ulead VideoStudio SVCD quality prob.

[valmojado]

Hi to everyone, this is my first post to the forum. I'm still a newbie with video capture, although hopefully learning fast , so please be gentle...

My spec. info is as follows (unfortunately I can't remember the make of my Camcorder, although I don't think it's relevant to my problem):

PIII 800 (OC'd to 900)
Segate 30G
GA-6VXE7 VT82C693/VT82C691 - Via 4in1 4.35
PSU: 400W - Make unknown.
256Mb (2x128 SDRAM 133Mhz)
GF4 4200 MyVivo 128Mb - 30.82 Dets
W98SE
SB Live 128
Cannon S600,Philips WebCam (USB),BoederSmart Scan (USB), CD-R, CD-RW

I've searched the forum here and I haven't found anything relevant so here goes:

I'm trying to create an SVCD using Ulead Visual Studio 6.0.

I'm capturing the source from a camcorder (PAL) using the WinFast PVR utility that comes with my video card in AVI format with the Huffyuv codec at 352x288 25 fps (any higher resolution and I get dropped frames).

If I convert the raw video with TMPGEnc Plus 2.5 to SVCD I get very good quality. When I try to convert using VideoStudio (Create Video File, or Create SVCD) the quality is A LOT worse: the image is very blocky and blurred even in scenes with little movement. I checked the encoding options that TMPGEnc uses for SCVD and it uses CBR at 2500 kbs whereas VS uses VBR with a max of around 2300 (I'm at work at the moment so I can't check).

I tried encoding with TMPGEnc with the VS settings for SVCD and the result was still far superior.

I also tried resizing the source AVI to SVCD resolution with VirtualDub before passing it to VS but the results were the same.

So, the questions:

Why does TMPGEnc encode better?

What can I do with my source/VS to get better results?

Why does the VCD produced by VS (almost) look better than the SVC version?

How can I "fiddle" with the codec that VS uses? I can't find the option anywhere.

Will the 6.02 patch for VS make a difference? It does mention a change in MPEG coding. The problem is it states that to apply the patch "all components must be installed", my, hoperfully, full copy came free with the Geforce so I've no idea if I've got the "components" or not.

Thanks in advance,

Chris.

[SKD_Tech]

SVCD - VBR
VCD - CBR

So you might have your settings screwed up

[valmojado]

thanks for the info.

[SKD_Tech]

Originally posted by valmojado
thanks for the info.

No problem and I hope I helped

[rsquirell]

In the area where you find the patch in the ULead site you'll find "components" blued in. Click on it and you'll find a slew of components for version 6 that will upgrade you to something close to version 7. It'll take you all day to download and install all of them. I have to have the patch to import Dazzle DVC-150 files because they are captured in LPCM audio which can't be imported without it. Since you can already import/render your capture, I doubt the patch will help much...but the components will help you interface with new products (like DVD burners). The reason your vids are blurry is the resolution of your capture device is too low. If you want Clear SVCD resolution you need to upgrade your device to capture at the PAL equivilent of 720X480.

[valmojado]

I installed the 6.02 patch at the weekend and there was a slight improvement in SVCD quality - must have changed their compression algorithm.

I realize that the ideal situation would be to capture at full screen resolution but I get so many dropped frames it really isn't worth it. The question is why does TMPGEnc do a much better job at compressing/resizing? If only I could "plug-in" its compression algorithm into VideoStudio I'd be sorted.

Apart from the gripes VideoStudio is a pretty nice package...although the only way I can figure out to cross-fade to black between sequences is using a black image on the overlay track (why isn't the "colors" option available for the overlay track), I just can't seem to find a cross-fade transition in the effects library.

Chris.

[rsquirell]

I like TMPGenc's resolution too. I've never tried VS' fades...just titles/transitions and muxed in music, so can't help you there. I can't open my box...so the only thing I have familiarity with is external capture devices. I wasted a month trying to get a DVC-80 (resolution 320X240) capture to render decent non-blurry video. Then I got a DVC-150 (resolution 720X480) fed thru a USB2 port at 8Mb and everything cleared up. You can't render anything to a better resolution than your source capture. If you're dropping frames at the higher resolution setting, my only reaction would be get a different card or codec...but you know, if it's happened to you it's probably happened to other users of your card/codec...and I'd go to their forum and ask the question. I'll bet other users will give the proper settings or have found work-arounds to get the full resolution of your hardware. Trying to solve the resolution problem with the software renderers is futile.

[Batman]

If you have plenty of hd space to spare, capture with the lossless Huffyuv codec at "full resolution" in Virtualdub, you can later convert it to a format of your choice.