Blocking and jerking in captured video.

[CharlesH]

I am capturing (Panasonic Omnivision, model PV 9262 VCR) from VHS-C tapes and editing with Ulead VideoStudio6. The captured clips show stong blocking and jerking esp. when panning. (vibrating vertical lines when panning horizontal and jerking horizontal lines when panning vertical). Some of this jerking is already in the analog recording, but becomes much stronger in the captured video.

The resulting VCDs are much poorer than the original VHS-C tapes which are not to spiffy to start with (being VHS)

I am capturing using the VCD template, the clips are for burning onto VCD (240x352 white book MPEG1) because I was told that the best quality VCD is achieved if the format is the same throughout capturing, editing, authoring and burning. Is this true?

Also would the final result (VCD) better if I captured and edited in AVI, then author to MPEG1 and burn the VCD? (Much more harddisk space needed) NOTE: I just tried to capture in AVI, didn't go, the error message said "An error occured in the capturing process. This may be due to insufficient disk space". I have 78 GB on one and 25 GB free space on the other disk!!! The capturing goes on (blank) until I turn on the VCR, then it blows. HELP!!

I am using Memorex CD-R 24 x multispeed disks. Burning seems OK, is other brand more recommended?

Generally where can I read up on these problems (blocking end jerking)? They must be prevalent.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Dell Dimension 8200 Pentium 4, 1.7 GB, 256 MB mem.
Windows XP Home
CD R Samsung SC-148C
CD RW LITE-ON LTR-24102
Graphic: (capture board) Xtasy Everything5564
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400
Sound: Creative SB Live! Value (WDM)
Ports: COM1, LTP1, USB
Hardisk 1 80 GB (74.5)
Hardisk 2 30 GB (28.5)
File system NTFS

Capturing, editing, authoring and burning with Ulead VideoStudio 6 (has DVD Plug-in)
Using Memorex CD-R 24x multispeed.

[CharlesH]

ADDENDUM!

For hours VideoStudio6 didn't want to capture AVI then suddenly it did. For my life, I can not figure it out.

Anyhow: I made some comparisons: I captured a scene with the VCD template Mpeg 1 (Sample 1), then with AVI (Sample 2) and then I authored the AVI with VS6 to the VCD format again (Sample 3)

Sample 2 (AVI) was the best, no blockiness at all and small jerking.
Sample 1 (orig MPEG1) was the worst, strong blockiness and jerking.
Sample 3 (converted AVI to MPEG1) was worse than the Sample 2 (AVI) but considerably better than Sample 1.

Conclusion: The AVI was comparable to the VHS tape, converted AVI to MPEG1 was worse but still useable, but clips captured with VCD template direct to MPEG1 file were far the worst - unuseable.
Note: Working with AVI is a pain because of the very large file sizes.

After these I still would like to get involved with the quality issues and I am asking, please, for more info in this matter from anybody.

Would any other method, software, capturing hardware etc. be better for direct VCD capturing and editing than what I am using? Please advise.

[Cooly-O]

Would any other method, software, capturing hardware etc. be better for direct VCD capturing and editing than what I am using? Please advise.

This will keep your AVI file size a little lower:
"High Quality Capturing with Little Frame Loss in VirtualDub"
http://forum.vcdhelp.com/userguides/89899.php

Here's some frameserving info that may give better results goeing directly to mpeg-1:

"How to frameserve (dvd2avi / VirtualDub / Avisynth / VFAPI)"
http://forum.vcdhelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=87270&highlight=cce

[CharlesH]

Thank you Cooly-O.
Do you feel that VirtualDub is superior to Ulead VideoStudio6 for capturing? And TMPGEnc is superior for encoding?
Why are so many discussions in the forums about VirtualDub and TMPGenc whereas I can't find a trace of references to Ulead? As a matter of fact none or very little for other commercial capturing softwares? (For encoding Nero and others are discussed.)
Size of AVI files: Ulead VS6 only captures AVI in high res: 720x480. No wonder the files are so big. Does VirtualDub allows other AVI formats? But it states that "Some formats are not supported" Would a lower res. AVI be still good, comparable to the original VHS tape? How low could I go? And would Ulead VS6 accept the VirtualDub captured files for further editing (I am very used to it's editor) and encoding?
Still, do you have any references for the problems - blocking and jerking?
Now I still have a problem, Ulead VS6 does not want to capture in high res AVI despite it provides the template.
Please advise, thanks.

