Super vs "real" encoder comparision

[mats.hogberg]

Had a (rare) reason to convert a wmv to DVD. The wmv was 480x360, 530 kbps.
As I know (since previous encounters) wmv is a stubborn source to do anything useful with, I tried Super, which I know can take just about anything thrown at it and encode it to almost anything. Using high quality, and 6000 kbps, the result was this (a random point in the video):

I then did it the hard way: Load wmv in VirtualDubMPG2, resize and saved as DV AVI (since my MainConcept refuses to read from VDub frameserver).
Encoded DV to mpg at the same bitrate as Super with MainConcept:

I think I don't have to tell you which version I kept, and which I dragged to the trash can.

/Mats

[redwudz]

Interesting comparison. I usually avoid WMV and RM files and conversions also, but I'll have to try the VD MPG2 method the next time I run into a WMV that I need to convert.

Have you figured out where SUPER is losing the quality during the conversion?

[mats.hogberg]

No idea, really. May be so simple as the resize algorithm used for all I know. In VDub, I used Lanczos3.

/Mats

[David K]

I assume SUPER isn't applying a resize filter at all.

[mats.hogberg]

Yes, it's resized from 480x360 to 720x576 in both cases.

/Mats

[jagabo]

I believe a WMV file can contain multiple video streams with different bitrates. Could that be the case with your WMV file? Maybe Super got a low bitrate stream and VirtualDubMPEG2 got a high bitrate stream.

[mats.hogberg]

That could be. How to check? WMM refuses to play the wmv, or I'd used WMM to save out to DV as I've done before.

/Mats