VHS - AVI - Mpeg - VCD = Problem!

[Northern Nugget]

I have searched the message boards on several websites, but no direct answers. A few good pointers to try though!

I can do VHS - AVI - Mpeg - VCD but the vcd is a bit blocky and the visual has a bit of a stutter!

The capture (VHS - AVI) looks ok. The problem is AVI - Mpeg.

Hardware I am using:

AMD 2200+
MSI KT2 Ultra M/Board
512 MB DDR RAM (PC3200)
ATI AIW 8500DV (64MB DDR)

Fast enough system!

Using the ATI TV Capture software 10.9MB Bitrate, 98 Motion Estimation Quality. The output of this is NOT skipping / stuttering. Interlaced using bottom line first (B).


Now, use TMPGEnc to convert the AVI to MPEG:

*VIDEO TAB*
Stream Type: - MPEG-1 Video
Size: - 352x288
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 625 Line (PAL)
Frame Rate: 25fps
Rate Control Mode: Automatic VBR (CQ_VBR) - Setting (100 (Highest) 8000 Bitrate)
Motion Search Precision - Highest Quality

*ADVANCED TAB*
Common factor here us 4:3 625 line (PAL, 704x576)
The check boxes are all unchecked.

I have now tried every combo of Video source type + Field order.
The non-interlaced makes the scrolling text intro non scrolling, so scrapped those combos.

The only other thing is the Output YUV data as Basic YCbCr not CCIR601 is checked under the Quantize Matrix tab, the drop down box is set to Default.

Serious Mayday here! Wasted 12 cd's trying the outputs out on the dvd player. Yes I have viewed the output at 200%+ to get the feel of tv, but to no avail.

HELP!

Cheers
Northern Nugget

[hwoodwar]

As far as the stuttering I can think of two "possible" problems.

1. VCD burn speed. Do you burn your VCDs to CD at a slow speed, like 8x or 4x? If you are burning at any higher speed than that try burning at 4x. People burning at high speed a lot of times have a stuttering problem that is greatly reduced or eliminated by burning at a slow speed.

2. It looks like you are saying that the maximum bitrate for CQ_VBR you have set to 8000. This is awfully high. Are you sure your player can handle it? I would suggest dropping it down to maybe 3500-4000. If the max bitrate is too high for your player, that could cause stuttering also.

You may want to consider saving yourself some time, by cutting a short segment (maybe 5 minutes) of a fast-action scene and testing settings, saving to CD-RW. This will also reduce the number of CD-Rs waisted.

You may never actually get out all of the macroblocks using VCD format. I have bought a number of commercial VCDs and even they have macroblocks in them.