Why are my SVCD more blocky then my VCD?

[davy19]

Is it my imagination or, are SVCD more blocky?

I thought SVCD was suppose to be btter quality then VCD?

My vhs tapes to VCD look better then SVCD

I use 480x480 SVCD standard, with my PVR-250


Maybe I should just stick with VCD?

[snowmoon]

SVCD is a finiky format. Based on noisy VHS, yes it will probably look worse becuase of the overwhelming mpeg-2 artifacts. With proper cleanup and tweaking of the encoder ( I have no idea how the PVR does mpeg-2 ) SVCD can be superior to VCD.

[Craig Tucker]

With a better source such as DVD, SVCD can look considerably better than VCD. But with VHS as your source VCD is going to be about as good as you can get.

[davy19]

Thanks for your help, I am thinking what if I try XVCD instead?

Maybe with a higher bitrate, and it wont be as blocky?

[Craig Tucker]

Give it a try, encode short clips at increasing bitrates to see if there is a noticable improvement. XVCD is less compatible than VCD

[SingSing]

There is a way to make your SVCD better than your VCD.

mpeg2 capture is indeed more flaky than mpeg1 at less than high bit rate.

Try this, Capture your SVCD at higher bit rate like 6000 to 8000 kbps,
then re-encode to 2500 kpbs standard bit rate.

[davy19]

What if I just keep it at 6000 - 8000, why do I need to reconde again?

Main reason i got pvr 250 was to save time.

[SingSing]

Even at 2520 kpbs, a SVCD can only hold 40 minutes of video.
Also, that Video always look better on TV than computer screen,
don't you want to play this on your DVD player ?

[davy19]

Definitely on TV,

oh guess the max i can do is 2520? on a dvd player?

when i get home tonight i am going to experiment, and try svcd again but this time with cbr of 2520, and then try xvcd with 2520 and see the differnce, hopefully it gets rid of the blockiness.

thanks

[SingSing]

There are players can play 3500 kpbs but they are really model to model dependent, and you can't really tell the different on slight higher bit rate. Staying with SVCD limit, will make your next dvd player less work.

[SingSing]

Came down from the moutain, and figured out the fun of this stuff is the process, plus the result.

[davy19]

Well after doing lots of experimentation tonight, I have to say the best format to go from VHS would be CVD


I am very impressed with CVD, and my pvr-250 handles it great.


I see no blockiness with 352x480 and 2520 cbr


Thanks eveyrone


p.s. this initial 9510 portable dvd player i just got handles every single format i threw at it, from vcd/xvcd/svcd/xsvcd/cvd and of course dvd

and is really a great deal for $200, cant go wrong, and can hook it to your tv using audio/video cables and it looks great.

[SatStorm]

VHS and SVHS are very difficult sources to encode.

The best solution for both formats, is a xCVD with an average of 3000, minimum 1200 - maximum 5000 and 2 or 3 Passes with CCE. For very difficult material, those are the best settings for me (videoclips for example)
With TMPGenc, some blockness may appear in certain extreme motion areas (for example: Sea waves, the most difficult - to encode- thing of all!)

Talking -X-, an alternative to VHS tapes, might be a xSVCD solution, like sefy's SxVCD. For LP VHS this is the ideal solution I think, if your standalone support -X-.
Those -x- mpeg 2 files, when they burned to DVD-Rs, are playable for a strange reason, probably because they use the VCD resolution which is valid for DVD. I still testing a DVD I burn that way, to any standalone I meet (and support ofcourse DVD-Rs) and still is playable to all of them! Still to found if that is -X- or a hidden DVD resolution (like 1/2 D1)...