VCD Quality

[Petegun]

I'm a semi-computer literate grandpa that likes to take videos of the grandkids and edit them to make VCD that plays on relatives stand alone DVD's. Great way to stay in touch (and cheap!).
I am using a Sony TRV740 digital video camera. I download videos through a Pyro Firewire to Ulead Video Studio 5.0 for editing into VCD. I use EasyCD creator to make final VCD. I add music, voice, and sound effects. Everything works great - this is the greatest thing since the telephone. I would like to improve the quality of the VCD. The video is very pixelated on distant shots. Am I expecting too much from a VCD MPEG 1. Can anyone give suggestions on improving the quality of the final rendered video? The clips I capture before rendering are very good (or they appear good when I view them on the Windows Media Player). However, once I finish editing and render the final video, I loose a lot of quality(pixelated images). Are there better editing software out there? Please offer suggestions, other grandpas want to join in the fun once I figure this out.

[holistic]

I would like to improve the quality of the VCD. The video is very pixelated on distant shots. Am I expecting too much from a VCD MPEG 1. Can anyone give suggestions on improving the quality of the final rendered video?

First off well done. Good to see you are comfortable with technology.

To answer your question simply ... Yes you are expecting too much.
You cannot compress something - be it music, video, and still expect to keep quality. MP3, Mpeg1 , Mpeg2, Mpeg4 (divx) are all about acceptable QUALITY / QUANTITY . Less compression = better 'percieved' quality = bigger file size.

Maybe send 2 cd . 1 in VCD the other in high quality MPEG2 for viewing on their computers

Since you are hindered by DVD set top compatability, your best option is to try either xVCD or SVCD . Please be aware of your 'customers' and maybe send a sample to see if their DVD player accepts this format.

[banjazzer]

I think you should be able to get better quality, even with VCD. If you make a VCD from a good source, such as DVD, there should be NO evidence of pixellation. A digital camcorder should also be an excellent source, and whatever problems, it shouldn't include obvious pixellation IMO. Many people get indifferent results because they are compressing as they capture. With a digital camcorder and firewire card, your source should be pretty damn good!

I would experiment further. When you capture into Ulead there should be an option to save the uncompressed video. It's a while since I did this with my camcorder, and I was using a Pinnacle package at the time, but you should be able to input this into TMGEnc and use one of the VCD templates. Try one of the guides on this site. (You may need an intermediate stage before TMPGEnc will accept the video).

But don't give up!

[vcd4me]

Ok First off I'm having my own problem's trying to capture and I have ulead.

Now I know they say if you capture in avi instead of mpg the final product will be better.
I am not sure but doesn't ulead capture in mpg to begin with?

Not Sure If this helps
VCD4ME

[banjazzer]

I'm not sure about capturing, but with a firewire card and a DV camcorder input there should be no problem capturing uncompressed, given enough HD space. I was using Pinnacle Studio 7 IIRC which had the option to accept uncompressed input. Certainly if you compress and then encode the signal will be degraded because of the extra step.

[Eyepop]

I would have to hazzard a guess that even if the quality of your VCDs could be improved with filters etc. It would be easier to produce your videos in either XVCD, SVCD, or XSVCD format depending on compatibility of the stand alone players, and may take less time to convert from you initial capture(which I'm assuming is AVI)