Quality vcd`s? What is the best way for makin it?

[Wiken]

I have a matrox marvel g400, and im wondering how you other guys make vcd`s.
Cause i aint that impressed of those i make
I have allways done the capturing in 352*288
25 fps (virtualdub or avi_io), nad i have used both the mjpeg that are built in in the marvel card or have gone with the picvideo.

but is there anyone who can tell me what they do to get superb vcd`s?

1. what capturing progg
2. which codec to use
3. what resolution its in(ex i did 352*288)
4. what programs for editing
5. and which encoder to use with it :P

ThanX =)))

[dZeus]

I woukd advice the HuffYuff codec, but I also always get trouble when capturing. I use the Pinnacle PCTV, and when I capture, I need to apply both the Smothing filter and the Blur Filter in VirtualDub to get rid of all the 'noise' in the capture. It is really annoying!

Maybe I do something wrong? Or maybe I should just connect a videorecorder to the SVideo input of the cards, and use that as the Tuner... probably I get less noise that way

[Dr Mordrid]

Using a Marvel G400 I capture direct to either YUY2 or HuffYUV using AVI_IO. I encode these to MPEG-1/VCD using the Panasonic encoder. I edit in MSPro6.

When encoding in Panasonic first set it up for VCD and then enter the "Advanced Settings" and adjust all the "Image Filters" to their maximum values and the "Color Tone Correction" to "TV". I'd also suggest setting the "Motion Compensation" to "Full PEL" if there is much motion in the clip at all.

Since MPEG encoders have to convert the video to YUV before encoding it using this format from the get-go can speed encoding and give higher quality. YUY2 & HuffYUV are "flavors" of YUV.

Much of the pixelization you see in MPEG's encoded from another codec, such as MJPeg or DV, is because of the DCT & recompression errors introduced by the transcoding process. Using YUV/YUY2 prevents pixelization due to this because no DCT's are present in this format. Tuning the image filters or GOP sequences can minimize the rest. If you don't know diddly about GOP's or IPB sequences leave them alone. Experts only.

Once the clips are edited and encoded to VCD specs I then set up the VCD layout in one of two ways;

1. IF the menu is to be a single level setup I use the system built into Easy CD Creator 4.

2. IF the menu is to have several nested levels I use CD Motion 7.02 to author the layout.

Dr. Mordrid



[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 23 July 2000).]

[Wiken]

thanx for the tip
But one moore question though?
what resolution do you capture in?
Do you capture in 352*288 (like vcd format)or do you capture fullscreen and then encode it to 352*288?

[Dr Mordrid]

Neither since I use NTSC

Most of the time I've found it simpler to just capture in quarter frame (352x240 for NTSC, 352x288 for you) than to go through the pains of delacing & scaling. Sometimes though it's worthwhile to capture at 352x480 and send the video through FilmRender's smart-delacing module. It depends on how much motion and detail is in the clip.

I hardly ever capture at 704x480 and scale that down.

Dr. Mordrid


[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 23 July 2000).]

[dchip]

Wiken, Congrats. Sounds like you're off and running with video capture. I use the Panasonic encoder also. Great piece of software. If you're starting with uncompressed AVI's made from good source video, you're going to be very pleased with what this MPEG encoder can do.

Doc, thanks for sharing that advanced settings info for Panasonic. I'm not sure I've been using those. I also see you mentioned something about a single level menu setup in Easy CD Creator 4.0 What is that? I'm only using 3.5c. Does 4.0 have the ability to write an auto-start menu into the CD? i.e. a menu that pops up when the CD is inserted? If so, I'm getting 4.0 real quick.

[IM_Riktar]

Hi Doc,
I thought you were using FAT32 partitions for capture in NT 4.0 by way of Winternals FAT32 utility. Or have you changed over to all NTSC partitions?

If you have changed over is this a result of better performance from the new Fasttrak66 or Fasttrak100?

[Dr Mordrid]

dchip;

When you're setting up a VCD using the wizard you can specify a single level menu layout, even including a background. Weird part: this background has to be an *.MPG file. I create them by importing a 352x240/288 image file into MSPro, stretching it out and rendering it as an *.MPG animation .5 seconds long. This ends up looking like the menu at the beginning of a DVD, just not as fancy. It's documented in the manual.

