VCD Quality!!!

[scottrempel]

I am making VCD's for my toshiba DVD player and would like some tips on getting the highest quality. I rip from DVD's(NTSC) using CladDVD XP and then use TMPEG. I use 80 min CD-R's and don't mind using 2 discs. I am interested in things such as using clip frame, noise reduction, rate control, deinterlacing and any other advanced options. What is a good sound quality? Is there a good template I should be using? My player can handle xVCD, should I use this?

I know the basics and would just like some tips from more experienced users. Thank You.

[crusty]

just a few things i know about:

Clip Frame:-If have black bars at the sides top or bottom you can adjust them or remove them using the clip frame option. just set the preview and it is all fairly self explinatory.
Noise Reduction:- This is just what it says it helps remove any noise(i.e.dirt or speckling) that is in your vision. Just fiddle with the settings until you are happy just note that using this feature will triple the encoding time.
By Rate Control I am assuming you mean Bit Rate? If so this adjusts the quality of your footage the bigger the bit rate the bigger the file. Always check the bit rate of your source footage if you give above the source bit rate you will LOOSE quality it is always better to keep the original bit rate or down size if possible.
De-Interlacing:- Sometimes your footage will have a ghosting look or jagged edges around. The de-interlace option adjusts the resolution lines, there are many options there so experiment for the best result.

Hope this helps.

[xed]

In my experience, "noise reduction" in TMPGenc does 2 things:
[1] it makes encoding times explode, at least by a factor of 6,
and [2] it slightly blurs everything. This can be a life-saver if
you are encoding from a source with video noise -- examples:
a VHS tape, or a laserdisc with sparkles on it. The TMPGenc
completely or near-completely eliminates the dreaded white
speckles caused by laser rot, and greatly pounds down the background
noise from a VHS videotape.
For high quality video sources, however, like DVDs, there is absolutely
no point whatsoever in using TMPGenc's "noise reduction" setting, at
least in my experience. In fact, since the noise reduction settting is
really a slightly quasi-Gaussian blur, you're better off avoiding it
so as to get fine detail as long as your video source is high quality.
If you DO use noise reduciton, avoid the factory defaults of 20 and
go with something a lot lower, say 5 to 10 at most.

The other setting that makes your encode time explode in TMPGenc is the motion estimation setting. I can't see any difference twixt "High"
and "highest," but I can clearly and easily see a grotendous difference
between "average" or "fast" and "high" quality motion estimation. Moving
objects tend to break up and visually stutter if you use less than the
"high" quality motion estimation in TMPGenc.

The clip frame and other options only come into play if you have a letterboxed movie you're encoding. MPEG encoders do very poorly on
the sharp edges produced by a letterboxed movie, so if you crave absolute quality you should expand the letterboxed video to fill the entire frame before you encode, then use a frameserver like VirtualDub to re-squash the encoded MPEG file so as to get razor-sharp edges on the letterbox top and bottom. But that's serious hard-core perfectionism.
Who really cares if the edges of your letterboxing are slightly fuzzy?
I don't. Most folks don't. (However, they ARE razor-sharp in good DVD transfers, and won't be in DVD rips to SVCDs unless you expand &
re-squash.)
---------------
The essential issues in quality are: [1] use the best possible video source (think satellite TV, DV video, laserdisc, or DVD); [2] avoid noise reduction in TMPGenc; use high quality motion estimation (you don't need and can't see any benefits from "highest"); [3] and use a decent bitrate. For SVCDs, a decent bitrate would be a VBR with a max of 8 mbits/sec,
an average of 3 to 5 mbits/sec. This last setting depends on your source
material. For stuff like "The Matrix" or "Star Trek" with fast-moving
detailed objects whizzing across the screen, you'll want to set the
average bitrate significantly higher. For older movies like "The Seachers" or "Rear Window," you can squeak by with a much lower average
bitrate around 3 mbits/sec.

Gamma correction can be a significant issue in MPEG-encoding
video sources. TMPGenc tends to squeeze the gamma so you may
want to get into the "Advanced" menu and play with this. The end result of an overly squeezed gamma is bright spots that look washed out, and black areas that look like black holes. That shouldn't happen if you handle the gamma setting correctly, and you'll never see that on a TV broadcast signal or a commercial DVD or laserdisc or videotape. Film has
a completely different gamma (the ratio between light and dark)
than video sources do. Certain types of video sources, like Star
Trek TV episodes in which everything is brightly lit, will present
very few issues with gamma correction, whereas a film like "Jacob's
Ladder" or "Seven" with massive amounts of dark scenes with
subtle gradations from light to dark will produce potentially hideous
results in TMPGenc unless you fiddle with the gamma.

This is just my personal experience, and others will have worked
with other video material, so your mileage may vary.

[ya_jai]

Okay this is the tips for me hope can you use them sometime.

If you rip from DVD, you don't have to worry about filter, noise reduction, rate control or de-interlace too much (de-interlace is necessary when you rip dvd with NTSC type file not progressive or film). Most of dvd ripped already give you the benefit of all those.

Now to improve your picture quality you might consider to go with XVCD or SVCD if your player can handle these two types. To improve sound you might have to go with AC3 encoding which I don't know much about it. If I were you and I knew that my palyer can handle SVCD I would go for it becuz of better quality of picture. Oh one more tip, read other ppl with their experience with encoder softwares and test them yourself that might help improve quality and also you can see what software is the best for you. You might not wanna use TMPGEnc all the time when you try others.

Hope this help you a bit and good luck

[keithsebastian]

Hey Xed,

Is'nt this
"expand the letterboxed video to fill the entire frame before you encode, then use a frameserver like VirtualDub to re-squash the encoded MPEG file so as to get razor-sharp edges on the letterbox top and bottom."

same as expanding the video using clip frame and then using 'arrange setting ---> custom size' (in tmpeg clip frame) to re-squash the video to the original size. Get razor-sharp edges this way without the trouble of frameserving.

regards,
Keith

[akhenat0n]

Thank you xed, you helped me a lot