I am capturing DV using Studio DV and saving captured video as MPEG. The MPEG file created by Studio DV does not appear to be compliant for making a Video CD so I used Nero to rencode and then created the Video CD. Although I suceeded in creating a Video CD which played on a set top DVD player, I was disappointed by the quality of the picture.

I have downloaded TMPGEnc which was recommended and encoded the MPEG file using this. I haven't yet created a video CD from this to see if there is any difference in quality. What I noticed was that although the MPEG file I created using Studio DV was 404mb,the encoded file using TMPGEnc is only 212mb. Is this caused by additional compression and is it affecting final VCD picture quality.

Are there any other ways I can convert my captured movie file that would give me a better result when creating a VCD. Studio DV gives the option of saving the movie as MPEG/AVI/Tape. Would saving as AVI file and then making a VCD(if possible?) from this give a better result?

I'm completely new to this so any help would be welcome.

Thanks

John

-- John Lengthorn (john@elveys.freeserve.co.uk), September 13, 2001

Answers

Avoid capturing to MPEG. Use Studio DV in the best manner it was intended for: for transferring your DV or D8 tape contents through FireWire direct onto your HDD. They will now appear as type-1 DV AVI files, which you can edit and ulitmately encode to VCD-compliant MPEG with TMPGenc for the highest quality. Having said this the next thing that will hit you is the 2GB filesize limitation (if you're using Win98 or any of its variants) but that is another thing to figure out, no?

-- Mehmet Tekdemir (turk690@yahoo.com), September 15, 2001.

Video CD's are limited to a certain amount of memory per second. The way am MPG is created/compressed is that the software or hardware will compare the individual frames of a video (to make things simple there are approximately 30 frames per second) and only remember/record what changes from one frame to the next. Because of the fact that Video Cd's have the memory limitaion, any frames that require more memory will suffer in quality. This is very noticeable in video segments that involve a lot of motion or background changes. It is usually noticeable around a persons face. There is not a whole lot you can to really make a noticeable difference. Some of the things you can do to cut down on memory usage is to get rid of as much video "noise" as possible by doing things such as using good cables, if your capture software has the option of dropping lines from the bottom of the screen you might want to try dropping anywhere from 5 to 10 lines. If you can capture from a source that has Svideo that will also help some but you will not be able to get rid of all the blockiness Some things will look great and others you'll have to tolerate. You definitely want to capture to AVI first though. I use a hardware assisted mpg encoder that allows me to encode in real time. A software only encoder can take up to 20 minutes for each 1 minute of video.

Good Luck....I'm waiting for the DVD recorders to come down in price myself. The cheapest price I've seen so far is the Pioneer for $800

-- Al (amccraw@yahoo.com), September 17, 2001.

I also agree to capture to AVI. but i do a few more things but they take time.After i capture I use virtual dub and put some filters on the vid so that after it compresses it wont look so bad. "v dub" will only make Avis also but if you use a codec called " huffy" it wont take much room and it is a lossless compression.then I go to my editor to put on transitions and text.I also use the huffy codec to compress that into an AVI. then i finally go to tmpg and encode to vcd format.also in tmpg if you click on the "extra" folder it comes with a template that is 1256 kpbs for vcd.it helps with the quality.then i use nero only to burn the vcd.it sounds like alot of work but the vids come out pretty good and i am using an anolog camera.I hope this helps.

-- john boy (johnbmx4christ@yahoo.com), September 30, 2001.

Use a higher bitrate!!! maybe 2x the size of normal VCD bitrate.

-- Brian (redb24x@hotmail.com), November 28, 2001.