How to I get best results when playing MPEG-2 files fullscreen?

[Canon GL-2 Guy]

I have a Dell Inspiron 530 PC run with Vista Prem Home Edition with service pack 1.

Am getting poor results when playing back MPEG-2 files I've created especially with WMPlayer.

Perhaps I need some codecs, direct show or whatever to significantly improve playback performance.

What do you gents suggest I install in order to get a picture with at least very good quality?

Thanks!

[guns1inger]

1. You need to describe exactly what your issues are before you can expect anyone to give you meaning full help. Poor results could be anything from jerky playback to artefacts to no colour or more. The more you give us, the better we can help you

2. Windows Media Player is a mediocre player at the best of times. I would suggest you try something better. I like the KM Player, however VLC or Media Player Classic are also good, and play MPEG-2 out of the box.

3. Video on your monitor will rarely, if ever, look as good as on a TV. Monitors generally have lower contrast ratios, and lack the dedicated circuitry that televisions have to deal with video playback and all it entails. Much of this cannot be truly mimicked by software players. Some of this can be helped by having your monitor properly calibrated.

4. You say these are videos you encoded yourself. Are you sure the issue doesn't lie with the videos themselves. Not meaning to be rude, but without seeing a sample we have only your word to take for it that the videos are actually capable of being played back at "very good quality". No player can make average video look great.

[Braindrain]

Agree with #4. Garbage in, garbage out.

Also, encoder, and encoding specs, used makes a big difference.

[Canon GL-2 Guy]

Well, all I will say is that they are full mini dv spec, filmed with a Canon GL-2 and processed & made into an MPEG-2 with Prem Pro CS 3 at the highest possible settings!

[guns1inger]

So you don't want to tell us what the actual problem with the playback quality is then ?

[tomlee59]

Well, all I will say is that they are full mini dv spec, filmed with a Canon GL-2 and processed & made into an MPEG-2 with Prem Pro CS 3 at the highest possible settings!

So, do you want help or not? If you want help, tell us what the problem is. We're not mind-readers, and we don't have spycams deployed in your house (yet), so unless you tell us what the problem is, you're not going to get any help.

[manono]

And a 10 second sample of the video (as guns1inger suggested earlier) would help. You might have all this fancy equipment and software and not know the first thing about how to use any of it.