.

If you're talking technical details about how the filters actually work, no one really seems to know except the author, who hasn't (at last check) written any real documentation.

[Nugrl]

Well see , I was on here the one night looking to see what I could find out about these filters and after clicking and clicking around on here, I came across this one page that was written by this person, explaining what these settings were and how they set them. I understand that you click on them to enable them and double click them to change the settings, but what I want to know is once you double click them , what do you set them to???? You know what I mean??? I wish I could find that page again, that the person wrote.

[kinneera]

Right then...it helps if you have a particular filter you're curious about, then people can usually give you some indication of how the settings will affect them. For a lot of them, the WSIWYG preview is going to be about as useful as anything we can tell you in words.

For example...the noise reduction filter appears to be a combination spatial and temporal smoother. Adjusting the top slider is analogous to setting the radius in a spatial smoother, and and adjusting the bottom slider is analogous to setting the time range you want used for analysis in a temporal smoother.

[Nugrl]

Ok, heres my problem, I have a file that I have encoded and re-encoded and I can't seem to get rid of the blockiness. It looks like someting being broadcast from a satellite. I don't know how else to explain it. So what should I set the filters to? To get rid of this blockiness? Do you know what I mean?

[kinneera]

I've experienced this problem myself when I attempted to capture to MPEG2, even at a high bitrate. I will warn that I have not personally found any particularly satisfactory solution. That said, the following may help:

In TMPGEnc, under the quantize matrix tab, there is a checkbox labelled "Soften block noise", if you haven't already found it. Try playing around with these settings. I believe higher values will reduce blocks at the expense of making the overall video softer.

Use the noise reduction filter. Since it is essentially a smoother, it can blur sharp edges that are difficult for the encoder to handle, thus reducing blocks. The smoothing should also help to blur out the blocks in your source.

Depending on the source and your objective, resize to a smaller resolution. This condenses more information into a smaller region, yielding more bits per pixel, and thus more bits per macroblock, which should help to eliminate blocks. Of course, this will make the video less sharp.

[Bullworth]

For your case I would use the Noise Reduction filter at it's default settings. You can increase the settings more but by doing so it will take longer to process and the video will loose sharpness and look soft. I would also check the Soften Block Noise box in the Quantize Matrix tab to minimize blocks. Under the Video tab set Motion Precision Search to High Quality. These are settings that normally help with macrobocks alot.
It would help alot if you could tell us what kind of video you are trying to encode, what source it's coming from (internet d/l, DVD, TV) what your system specs are, etc. If you give us these we can probably help you alot more.

[Nugrl]

Ok, I will take all this into consideration, but don't quit on me now. It is an avi file I dl'd from the net. And I understand the final product is based upon the source, but there is some room for improvement, right? I mean that is what all these filters are for??? All I do know, is that right now I am very tired from staring at this screen all day tryin to encode and re-encode just to get a decent vcd out of the deal, and still have not achieved my objective yet. But I do need to get some sleep, so I will be back here tomorrow, looking for some more ideas, and help from all you guys! You guys are great!! So thanks to all that have given me some input and have a good one!!!! Don't you worry though, I haven't given up hope yet!! I will be back............

[alucard2050]

everything i have read on hear about this and in my experiance sums up to whatever goes in cannot be improved on. quality might be about the same but never better....sorry............

[Nugrl]

Ok, then let me ask you this....... why is it that I know of someone else with the same file and theirs came out fine and mine didn't? And I am almost certain that we had the same settings on TMPGEnc. So what is going on????? This might be a stupid question, but, could it have anything to do with my video card?? I am grasping at straws here. I encoded again last night, but haven't burned it yet, but I will be sure post what this one looks like. Lets hope this one is better!!!

[Nugrl]

Well....... I burnt it, and it looks a little better, but still not too good. Let me ask you guys this......what do you set your filters to for a regular good ol' vcd ??? Maybe I still don't have the settings right, I don't know?? but you were right, what I did, did soften the whole thing. so were do you hit a happy medium?
PULLING MY HAIR OUT!!!!

[kinneera]

Honestly, it sounds like you simply have a crappy Divx. The format is notorious for this (which is not to say that there aren't good ones out there).

If you want to know how most of us create decent VCDs, it's because we make them from DVD rips, or at the very least high resolution Divxs.

[BigTen2k2]

I know exactly what your talking about..And there is room for improvement, but this all depends on how bad your source is. And when I mean improvement I just mean hide the flaws not necessarily
remove them. I've looked all over for "Tricks of the Trade" and found some helpful hints, but no gold mine of tips. But heres one that gets rid of them darn blocks. Since from what I understand if its encoded there it will be there, so if you darken your screen just to the point where you cant see whats in the shadows (ex. before you darken the screen you could see inside another room in the background) darken it to the point you cant tell theres a room there but you cant see inside it. I use this as reference point on how much to darken, and then encode and when you watch it on TV you should have a brighter picture with alot less blocks, and you can always adjust your TV settings to touch it up. Also resize it to 352x240,288 NTSC/PAL to compact it will also help, if its bigger.

Darkness varies always test first..