New PC - Encodes not as good...

[Browncoat]

I just upgraded my crappy old system to something nicer. E8400 cpu @3.0Ghz / 2GB pc8900 ram / 8800GT. I did a complete reformat and installed all my proggies again.

Anyways I just encoded some shows in better than twice the normal time using powerdirectorpro. Made a DVD (using the same process as I have countless times before with good results) but the output quality wasnt so nice.. noticable square grid type effect over the whole picture.

Dual cores encoding video have any issues? Or does anyone know anything of this?

Thanks guys

[guns1inger]

Post a screenshot, but it sounds like the bitrate is too low.

[hanugro]

Whoa just because you mention this, I wonder why I always suspect my old P4 give better result than my AMD X2 albeit at much lower speed.

Have you tried doing same material and keep all parameter same?

[Alan69]

I did a complete reformat and installed all my proggies again.

Almost guaranteed your problem is in doing that. Think of all of those registry and program settings, different codecs, and installation orders.. There are likely things you don't even remember doing the first time, much less thought to do them exactly the same this time, and it can take quite a while to get everything operating reasonably as well as before. There's a way to uninstall your motherboard etc files, swap boards, and let Windows find the new hardware that usually works and doesn't require upsetting all of your installed applications. Usually best to back up, try that, and then only reformat/reinstall if it's really necessary..

[Browncoat]

Yeah, i'm leaning towards it being codec related. Still not sure how to proceed.

How do I post an image? (I posted 1 years ago but have forgotten how )[/img]

[guns1inger]

First this : https://forum.videohelp.com/topic239865.html

Then this : https://forum.videohelp.com/topic271697.html

[Browncoat]

Okay, here we go.

[/img]

[aedipuss]

powerdirector has a fairly decent encoder. it may be the settings are different than before. there are several drop down boxes to deal with and you can also set up a custom config for even higher quality.

[guns1inger]

I'd love to see a g-spot of that file. To me it still looks like the bitrate is just too low for the resolution, or the file has been resized up from a low resolution version at some point.

[aedipuss]

the info gunsl1nger would like and the same info for the source would be helpful.

and do you have the latest version of powerdirector? v6 build 2319?

[jagabo]

It looks like bad scaling by the player to me. Have you watched it on TV? Look bad there too?

[Browncoat]

It actually looks worse on the TV.

The source video is pretty good quality. This conversion is something i've been doing regularly for a very long time using the same programs with good results. The quality decline has only occurred since new computer and reinstall O/S.

I've never used G-spot, i'll have a look at that and try to get the relevant info posted.

exactly what do I need to do with G-spot(might be helpful)

[aedipuss]

gspot - download it. it runs from where ever you put it. file/open the video. it will analyze it. most people take a screenshot and post it.

[Browncoat]

OK thanks.

Heres a screencap of G-spot looking at the DVD compliant mpg in question

[Browncoat]

ew.. what went wrong there.. hang on i'll have to look into this.....

[Browncoat]

2nd attempt

Heres a screencap of G-spot looking at the DVD compliant mpg in question

[Browncoat]

It looks hard to read the actual info.

sorry

[Browncoat]

right clicking on the pics and "save pictures as" lets you read all the relevant info (You guys probably already knew that).

Anyway here is the G-Spot info for the source file

[poisondeathray]

I suspect that some settings with powerdirector pro were different between your encodes. The output file bitrate seems fine

It looks like you have tried to encode an XVID TV episode to DVD compliant MPEG-2.

You would probably have better results with FAVC (free) or ConvertXtoDVD (not free) which encode and author a DVD. You can put several episodes on a DVD and both generate simple menus to navigate.

[aedipuss]

from the snaps you are going from ntsc to pal. not a problem but you may notice some jerkiness from the frame rate conversion.

you didn't use one of powerdirector's default profiles did you? the audio is mpeg which means you changed something because they all default to ac-3. try using the mpeg-2 dvd-HQ profile and see if the video doesn't come out better. it will bump the bitrate up to ~ 8000.

[thecoalman]

dont know why it posted twice. and it looks hard to read the actual info.

You can edit your post to remove the double, the forum constrains large images so you don't have to scroll right. You'll see a red border when it does this, just click the image for full size.

[JohnnyMalaria]

A different possibility is that the encoder software is making use of instruction sets not available on the P4 (e.g., SSE3 etc). That can lead to differences in calculations, including errors.

I'm not familiar with the software in question but if it has an option to disable CPU optimizations it may be worth trying it.

[Browncoat]

You might be on to something JohnnyMalaria.

I was just reading something about TMPENC 4.0 now supporting the new penryn chips with SSE4. Leads me to think that possibly earlier versions and other encoders werent designed with SSE4 in mind?

[aedipuss]

powerdirector will work with about anything, especially what you've got.

Processor:

* DVD Quality (MPEG-2) profiles: Pentium 4 2.2 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 2200+
* High Quality MPEG-4 and Streaming WMV, QuickTime, RealVideo, DivX) profiles: Pentium4 2.4 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 2400+
* MPEG-4 AVC and MPEG-2 HD profiles: Pentium 4 3.0 GHz with HyperThreading or AMD Athlon 64 recommended

NOTE: PowerDirector 6 is optimized for Intel Core 2 Duo processors and CPUs with MMX, SSE, SSE2, 3DNow!, and Intel HyperThreading technology.

[Browncoat]

I'm only using powerdirector 2.55. Historically I have gotten very good results from this program. Possibly this early version isnt suited to my new system?

[aedipuss]

may be time for an upgrade as it is about 3 years old now and they are up to v6, or to try some other encoder.

first though, did you try my last suggestion about the dvd-hq default, just to give it a shot? or is 2.55 too old to even have that?

[Browncoat]

I always used to just select "Video for movie disc production" and then "DVD" and the resultant file was quite acceptable.

I did try "Video for general purposes" and then "MPEG-2 Video" which gave me the option of specifying parameters, I set everything on highest eg. bitrate 8000, highhest quality setting, noise reduction, smoothing. It took about 2 hrs to encode and didnt offer much if any improvement over "video for movie disc production - DVD"

So.. yeah. I'll have to try something else.

[Browncoat]

I tried powerdirector 6 with the same results as before (still very blocky).

I also tried TMPGENC 4.0 which gave much better results. I am satisfied with the quality produced. I still however, being ever curious, would like to know exactly why this problem occurred.

Do these 2 programs use different codecs. How else might they differ in what they do?

Is there a way to optimize my installed codecs so I only have exactly what I need installed? My procedure after a reformat now is to install every codec I have(is this ok?)

[aedipuss]

i would only install the codecs as needed for programs. codec packs or too many can cause conflicts and other wierdness.

tmpgenc, cce, and mainconcept are examples of dedicated encoders mainly for more advanced users, that's all they do and you need other programs for things like authoring.

powerdirector is an all-in-one program similar to many others on the market that do capture to authoring/burning. they are designed to be easy to use and goof proof, but you give up control and excellence in return.