Nope, ACDC4 Deluxe doesn't do autoruns of VCD's as you can set a VCD player program to do that. If you just want MPEG's on a CD for computer use only you can create an autorun CD easily. Just place a text file in the root of the CD named "autorun.inf" with this content;

[autorun]
open = mplayer2 file

Wiken;

I always set the quality to the max. The rendering times are much longer but if the idea is quality....

IM_Riktar;

I'm using FAT32 from both Win98SE and NT4-SP6 using the Winternals FAT32 for NT4 product. This works seamlessly and I highly recommend it for dualboot users.

As for using NTFS partitions (as opposed to NTSC partitions ), from Win98SE using Winternals NTFS for Win9x drivers, that is an ongoing experiement. I still have some issues to work out yet because of the limited time I have had to dedicate to this.

IF I decide to recommend NTFS for Win9x as a large file alternative for Win9x users who don't want to "upgrade" to Win2K you'll see it here first.

Dr. Mordrid


[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 25 July 2000).]

[IM_Riktar]

Damn! no wonder I'm having so many problems! Thank goodness I didn't try to partition using the PAL format

Seriously though, I am trying out NT 4.0 along with Win98SE on 2 different drives. I am using a "Drive Bay" of sorts that allows me to caddy each drive by itself. Call me paranoid but my thought was to contain the damage to whatever operating system I goofed up. So along these lines I kept my RAID array formatted as FAT32 since I use the Winternals software to access it in NT, leaving the drive available to me when I switch drives and go back to Win98.

The ONLY reason I haven't taken the complete plunge into NT 4.0 is that isn't any USB support.

[IM_Riktar]

Damn! no wonder I'm having so many problems! Thank goodness I didn't try to partition using the PAL format

Seriously though, I am trying out NT 4.0 along with Win98SE on 2 different drives. I am using a "Drive Bay" of sorts that allows me to caddy each drive by itself. Call me paranoid but my thought was to contain the damage to whatever operating system I goofed up. So along these lines I kept my RAID array formatted as FAT32 since I use the Winternals software to access it in NT, leaving the drive available to me when I switch drives and go back to Win98.

The ONLY reason I haven't taken the complete plunge into NT 4.0 is that isn't any USB support.

[Wiken]

Doc: thanx for all yer great tips =))
But one moore question though, do you set image filters allways on strongest (or does it depends on the source?)
i do capturing from both vcr and digital parabol.

[Flying dutchman]

DOC,

Especially when capturing from VHS tapes (video movies) I get better results using full-frame MJPG capturing than quarter (or half)-sized YUY2.

I do a "proper" PAL deinterlace first, giving me true progressive-scan images. Next I resize to get rid of the black borders. Subsequently I do a rather strong "dynamic noise reduction" (level 22). "Temporal cleaner" is usable, too, but performs slightly worse than DNR.
And finally a simple 2:1 resize. I then encode using Panasonic WITHOUT ANY FILTERING at all!

The result is much sharper than a raw YUY2 capture with lots of filtering!

[K3]

I got better results if I captured in 352x576 resolution compared with 352x288.
I used VirtualDub program with deinterlace filter and did resizing to 352x288. Sometimes it is good to sharpen the video.
With such procedure the picture is less jerky than if it is captured directly in 352x288.

[Fred H]

Just tried a LOT of captures with different resolutions (f/h/q-PAL)with YUY2 vs. MJPEG.
With YUY2, my AMD K6/2-400, 64 PC100 and Marvel G400-TV is to weak and the files are huge in comparation with the compressed MJPEGs.
I tried to create different MPEG1 and VCD files using the YUY2-captured source, BUT, the MJPEG based MPEG1 files are much more smoother than the YUY2 based result.
After this, discouraging, experience I decided to continue to capture in full MJPEG and continue the Flying dutchmans advise to create the MPEGs.
BTW, what about the bbMPEG? This produced more "pleasent" colours in comparation with the Panasonics.

[ole]

How good are these methods compared to recording directly to mpeg2 in msp 6.0 ?