Newbie Question about formats and conversion

[mariela06]

I successfuly downloaded some videos (mpeg) from the internet and converted them into VCD to realize the resolution on the TV is pretty bad. I figured that the size/resolution of the video had lots to do with it (I think 480x480). ( I have tried this several times with different formats as recommended in the forum.)

Now, this may sound silly, but I don't know much about this. If the resolution is causing my problem (the video doesn't look too good on TV), how come I always read about people capturing and burning VCD's and they say they look great on TV? Is this because they do the capture themselves or is there an additional step in converting to VCD?

I have tried Mpeg-1, Mpeg-2, etc...
I also noticed that if I play the mpeg on the computer (MS Media player), it looks good as long as I use the small screen, but if I use full screen, the quality changes. Again, the same question, does it have to do with the video? If I buy a capture card and capture/convert them myself, will I be able to see a good VCD (same ot better than a VHS tape)

Thanks

[Digifreak2]

Its been said a hundred times here, crap in = crap out. DVD rips give you the best in source. Also you are taking a compressed file and compressing it again, each time you do this it looks worse and worse. VCD is low resolution anyway, but will look decent if you start with a DVD. For better resolution, try SVCD but you still need a good source in. Compare your original input to your encoded output to see how mush you are losing.

[baker]

sounds like you are capturing at a crap res. Make sure you cap at 640x480

baker

[mariela06]

Thank you...

Gigifreak2,

Yes, it has been said many times, and I have read many things about it. As a newbie, there are some things I don't understand. I know DVD would be the best format to start from, and that resolution has lots to do... and crap in = crap out
but I also read about people making VCD from mpegs and AVI using NSTC and it sounded that somehow they got better formats with same type of files.

I am sorry if I offended anyone with my ignorance. I just wanted to know if the reason of this was the poor quality of the initial file (as I think you suggest) and to know for sure that if I capture it myself from a different source, the result would be different. I asked about capturing the video because I saw that the format has to be standard also (480x480 I think), and I thought that would not look good on TV. but I have no idea how resolution works and if 480 will be ok on TV

I guess I will just have to try.

[mariela06]

By the Way (and this is mostly a question), I don't understand, how is a VCD with standard resolution 352X240 going to look fine on the TV... even if the original file came from a DVD... That is mostly what I have trouble understanding.

If the computer is 1024x768, you would think that watching a 352x240 (from a VCD) on full screen would look bad

Again, sorry for my ignorance on this.

[FranckV]

Looking at a VCD on a PC at full screen resolution 1024 x 768 does look bad especially if you stand right in front of it. If you walk back 20', then it is not that bad.

TV imaging is very different from PC, you'll have to read about interlacing, frame rate, etc... on this site.

I have a 63'' TV and I have been making VCD & SVCD from DV (digital camera with a firewire card) and from VHS taped from TV movies through a PCTV card.

VCD looks OK but SVCD is much better pretty much the same image quality difference that you have between VHS and S-VHS.

The better the source (DVD or DV tape), the better the result. If the source is not good, then you have to use software to improve the quality by filtering the video before encoding.

So, for a movie I want to keep, I use SVCD, for something which will have a short lifetime (like a superman cartoon for the kids) then I use VCD because you can fit more episodes i.e. it last longer for playback without having togochange the disk.

DVD is the best format but burner and blank disk are expensive. All DVD player are not compatible with home made DVD.



Hope this helps a bit.