Pixelation Problems after conversion

[JaneHarris]

I ripped my uncles dvd then converted to avi so I could use Windows Movie Maker to do some editing and then converted back to dvd but the resulting dvd is all pixelated - the quality is very poor - far removed from the original... Any suggestions?

[Baldrick]

How did you convert back to DVD?

I would convert to dv-avi with windows movie maker and then convert to a dvd with for example avstodvd.

[aedipuss]

what kind of editing? if it's simple cuts you could keep it in the original mpeg-2 the whole way and not lose anything by re-rendering.

[JaneHarris]

I used ConvertXToDVD to convert back.

[Baldrick]

Several reconversions cause pixelations. Especially if you are converting to wmv with low bitrate using windows movie maker. Instead try convert to high bitrate wmv or dv-avi with movie maker and then use convertxtodvd.


And if you are just doing cuts can you use dvd shrink to edit and reauthor your dvd with no quality loss. Like aedipuss mentions.

[JaneHarris]

So if I try to convert with a higher bitrate would that improve the quality?

[manono]

So if I try to convert with a higher bitrate would that improve the quality?

The best way to keep the original quality is not to convert at all. DVDShrink has already been mentioned if all you want to do is cut. Also, there are some very good commercial programs that will reencode only where you make edits and return the rest unchanged. Check out VideoRedo and/or MPEG Video Wizard DVD.

But you've already been asked twice what kind of work you want to perform and haven't answered yet. So who really knows? The way you're doing it now though (and you haven't even made that clear) isn't optimum.

[JaneHarris]

I want to try and sharpen some sections, lighten other sections and cut some sections and include title pages and insert from footage from another clip.

[Hoser Rob]

You can't do all that on an already encoded video and reencode it back to dvd compliant and retain quality. Not gonna happen.

All I can suggest is avstodvd, and when you use it force 2 pass vbr mode.

[manono]

Oh, this is much more than just editing and will require a full reencode afterwards. I do these kinds of things using AviSynth. I didn't know Windows Movie Maker even had the ability to do all the things you mentioned. If it does, I'd second Baldrick's earlier suggestion to first convert to DV AVI before making the changes. Save it out as another DV AVI if possible, and then use Avs2DVD on it to convert it back to DVD.