Improving low resolution mpeg source

[Nalledrengen]

Hello all,

My first post here, hope I put it in the right section.

I'm looking for suggestions on improving the quality of a low resolution mpeg source (352x288), when outputting to a tv-set.

The quality in itself is fine due to the relatively high bitrate, but it gets quite blurred when I watch it on a 32" TV (naturally)

I've tried doing a bicubic resize to double the resolution, which sharpens the image somewhat. Unfortunately this also compromises the details, because there's only half the bits/pixel to throw around.

I've also tried a sharpen filter which didn't really produce satisfactory results without edge artifacts.

Any other suggestions?

[setarip]

Unfortunately, although you could put a lot of time and effort into applying various filters (and recompressing), some old adages still hold true - "You can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear" and "You can't make gold from lead".

If you're creating your own source material, rather than MPEG1-VideoCD, you should consider either standard MPEG2-SuperVideoCD at 480x480 resolution or modified "CVD" (Chinese Video Disk) SuperVideoCD at 352x480 resolution - both of which generate far better images on larger screen televisions...

[Nalledrengen]

"Truer words have never been spoken", although the lead to gold part would be nice

Unfortunately I didn't capture the source myself, so I have no control over the initial quality and resolution.

The bicubic resize worked better than I thought it would actually, however as I'm going for a fixed size I can't up the bitrate.

Thanks for the suggestion anyhow!

[setarip]

My pleasure ;>}