VirtualDub2 - Encoding MPEG2 Files (bad qualitiy compared to TmpGenc 2.5)

[TJFO]

Hi,

I am new to virtualdub2. My first steps were not very successfull in the part of quality. Maybe someone could help me. What I want to do: Ihave old *.pmv files (this is the video part of 4:3 mpgs, YUV 420, 720x576)

With TmpGenc 2.5 Plus I crop/resize these files and encode it to 16:9 with high qualitiy (CQ 100). When I do this with VD2 (Lanczos. Save as *.m2v) , the quality is poor - compared with TMPGenc - but very fast. A little bit better when I use RGB.

When I open the file, it is opened by MPEG-2 Plugin v4.5. It could only be saved if I use "All files *.* " I cannot find any dialog to save the same, like it opened... But If I save it as *.mp4 the quality is the same.

Is there a way to improve this quality? An extern mpeg2-encoder? Any idea howto?

Regards
Thomas

[jagabo]

VirtualDub doesn't have a an MPEG 2 encoder. What compression codec are you using in VirtualDub?

[TJFO]

I get an mpeg2 file with "Uncompressed RGB/YCbCr" ...

[jagabo]

You might be naming it with an MPG extension but that doesn't make it an MPG file or MPEG compression.

[TJFO]

Ok. How can I use a real mpeg encoder with virtualdub 2 ? Is there any howto?

[jagabo]

The only MPEG2 encoder I know of for VirtualDub is in the old versions of ffmpeg (it was removed several years ago). You might be able to use HCEnc as an external encoder (look for instructions on how to use external encoders with VirtualDub). Or maybe you can frameserve to HcEnc or HcGUI via an AviSynth script.

Do you really need MPEG 2? Are you making DVDs?

[TJFO]

I only use mpeg2, because I have many, many films - saved from my Topfield Receiver (Sat), cutting it and Kodi it from NAS or copying to and playing it from the receiver.

I found HCEnc meanwhile too. But It seems rather inconvenient to crop and resize files with VD2 and encode it with HCEnc. I have many old files (4:3->16:9) May be I saw the wrong instructions...

[TJFO]

I followed this and could use the actual ffmpeg to encode mpeg2 files with "AllFormatsToolsFolder.vdprof"!

I am using only the video-file without sound-file. If I use an normal *.mpg with sound, then there is an error, because of missing sound compressor ("No audio decompressor could be found..."). MP2 and AC3 codec is missing. Who needs it: Link.

I deactivated muxing and audio in the "AllFormatsToolsFolder.vdprof". May be I look later, to get it work completely.

Thanks for your help!

[TJFO]

K-Lite (->Lav) does the job and everything is working. Even with MP2 and Muxing to *.mpg.

[lordsmurf]

Use Avidemux 2.5 to encode MPEG.
And don't install codec packs (it'll just mess up your system).

[TJFO]

Thank you for this idea! I didn't recognize that Avidemux (which is also great in cutting *.rec - HD Transportstreams) can crop. With Mpeg2 (ff) this looks very good.

A little problem: Avidemux doesn't load a mpeg2 video-file (without audio). Like *.m2v or *.mpv. VD2 does.

But I saw, that even if interlaced is configured, the mpeg is always progressive. And - the same with ffmpeg over VD2: I don't get the quality of TmpGenc (CQ100 + Noise Filter). I.E. an old film with some black background parts, i always get dark grey flickering clouds. With TempGenc this is always a constant "black". I've tested - but superficial - all version of filters. Even in Avidemux.

[lordsmurf]

You can just rename the extension from .m2v to .mpg.
Most times, renaming is a horrible idea, but in this specific instance it's fine.