Why does SVCD look worse than VCD??

[nitesite8]

I comparred the difference on the same exact movie between SVCD and VCD. SVCD has a higher resolution(small boxes) yet it looks way more distorted and blury? I though it was soposed to look better??

[setarip]

All other things being equal (and assuming that you've used the proper settings to create each format), it depends on the quality and format of the original video that is being converted. If the original is in MPEG2 or VOB (MPEG2 for DVD) format, the SVCD should be of at least equal, if not noticeably superior visual quality - especially at fullscreen mode. If the original is, for example, a 352x240 MPEG1 file, converting it to SVCD 480x480 resolution would tend to magnify the "blockiness" as compared to the VCD format (which would remain at the same resolution as the original).

[nitesite8]

ummm yea I tried it on a ripped DVD and teh SVCD looked worse. I loaded the SVCD template on TMPGEnc too. It tok about the same amount of time to convert and was the same size as the VCD I made of the same exact movie. I could tell that teh pixels were smaller but it still looked worse.

[setarip]

"It tok about the same amount of time to convert and was the same size as the VCD I made of the same exact movie."

If by "size" you are referring to filelength and they were precisely the same length, then I can only speculate that you erred somewhere along the line, as the SVCD should be of slightly greater filelength.

As an aside, I don't understand - What do you mean by your reference to the pixels being smaller, yet looking worse?

I can only speak of my own experiences with the two formats (always generated from ripped DVDs) and how they appear on a television. The SVCDs are virtually indistinguishable from the the original DVDs, while the VCDs are, for lack of a better description, crisper than VHS...

[nitesite8]

OK, I just converted a DVD to VCD and then the same exact thing to SVCD. For some reason, I think that the VCD was larger than the SVCD, alhtough, the SVCD did look better, and took 3 times longer to convert to MPEG-2 than it takes to convert to MPEG-1. It looked better by having crisper color, and a little better detailing. Thats all though, I can for sure tell the difference between SVCD and DVD though.

[setarip]

I'm afraid I've nothing further to add, as this seems to have deteriorated into a comparison of subjective opinions...

[dmlove]

Setarip, re your earlier response that an original MPEG1file at 352x240 will not come out better as an SVCD than as a VCD, how would this apply to a home video captured as an avi file (I converted the same avi twice, once to VCD and once to SVCD and the VCD was better than the SVCD - of course, playing through different players; I played the VCD through Windows Media Player and the SVCD through a trial version of PowerDVD). Thanks for all your help.

[setarip]

Despite the fact that you used two different players for comparison, your parenthetical statement,

"I converted the same avi twice, once to VCD and once to SVCD and the VCD was better than the SVCD"

appears to confirm what I stated in an earlier post. Therefore, I don't understand what it is you are questioning...

By the way, at what resolution was the original .AVI captured?

[dmlove]

I guess that's the problem - I'm not really sure of the resolution of the original. I'll have to see if I can figure it out when I get home later. More then - thanks.

[nitesite8]

ok, SVCD is definetly NOT larger, in file size, than a VCD. In fact, it is SMALLER!! Although, an SVCD does look better. I dont understand this. Better quality should make the file size longer....wtf! Ok, can anyone explain this to me?? Thanks

[setarip]

Sure. With the particular file you chose to convert to both VCD and SVCD format, the higher compression ratio of the MPEG2 format (for SVCD) versus MPEG1 (VCD) more than offset the filesize requirements of the MPEG2-SVCD's higher resolution (480x480) versus that of the MPEG1-VCD's (352x240 or 352x288).

[nitesite8]

so are you saying that eventhough its a SVCD and its better quality than VCD, that SVCD CAN be smaller in file size??

I thought better quality usually means larger file size??

[setarip]

"I thought better quality usually means larger file size??"

That would be an absolute only if the compression ratios were identical. Once again, MPEG2 provides a higher compression ratio than does MPEG1.

[The Sorcerer]

SVCD forever!!!!!!

[nitesite8]

although, even though SVCD does provide higher resolution, it doesnt always look better than VCD becuase sometimes the higher resolution looks just like a bunch of boxes (pixelated, more so than VCD, but maybe not)