Jerky picture when viewing VCD on DVD player

[Miles]

I am a complete beginner to this. Last week I obtained an AVI file. (Edit: can't believe I was such a Newbie then!)

When I first played the file, I got audio but no sound, but I had to download the DivX codec. Now I can play it fine on my PC.

But I would really like to play it on my TV. For best quality should I get a s-video to scart lead, and connect my video card (Radeon 7000) to my TV?

In the meantime it would be more convenient to watch it on my DVD player, so I tried writing the movie on to a VCD using Nero. This took about 1 hr 45 mins - is this correct?

The VCD plays, but there are regular short pauses in the picture - just noticeable to be annoying. Any ideas what causes this? I think it could be because the movie is NTSC (when I right-click on the file and click "properties", it says 23.976 Frames/Sec) and when the disc first starts playing a little square pops up saying "PAL". I would welcome any other suggestions before I try re-writing it as a NTSC VCD.
Thanks.

[snowmoon]

For a n00b your probably 100% correct. Frame rate mismatch will cause small barley noticable pauses several times a second, just enough to throw off any movement.

First off get TMPGenc and use the NTSCFilm VCD template to re-encode ( HOW_TO's on this site helpful ). The you can use nero, but make sure the properties of the disk ( somewhere I don't remeber where ) it's check as NTSC. Burn it and try again with the newly converted file.

At <2hrs for an encoe with nero you have to have a Kick@ss system. It takes me 6 hes just to do a 45 minute ep.

[Miles]

Thanks for the quick reply!

Do I need TMPGenc to re-encode? If I close the wizard that opens when I start Nero, then select the VCD icon, there is an option there I can change to NTSC. When I burned last time I did it through the wizard, and didn't get this option.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think my TV and DVD player are compatible with NTSC, even though I am in the UK.

[snowmoon]

Many systems over ther are multi-system compatible.

Don't get all flustered about re-encoding, if you want quality you will have to re-encode on occasion.

If you system doesn't like NTSC or does on the fly conversion ( will lead to same problem ) you can convert the .avi to PAL. It's not for the faint of heart, but with a few simple tools and a search of the forums you should come up with more than enough info to create an .avs ( AVISynth ) script to use with TMPGenc so that your output .mpg is PAL wihtout the judder.

[Miles]

OK, I took your advice and re-encoded with TMPGenc, following the instructions on this site. I burnt a NTSC disc using Nero, and, although my DVD player still flashes up "PAL" before playing, there is no jerkiness anymore.

So, problem solved. Thank you very much.