Buncha questions about tools and settings for VCD (xVCD)

[nonyadb]

I've read a lot of different answers to quality questions and I think the reason for this is that different people have different oppinions on what quality is. So I'll give you what I'm looking for and all the info I have and let's see what comes in

Info:
Source: 99% Film DVD
Player: No SVCD. Supports 3500 kbit/sec CBRxVCD. I haven't tried
VBR

Quality:
Important: minimize "stair-stepping" on edges, "blotches",
blocks

Unimportant: sharpness (within reason), perfect color fidelity


I already know about using "Forced Film" in DVD2AVI and "Reconstruct progressive" in XMpeg. I may be able to figure some of the rest of this out on my own before I'm 90 if someone could answer some questions for me:

1. Is it better to tell the frame server (DVD2AVI or XMpeg)to use YUV or RGB as the input to the encoder?
2. Would converting the video to PCM AVI then encoding it give me the quality I'm looking for?
3. If you frameserve from DVD2AVI or XMpeg to AVISynth then to the encoder does it apply the compression you've specified (PCM, Divx, ect.) in AVISynth or does it just make the raw video available to the encoder?
4. Can you actually make an xVCD with VBR or are the posters of the few messages I've read recommending this completely nuts?

I'd prefer freeware/fully functional shareware solutions.

Thanks.

[nonyadb]

Ooops. I made a mistake in my post. Everytime I wrote AVISynth you should replace with VirtualDub

[stanwebber]

1. vfapi ignores this setting as it will only operate in 24bit rgb. yuv will save you a colorspace conversion to & from rgb if you bypass vfapi & feed the output thru mpeg2dec avisynth plugin
2. what is pcm avi? do you mean uncompressed avi? if so, the video is already in this format after decoding
3. virtualdub filtering involves a colorspace conversion to & from 32bit rgb(fast recompress mode avoids this provided the compressor natively accepts it). no compression is applied when you frameserve
4. never tried it

[nonyadb]

Thanks. That helped some.

Now all I have to do is find a guide that gives some kind of idea of what VirtualDub/TMPGenc filters to use for certain quality problems. Maybe it's the movie I'm working on (Swordfish) or the fact that I've only viewed results on my PC, but with the filters I've tried so far (I'm still playing) I only notice either adverse effects or no effect at all. At the moment I'm mostly looking for way to get rid of or minimize the "stair-stepping" effect on slanted edges.

Anybody have any links or are there any volunteers to make one complete with examples?

[schamp]

For the stair-stepping effects, try to use a higher resolution, like 480xhhh instead of the standard 352xhhh. If your player is capable of higher bitrates as you say, then it might very well also take higher resolutions for XVCD.
I even use 720xhhh (hhh usually between 304 and 368, depending on the height of the movie) and believe me, the results are great. Also I do use VBR with average setting between 1500 and 2000, max at 2500 and min at 400 with padding. It takes double the time of CBR, but its well worth it. But of course you have to try all this on your player first.

[nonyadb]

My player doesn't accept 720xhhh xVCD. I also tried the supposed "trick" of putting an MPEG-1 header on SVCD and that didn't work, so it may not accept 480xhhh either. I'll give it a try with xVCD though.

Thanks for the padding info. When I tried the higher bitrate before I used CBR instead of VBR. I came here to search for some padding suggestions for VBR and found it in my own thread!!!