Need help with AVI to MPEG Conversion

[bcmagog]

I am a newbie. I am attempting to archive some old VHS tapes to VCD so I don't lose them (some are 25+ years old). I have read several articles on doing this, so here is the method I am using (the original video source is a 1986 football game, so the subject material is in less than pristine condition):

1. Capture via virtualdub, capturing at 352X480, invideo 5.0 compression at 90%. I don't think I'm compressing the audio.

2. Process through virtualdub, deinterlace (blend), 2:1 vertical compression plugin (back to 352x240), I believe invideo compression, but I may have used Huffy.

At this point, the video looks great, on noisy VHS tapes, it actually looks better than the original IMO, with very, very slight pixellation, but only if I look close. File size was small. Audio was perfect. I was very happy up to here!

3. AVI to MPEG with TMPEG. This is where all heck breaks loose. Upon the conversion, the video becomes extremely blocky; for example, pom pom shaking becomes a big blocky mess. Faces look terrible. Further, the audio sounds as if it's coming out of a tin can.

How can I get a better result? Or is this simply the limitation of MPEG? I have never used any noise reduction on any of the software.

I have tried using the software that came with the Pinnacle PCTV capture card, then to TMPEG, and the result wasn't that bad, but I figured I could do better.

Is there anything I can do? Thanks


(Sorry if this is a double post, I tried to post once and it never showed up).

[macleod]

in the advanced tab are you setting motion settings to HIGHEST? Go to www.divx-digest.com and there is a GREAT how to guide for using TMPGENC. There is also a few on this site that tell you how to use the filters, etc.

[bcmagog]

Thanks, I'll try that setting and see if it helps. I think I tried it once, but quit because the processing time was something like 5 times the actual length of the clip.

Any suggestions about fixing the tinny audio?

[bcmagog]

OK, I did some searching and have downloaded toolame. Hopefully this will help on the audio side. I hope I don't have to rerecord!

[bcmagog]

Well, moving to "highest quality" did no good. Neither did Toolame on the audio. Back to the drawing board.

Well, moving to "highest quality" did no good. Neither did Toolame on the audio. Back to the drawing board.

Did you save the wave from the avi using VDub? If you do this and then
combine the two in TMPGEnc it should keep the quality.

I do not know about the pixels in the mpeg. I have converted quite a few
avi's and the resulting mpeg actually looks better than the avi did.

Goodluck!

[macleod]

Are you watching this on a TV or are you still on your computer? That might be the reason. Are you burning the resulting mpeg to a SVCD??? Here is a suggestion, try capturing at the HIGHEST resolution you can with vdub (I personally would recommend using something like IUVCR since it has the wdm driver wrapper, but thats a different story), and then letting TMPGENC encode from there.

Why I am being a little persistent here is I can top "crappy" video. I had my home video's that were "lost" in the Great Flood (Missouri) of 1993. I pulled these tapes out of the MUD!!!! Left them in a box for 9 years when I was moving from state to state. Just recently, I pulled them out, hooked up my tv wonder card and vcr, capped them using POWERVCRII (not even an avi thing) with 2650 bit rate and 352x480 and burned them using nero to CVD. On my dvd player (apex 1100w), it plays fine. None of the issues that you are talking about.

Another issue, what kind of vcr are you using 2 head/4head, brand name. If it is a cheapo (or even a good one) the first piece might look good, but barealy so when you transfer it to TMPGENC it looks like crap. Did you use any of the filters for VHS reductions. You can load your avi up in TMPGENC, go into the advanced section and clikc different filtes (and the final product) and do a preview of what it will look like.

[bcmagog]

Yes, I'm still viewing through the PC. My VHS is a Sony 4 head (fairly recent model). Which filters do you suggest that are specifically for VHS? Thanks

BTW, the specific problem is extreme blockiness on any sort of motion. Would this diminsh when viewed on a TV as opposed to the PC?

Oh, and I solved my audio problems by rerecording with MPEG-3 audio compression.

[BJ_M]

just a point on the audio ..
mp3 will not work on vcd --- you will have to re-encode it again to mpeg1 layer 2 audio -- since mp3 is lossy , it will not be as good as what you should have captured in the first place ....

the blocky stuff will show on the tv if you see it on the pc

[bcmagog]

OK, what should I set the Audio settings on in Virtualdub when capturing? The only MPEG listed is MPEG -3.

[bcmagog]

OK, now this is odd; when I view it in preview in TMPGEnc, no blockiness! Only after creation of the file in TMPGEnc then played back through the ATI player. With this, I'm going to simply create the VCD, then see if the blockiness still exists. Maybe it's some artifact created by the ATI player.

[bcmagog]

I made the VCD; the ATI player was dead-on, the video (particularly on high motion, but in other places as well) was much blockier than the original AVI.

[DigVidLab.com]

Ive never been too hip on ATI, yet to get decent results with any
of there hardware of software, but dont use analog equipment
anymore anyway.

Id suggest caping at 352X240 using the latest DIVX codec with
a setting around 3mbs at the max, but no less than 2mbs.

After that, encode to MPEG2 at 352X240 using TMPGEnc with
a CBR of 2100 (2.1mbs) and output with Nero to an XSVCD.

The quality using this method is extreamly close to DVD, given
the source is super HQ (Such as DV...)

Hope that helps, good luck!

[bcmagog]

Thanks for the help, I played around alot with it last night. I think that a lot of the artifacts are coming from the resize/deinterlace from 352x480 on high motion scenes. So, I think I'm going to try to start capturing like you said at 352x240.

Unfortunately, virtualdub is now crashing after capturing for about 5 seconds. I'll never get this all figured out.