Why is VCD playback on TV so poor? Need Help!

maddyg wrote on 4/29/2002, 1:42 PM

I recently created my first video using Video Factory software. I used my Optura Pi digital camcorder and captured the video using a firewire card and cable. I created the movie using the editing features of the Video Factory software. I experienced no problems rendering the movie as a VCD and burning it onto a CD. The problem occurs when I play the movie on my DVD and watch it on television. The final outcome is jerky, with small boxes (pixels?) appearing. Any fast panning action causes a strange visual distortion on the television. I suspect that somehow this VCD would play better on a smaller screen, which it does, than on my 32 inch television because of how it was rendered? Did I need to make an adjustment to the movie so that it could be played on a large screen? I am also viewing this film on a DVD connected to my TV using the regular Audio/Video cable instead of an optical digital cable. Could that be the problem? I really would appreciate some help.

P.S. I am running Windows 2000 Professional

Comments

Stiffler wrote on 4/30/2002, 8:28 PM

maddyg...

I don't think it your set up. It could just be the media you are burning to. Some DVD player won't play CD-R disks (like my Sony). Try a CD-RW disk and see if you have the same results.

Also go to this site: http://www.vcdhelp.com/dvdplayers.php
Look for you DVD player compatibility. Some brands of CDs seem to work better too.

Jon

maccullo wrote on 5/1/2002, 12:38 AM

I found that capturing the video at 720x480 and then making a VCD produces very good results with no "artifacts" or pixelation as you have described. Be forwarned though that 1 minute of video is about 2.5 gb!! But when you create your vcd its should only be about 60 mb.

hth
Ian

maddyg wrote on 5/6/2002, 10:50 AM

Thanks so much for your comments. I am capturing the video at a 720x480 frame size but I am still having problems. Can I use the Video Factory software to create a VCD with a 720x480 compression? It seems the only option on Video Factory is the default compression of 320x240 when I render the movie onto a VCD.

Madeline

Stiffler wrote on 5/6/2002, 10:21 PM

720X480 is your DV. Try the VF default first to see if you can get good results. I don't think you can change the screen size with a VCD, but I could be wrong.

johnmeyer wrote on 5/6/2002, 11:31 PM

320x240 is the VCD spec. If you try to compress at some other resolution, you no longer have a VCD, and therefore it may not play on your DVD player. Having said that, some DVD players can handle oddball resolutions and unusual bitrates (1150 is the bitrate for VCD; if you use any other bitrate, then you don't have a true VCD).

My experience is that DV to VCD does not produce very good results.

VinceG wrote on 5/8/2002, 7:38 PM

When I used VF, I did burn a CD using the 720x480 setting. The picture was better than a regular VCD, however; like johnmeyer said, it is not a VCD anymore. As a result, the CD would not play on my DVD player, but it would play in my Windows Media Player.