[SUPER] iPod on TV conversion problems (heavier and lots of squares)

[Horrigan]

Hey there!!

I usually use Videora to convert my video to iPod on TV format and the result was kinda good. But I got tired of those ads so I switched to SUPER. The problem is that the result is kinda inferior quality wise compared to videora and it's heavier (about 20mb).

Here's the input video settings:

Video: Xvid 704x396 23.98fps [Stream 00]
Audio: MPEG Audio Layer 3 48000Hz stereo 128Kbps [Stream 01] and the file weight 169mb

and here's SUPER settings, the result weights 272mb

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/6669/super00.jpg (by the way "Stretch it" is unchecked now, too lazy to upload the new setting)

So what strikes me the most is all those compression square that I see, it's like a squared paper. The result from videora doesn't have em and the video is a lot prettier.

What did I do wrong?

Thanks!

[guns1inger]

I have never found quality to be Super's strong suit.

Personally, I would either stick with Videora, or try Xvid4PSP.

[Horrigan]

Well uh can you change the resolution pass 320x240 in Xvid4PSP? Because the iPod resolution on TV looks blurry.

EDIT: I choose the Apple TV option to pass over 340, I hope my ipod will be able to play it..

[guns1inger]

Choose the iPod 5.5G preset and the resolution is a healthier 640 x 360 (1.778 AR). You can always go in and tweak all the encoding settings to your liking as well if you wish.

[Horrigan]

I forgot to mention something.. I always had problem with hard sub on iPod-to-TV setting.. the subs always seems too large for my tv but they are perfect on my iPod screen (good ol' 4:3 not flat tv). What do you suggest?

Oh and one last thing.. the output video (it's a anime) seems to have a lot of aliasing on my tv (not on my computer screen), what is the cause of that?

UPDATE: iTunes can't read the videos if I change the resolution.. they have the same properties of those created with Videora but iTunes can't synchronize 'em on my 5g iPod..

[guns1inger]

You will always have a problem with subs. If you want them big enough to read on the small screen of the iPod then they will be huge on the TV. Live with it, or encode once for the iPod and once for the TV.

Hard to say why is aliases. Could be the source, could be a poor resize. Maybe post a sample of the problem ?

[Horrigan]

About the subs what I meant is that sometimes I can't see some words cause they go beyond the border of the TV, you know what I mean?

About the aliasing I don't know how I could show you since it happens only on my tv and I don't have a camera at hand. And even if I had one a picture of a TV is always blurry so I don't think you could see something useful. The source is not aliased at all the line are sharp. Even the output when I use the "Zoom to Ultra Widescreen" option in Media player classic it's not aliased at all, just a bit blurry.

[guns1inger]

The subs problem can be solved by making sure that all the subs remain within the "Safe Area". Most editors have a Safe Area display to show you what parts of the screen will always be visible or generally be visible. Anything outside these areas may fall into the Overscan area and be hidden.

Unfortunately, fan-sub anime often have subtitles that fall outside the safe area. The only fix for these is to reduce the size of the video image and add black bars around the outside. This pushes the image in from the edges of the screen and back into the safe area. You can do this in Xvid4PSP by adding black in the Resolution settings dialogue. Your iPod doesn't have an overscan area (neither does a PC monitor or software player), so you don't have the same issue with playback.

I suspect that your aliasing problem is related to blowing up small videos to big screens. iPod vides are really designed first and foremost for viewing on a 320 x 240 LCD screen, not a big TV. The very basic encoding allowed by Apple for their devices means that you don't get the best quality anyway.

[Horrigan]

I see thanks for your help! I've one last question (I hope).. If I have a high quality high definition TV plugged to my PC will I have the same subtitles problem? and If I use my ipod on that same tv will the subtitles still go offscreen?

Thanks a lot!

[guns1inger]

It depends. if you encode 4:3 then it won't be a problem, as the image will be pillarboxed (if your TV is set up correctly) so you will see the whole image from side to side, with vertical black bars at either end.

If your video is encoded as widescreen you may still lose a small amount of image at either end. Some TVs allow you to adjust the screen to show the entire input image. On my Samsung it is called "Just Scan".

That said, the video itself is likely to look worse on a large screen HD TV.