SVCD looks bad...I need help

ANDREMIKE wrote on 4/18/2003, 8:49 AM
I produced an MPEG2 file and created an SVCD. The quality does not look that good. I see like pixelly effects in the final output... I would say when I produce an MPEG(VCD) it looks better. The source was recorded with my DIGITAL 8 camcorder.. Why does it look like this? Is there anything I can do to make it look better?
If I created a DVD would it look better or the same?

Ok I did notice that the bright sun shots by the pool were more pixely then the others.. I also noticed that low light shots(nighttime) looked kind of grainey. But otherwise it was not too bad....

Comments

p_l wrote on 4/18/2003, 11:05 AM
Hi ANDREMIKE,
Yes, DVD will be better, but if you just can't seem to tweak your settings to make a good-looking SVCD in VF, try producing your project to DV-AVI, then encoding that to SVCD in TMPGEnc. I get great SCVDs with that process. You can even frameserve to TMPGEnc now, thanks to Satish's wonderful new plug-in.
ANDREMIKE wrote on 4/18/2003, 11:45 AM
I am going to try clearing the fast video resizing button and rerended. It will probably take 4-5 hours...

Can you give me more details on how I would use TMPGEnc? What is this frameserv and who is Satish?
p_l wrote on 4/18/2003, 12:11 PM
Here's how to encode SVCDs in TMPGEnc.

Satish is something of a legend around here. He's one great dude who makes great plug-ins for fellow Vegas (and VF) users. His site is debugmode.com

Frameserving is the process of creating a direct video "link" from one application to another, for example a video editor application to standalone mpeg encoder so you don't need to create a temporary video file.

ANDREMIKE wrote on 4/18/2003, 12:19 PM
Could somebody email me the TMPGENC .zip file? andremike@yahoo.com MY dialup donnection won't let me download it.... Will the free version do what I want it to do? Or do I need to buy it?
discdude wrote on 4/18/2003, 12:28 PM
The TMPGEnc .zip file is only ~1.5 MB. It shouldn't be to hard to download with dialup modem. The free version allows unlimited MPEG-1 encodings but only 30 days worth of MPEG-2 encoding. After 30 days, you have to pay to get MPEG-2 encoding.
p_l wrote on 4/18/2003, 12:30 PM
The free version will allow you to encode to MPEG2 for one month as a trial.

Edit: You beat me to it, discdude. :)

ANDREMIKE: Take discdude's advice. He knows his stuff.
ANDREMIKE wrote on 4/18/2003, 12:34 PM
The last 6 times that I have tried to download it it gets to about 6% and tells me the download is complete.. It only downloaded 64K...

I just sprung the $30.00 for VF MPEG2 encoder... Is it worth to buy the TMPGENC encoder? Is it really that much better?
discdude wrote on 4/18/2003, 12:40 PM
I just tried downloading it myself and it worked for me.

I'm guessing you are using Internet Explorer (with 90%+ market share, that is a safe bet). I recommend that you clear your cache. Go to the "Tools" Menu and select "Internet Options." Under the "General" Tab, click the "Delete Files" button under the "Temporary Internet Files" section. Then, try downloading the file again.

If that still doesn't work, I will email the program to you.

As for which is better, Video Factory's Mainconcept plugin vs. TMPGEnc - I recommend that you download the free version of TMPGEnc and decide for yourself.

Also, thanks for the vote of confidence p_l!

ANDREMIKE wrote on 4/18/2003, 1:04 PM
Deleted all of the files but still had the same problem... Can you email it to me?
andremike@yahoo.com

In your opinion was TMPGENC better? or am I just expecting too much out of a SVCD?
discdude wrote on 4/18/2003, 1:37 PM
While I've done Mainconcept vs. TMPGEnc comparisons using VCD settings, I've never done a comparison using SVCD settings (mainly because I have the "free" Mainconcept plugin, not the $30 one). TMPGEnc has a lot more settings which is good. However, both looked kinda bad to me thanks to the limited resolution and bitrate of the VCD standard.

SVCD should look better than VCD. However, neither will look as good as your original Digital 8 footage.

You mentioned a little grain in your source footage. MPEG encoders don't handle grain very well. If you apply a smoothing or noise reduction filter to your original footage, you might get better results. The Gaussian filter in Video Factory works if you use it in moderation. There is also "noise reduction" filter within TMPGEnc. I can't really give exact settings to use since it depends on how much grain is in your original Digital 8 footage. Hint, use a little as possible. Also, a little warning - these filters slow down rendering a lot.
ANDREMIKE wrote on 5/2/2003, 12:43 PM
Well I tried TMPGENC and I thought the video actually got worse... I noticed some parts of the movie were shaky or paused...

I still haven't fixed the 4:42 bug... I am about to try ULEAD DVD MF2. We will see what that does..

How can I be sure that if I have a DVD burner the quality will be better? Anyone willing to burn a movie for me? I can send them a CD with the file on it and I will pay for the DVD.
Former user wrote on 5/2/2003, 1:40 PM
If your video is already compressed to a CD, burning a DVD from that source will not show you anything. The picture will be as bad as the CD. The only test would be from the original edit source, AVI file.

A DVD will look much better because the bitrate is higher, thus less compression artifacts. I have never found a VCD or SVCD setting that I thought was great. Most were just acceptable. VCD and SVCD are just too highly compressed and too low a bitrate.

Dave T2
ANDREMIKE wrote on 5/2/2003, 2:01 PM
How can I be sure that if I have a DVD burner the quality will be better? Anyone willing to burn a movie for me? I can send them a CD with the file on it and I will pay for the DVD.

What I want to do is create the DVD compliant output file from VF and put the file on a cd for someone to burn the DVD. I am not saying I want to make a VCD and have someone make a DVD for me. Obviously there is a fit issue for the CD so I will have to make sure the movie I produce is less the 700mB.
Former user wrote on 5/2/2003, 2:11 PM
Sorry I misunderstood your intent about making a CD into a DVD. That would work I guess, but I can't help you there. I don't have a DVD burner yet either. Good luck!

Dave T2