Recent retail DVDs are poor quality on my PC

[cool09]

Bought couple new retail DVDs and the quality is poor on my ASUS Computer.
I use VLC Player to play retail DVDs on my PC and I have a standard ASUS DVD writer which I bought for about $40 new from Newegg.
My PC is Windows 10 (64-bit), Intel Core CPU 4.10 GHz 4104 Mhz 6 Core 12 Logical Processors and 32GB RAM.
I can't play retail DVDs with Windows Media Player (don't know if it's possible).
VLC Player has always worked very well for me playing mp4, avi, mov, f4v, wmv files on my PC hard drive and from DVD-R's that I've burned.
Should I invest in a better DVD Writer for better quality? Would a Blu-Ray DVD Writer work better?

[Skiller]

Can you please describe what exactly you are experiencing when you say "poor quality"?

[4kblurayguru]

480i video will look bad on progressive display. Options are to just deal with it, get CRT TV or get HDTV under 32inches. There's a setting in VLC to deinterlace.

[cool09]

Can you please describe what exactly you are experiencing when you say "poor quality"?

Resolution is extremely poor and not clear at all.

480i video will look bad on progressive display. Options are to just deal with it, get CRT TV or get HDTV under 32inches. There's a setting in VLC to deinterlace.

This is what I found in Wikipedia: "The 480 identifies a vertical resolution of 480 lines, and the i identifies it as an interlaced resolution. The field rate (refresh rate), which is 60 Hz. frame rate, as in 480i/30."
For "Digital Video" it says: "Digital video comprises a series of digital images displayed in rapid succession, usually at 24, 30, or 60 frames per second."

Had a few questions:
Retail DVDs are not "Digital Video" but are "480i"? So the frame rate for these DVDs is 30? (Does "Frame Rate" and "Field Rate" mean the same thing?)
Desktop Computers use "Progressive Display"?
Deinterlacing the DVDs may improve the quality on my computer? (I'll have to try that if that's the case.)
So buying a better DVD Writer won't improve the quality on my PC?

I'm really pissed-off that the retail DVDs look so bad on my computer...
Like I said, the quality of mp4, wmv, f4v and mov files (480p, 720p and 1080p) in my cheap ASUS DVD Writer that I've burned to DVD-R are crystal clear using VLC Player (and Windows Media Player, too).

[hech54]

I got a BAD feeling about where this thread will go.

[Cornucopia]

Gemainico?


Scott

[lingyi]

Objectively, it may be that that the DVD mastering may not be as good to lower production cost for a lower demand product.

Subjectively, it may be that your expectations of quality are higher because of the videos you're now viewing. Going from OTA TV > videotape > Laserdisc > Blu-Ray > UHD has raised the expectations of viewing quality. This, in combination with better quality viewing screens and the knowledge gained by some of the regulars here, what I thought was excellent quality n the past has dropped down and notch or two.

[lingyi]

Gemainico?


Scott

Too articulate to be gamey. However AI translation has gotten better! Hmmmm....

[Skiller]

Resolution is extremely poor and not clear at all.

OK, and this is specifically and only with recent retail DVDs, but not with older retail DVDs?

[MindController]

There are some retail DVD's that just have bad picture quality. I bought the MVD release version of Nemesis on Blu-Ray and it came with the movie on DVD and it looked like a VHS rip. It even had tracking artifacting at the bottom of the video. That's also present on the Region 2 version of Arrow Video's release of Sleepless.

[DB83]

We have so little info to go on and the OP's replies to Q.'s do not assist.

So I'll ask a few more Q.'s. 1. Name the titles of these 'poor' DVDs. 2.Provide lnks to the purchase source(s)


Also, have you, the OP, actually authored and burnt your own dvds or simply, going by your initial comments, just burnt clips to disks as data. Equally, do you have earlier bought dvds that do not have these 'issues'.


And finally maybe we need to judge these ourselves. I so no harm in you ripping the disk(s) and provide a short, unaltered, sample. And if you do not know how to do this then just ask.

[TreeTops]

"Should I invest in a better DVD Writer for better quality? Would a Blu-Ray DVD Writer work better?" That sentence caused me to wonder a little. At first he asks about playing retail DVD's like movies you buy on a DVD. That's what I define as a retail DVD. Then he asks about a writer? Which is it?

Methinks that Cornucopia nailed it.

[Alwyn]

Then he asks about a writer? Which is it?

You're not reading it right. All they said was:

Should I invest in a better DVD Writer for better quality? Would a Blu-Ray DVD Writer work better?

My bolding. Nothing esoteric or complex about that question.

I doubt that you can even buy a "player" (as opposed to a "writer") for a computer these days.

[Skiller]

Then the answer to that particular question is: no, neither a better DVD writer nor a Blu-ray/DVD writer would improve picture quality automatically at all. That's not how it works.

