micromv to vcd (poor quality)

[toolsalival]

HELP!!!!
Just tried to make a vcd from my Sony DCR-IP7E and all I got was a very poor quality grainy picture. Camera connected to TV is perfect. Is there an idiots guide somewhere?

[jane_caldwell]

You'll need to provide a little more information before we are able to help.
Firstly, how are you transferring the video to your computer? Are you using Firewire or an capture card.
If you are using a capture card, what sort of card is it?
What resolution are you capturing in?
You said that the VCD looks grainy and it of poor quality, what encoder are you using to make your MPG file?
Is the original AVI file also grainy and poor quality?

If you are looking for guides, then this site has a good selection
Try http://www.vcdhelp.com/capture.htm for capture guides and
http://www.vcdhelp.com/convert.htm for conversion guides.

[toolsalival]

Thanks for replying.

I'm using a firewire card. I used Sony Movie Shaker. I used Nero to create VCD. I have no idea about the resolution etc. As I said, I REALLY require an idiots guide. Hope you can help.

[jane_caldwell]

I'm not familiar with the "Sony Movie Shaker" software, but I would assume it's proprietry software you recieved with your camcorder which you use to create and encode your video.

The software I use is listed below:

Sonic Foundy Vegas Video 3.0
http://www.sonicfoundry.com/PRODUCTS/NewShowProduct.asp?PID=612
Used for capturing and editing

TMPGEnc
http://www.tmpgenc.net/e_main.html
Used for encoding the AVI to to MPG-1 (VCD)


Because you are using a firewire card to transfer your video the resolution wil be fixed at 720 X 576 (PAL - which is what your camera is)

You will need to resize the video to a VCD complient size
http://www.vcdhelp.com/vcd.htm

This may be able to be done through your "Movie Shaker" software but it is easiest to do it when encoding to MPG (VCD) in TMPGEnc.
Also, your footage will also be interlaced. VCD does not support interlacing so you will need to run a de-interlace filter on your video. This can also be done in TMPGEnc.

With regard to your grainy/poor quality picture: You need to determine what is causing the problem. Try capturing a short piece of footage (15 seconds) using your capture software and then save it as an AVI.
Open it up in Windows Media player. Does it look ok? You will probably see interlacing artefacts (when there is movement there will be horizontal lines running through the picture) but that is normal...

If it looks okay, then the problem is caused when encoding. Try some of the templates that are provided with TMPGEnc to encode your AVI.

Hope this helps. You will need to do a lot of reading and there will be a lot of trial and error before you are able to find the settings that are the best for you.

[toolsalival]

Jane,

Thanks for your help. I'll give it a try.