[Cooly-O]

Thank you Cooly-O.
Do you feel that VirtualDub is superior to Ulead VideoStudio6 for capturing? And TMPGEnc is superior for encoding?
Why are so many discussions in the forums about VirtualDub and TMPGenc whereas I can't find a trace of references to Ulead? As a matter of fact none or very little for other commercial capturing softwares? (For encoding Nero and others are discussed.)
Size of AVI files: Ulead VS6 only captures AVI in high res: 720x480. No wonder the files are so big. Does VirtualDub allows other AVI formats? But it states that "Some formats are not supported" Would a lower res. AVI be still good, comparable to the original VHS tape? How low could I go? And would Ulead VS6 accept the VirtualDub captured files for further editing (I am very used to it's editor) and encoding?
Still, do you have any references for the problems - blocking and jerking?
Now I still have a problem, Ulead VS6 does not want to capture in high res AVI despite it provides the template.
Please advise, thanks.

I think it's time for you to get a little familar with Vdub and TMPGEnc (they are better). TMPGEnc will lessen any blocking and jerking motion (but you can still try VS6 [for encoding] until you rule out any frame dropping issues: If no frame dropping issues then use TMPGEnc for imrovement). Some of the jerking motion could be from some dropped frames on capture which your 720x480 size is definitely not helping. You should be able to open any Vdub AVI captures into Ulead VS6 so you can continue with your editing.

"How to convert to VCD with TMPGEnc"
http://www.vcdhelp.com/tmpgenc.htm

I think frame dropping is your only concern on capturing. Below two pointers is per http://www.vcdhelp.com/mjpeg.htm

1. Droppes frames: Be sure that you have selected DMA on the harddrive that you capture to.

2. Vdub gives you these options on video size: I can't select the Video size that I want: If you cant select the correct video size, use the Video-Set Custom Format and set it there instead. And also try to select under Video->Preview if have problem to capture in higher resoulutions.

Consider capturing at spec (ie, VCD/NTSC: 352 x 240 pixels or double the 240: 352 X 480; like my earlier capture link recommends [PAL: 352X576]). You can search for other recommended resolutions but just don't drop too many frames.

Things to read for any capture card (other info in "How To - Capture" section to left):
"How to Tune your system for ATI capture cards"
http://forum.vcdhelp.com/userguides/81808.php
many people have complained about poor system performance and dropping frames during capture. Here are some things to check.

Keep trying to perfect this. Let me know how it works out. Anothe r source of capture could be a DV camcorder with analog to digital "pass through". This would convert your analog captures to DV format and pass it through to your computer. Since it is a hardware to hardware capture, dropped frames would be minimized when compared to a hardware to PC capture. But if you do all the recommended things to your capture procedure you shouldn't need this alternative. The Canon ZR40 is a good value and has this capability. I think "video in" DV camcorders can do the same thing but it would take twice as long to get the file onto your PC (since it wouldn't "pass through" but would save to tape first then play/transfer to PC after the taping is completed).

[CharlesH]

Hello Cooly-O, thank for advises.
I don't think I have any problems with frame dropping, both VS6 and VirtualDub don't register any.
Any clip captured with VirtualDub does not want to edit in Ulead VS6 - it complains that it is not a "Supported format". It can be imported and then rerendered (very slow) into their format. The Virtual dub format is: "Microsoft AVI YUV 16 bits 720x480" whereas the Ulead is "DV Video Encoder type 1, 24 bits 720x480" Difference in bits? I know, it is senseless to capture with such high res, but the same problem exists with lower res AVI files.

Blockiness and "jerking" are strong with VCD capture, much less with AVI, this is the reason why I want to capture and edit in AVI, then convert and burn. Reading VirtualDub Help, it talks about dropping res not frames in capture due to processing speed.

I am leaving for a 10 days vacation, be back and pick up these again.