[lingyi]

We have so little info to go on and the OP's replies to Q.'s do not assist.

So I'll ask a few more Q.'s. 1. Name the titles of these 'poor' DVDs. 2.Provide lnks to the purchase source(s)

This is important information. Distributor/studio quality varies. For example, I collect Asian movies and they're often available in both DVD-9 and DVD-5, with the DVD-5 clearly being lower quality. In general, Japan and Germany have the highest quality releases and Malaysia the lowest, with the price matching accordingly.

[cool09]

Also, have you, the OP, actually authored and burnt your own dvds or simply, going by your initial comments, just burnt clips to disks as data. Equally, do you have earlier bought dvds that do not have these 'issues'.

At first he asks about playing retail DVD's like movies you buy on a DVD. That's what I define as a retail DVD. Then he asks about a writer? Which is it?

I doubt that you even buy a "player" (as opposed to a "writer") for a computer these days.

Asian movies and they're often available in both DVD-9 and DVD-5, with the DVD-5 clearly being lower quality.

I've burned HD (1920x1080, 1280x720) & SD (840x480) VOB, mp4, wmv, mkv, f4v, mov files, etc. (which I've downloaded from various websites or VOBs I've ripped straight from retail DVDs using DVDShrink) to DVD-R's as "data" and they look just fine in WMP and VLC.
I don't recall if other retail DVDs I have have this issue of poor quality. (These DVDs are adult content and all produced by major productions. I can't find any data on these DVDs stating whether they are DVD-9 or DVD-5.)
What I mean by a "Writer" is a DVD-ROM for my PC not a DVD Player for my TV. (I don't know if "DVD-ROM" or "DVD Writer" are the correct terms for a PC DVD component.) Windows 10 "System Information" tells me what I have is an ASUS DVD Writer/CD-ROM.
My VLC PLayer has always been set on "Automatic Deinterlacing" and still have this poor quality. There are different deinterlacing options in VLC Player. Currently it's set on "Blend". Which Deinterlacing option(s) should I try to improve quality?

[jagabo]

Use Yadif (2x) in VLC.

[DB83]

"DVD-9 or DVD-5" ?

1. Load disk into Windows Explorer and count the vobs - more than 5 then you would have DVD-9
2. Check the bitrate in mediainfo. Higher than 5000 kbps will suggest DVD-9


'Adult titles'. I have seen these directly authored from VHS. Even so releases will not be up to Hollywood standards

[cool09]

'Adult titles'. I have seen these directly authored from VHS. Even so releases will not be up to Hollywood standards

This one retail DVD (from Jules Jordan Productions) that has very poor resolution/quality in VLC Player has at least 6-9 VOBs.
I don't get it: the HD/SD mp4, mkv, wmv, f4v files I've burned to DVD-R's have excellent quality in WMP and VLC and I expected VOBs to be just as good (if not better). I can't believe the 10-15 year old wmv files look so good in WMP and VLC.

[DB83]

Due to the nature of the content, you can not upload an unaltered sample from this dvd to this thread.

But I'll stick my neck out and state that I see no harm in uploading said sample, or even one vob, to an external host and send the download link by PM. Totally not interested in the content but just to assess the perceived quality.


You could also consider posting a mediainfo - text mode - report of the vob (remove the name title) since that may also provide some clues. But, equally, that can be determined from the uploaded vob if you are prepared to do this.

[4kblurayguru]

This one retail DVD (from Jules Jordan Productions) that has very poor resolution/quality in VLC Player has at least 6-9 VOBs.

interlaced video/DVD must be watched on interlaced TV

VLC can't fix it
Hollywood DVD will look good because the stream is progressive with pulldown flag.

https://wiki.videolan.org/Deinterlacing/

none of those settings worked on my DVDs with interlaced video, it made it look like crap.
also the "content" was shot with cheap video camcorder, can't compare to 35mm film converted to video with pulldown flag.

solution, toss those DVDs or get CRT to watch.

[Alwyn]

This one retail DVD (from Jules Jordan Productions) that has very poor resolution/quality in VLC Player has at least 6-9 VOBs.

The number of VOBs doesn't necessarily indicate how much data is crammed into the disk. Depending on how a DVD is authored, you could have many small VOBs. A way to check for sure is to look at the DVD in Windows Explorer and check the VOB file sizes. If the total goes over ~4.5, you'll have a DVD-9.

[QUOTE4kblurayguru]solution, toss those DVDs or get CRT to watch.[/QUOTE]
Or deinterlace them with something like Handbrake. Chucking them or getting a CRT is a bit drastic.

My PAL 576i home movies on DVD look fine on my progressive computer monitor and LED TV.

As per Jagabo's suggestion in post 17, you can set VLC to always use forced deinterlacing in Tools>Preferences>Video.