Dv To Vcd

[Khun Jean]

Anyone experience with putting a DV tape on vcd.

I tried different formats and compressions but i never get an acceptable quality. I want at least the sdame quality i can see on original movie vcd's.

What compression do i use? Which advanced settings?

I used Nero, Adobo Premiere and ULead MediaStudio but i can't nail down the right settings.

The resulting video is very "blocky" and even in slow moving sequences there are a lot of compression artifacts visible. If compared to the movie vcd's it doesn't even come close.

[bkk_mike]

Anyone experience with putting a DV tape on vcd.

I tried different formats and compressions but i never get an acceptable quality. I want at least the sdame quality i can see on original movie vcd's.

What compression do i use? Which advanced settings?

I used Nero, Adobo Premiere and ULead MediaStudio but i can't nail down the right settings.

The resulting video is very "blocky" and even in slow moving sequences there are a lot of compression artifacts visible. If compared to the movie vcd's it doesn't even come close. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Are you sure you don't want to convert to SVCD, rather than plain VCD. (I believe it can adjust the bitrates to reduce blockiness).

Most of the VCDs you buy in Thailand are actually SVCDs...

[Abandon]

If you want to play the resulting cd on your vcd or dvd player, then ulead would be the best bet. But you will always get a huge reduction in quality because you have reduced the amount of data. If there is an option in ulead make sure you reduce resolution.

a dvd is usually at about 700/550 pixels, a vcd is usually about 300/180. Reducing the resolution will improve quality in this case, as trying to reduce a dvd size to fit on a cd is not practical and will result in extreme blockiness. You always need a balance between resolution (pixels up and across) and the file size.

If you are wanting to put the dvd on to a cd for back up purposes, to playback in the computer, you need to change the encoding - the compression method. This is a big, specified skill. There are simple programs that do it for you, but they compromise quality. All the same, a full length movie for example, of 1 hour 40 mins should compress to a cd size (700 megs) and still be better quality than a regular vcd. Super dvd ripper is the best for this (I havn't tried all the different programs) or Dr DivX. If you use super dvd, then make sure you set "de-interlace" and "de-interpolate" options. (bit lengthy to explain why)

My advise for those who want to playback video files on their TV's and not computer monitors is to set up a small, super cheap second hand computer with a TV out plug on thevideo card and simply plug it into the tv when you want to play something. Much better quality than making vcds. You can even run a lan cable through to your computer room and so pull the files directly off the computer to play with your tv. This way, your little com in the tv room appears on your tv exactly as your main com appears on your monitor.

[sajal]

Anyone experience with putting a DV tape on vcd.

I tried different formats and compressions but i never get an acceptable quality. I want at least the sdame quality i can see on original movie vcd's.

What compression do i use? Which advanced settings?

I used Nero, Adobo Premiere and ULead MediaStudio but i can't nail down the right settings.

The resulting video is very "blocky" and even in slow moving sequences there are a lot of compression artifacts visible. If compared to the movie vcd's it doesn't even come close. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

what kind of equipment do you have?

how do u transfer the DV from tape to your computer?

if its a handycam, make sure u r not using the USB streeming on sony handycams as that sux big time.

couple of years ago i used to do some recordin on sony mini dv handicams and here is how i did the copying.

1) shoot the video on the handycam.

2) connect the cam to my pc with a FIREWIRE cable/IEEE 1394.

3) use any capturing software such as windows moviemaker/ULead MediaStudio/etc to capture at 2.1 mbps.

4) create a SVCD in nero, drag and drop the file into nero.....nero does the stuff....

easy...

PS: whats the config of your PC? if u dont have a IEEE1394 port then u gotta buy a PCI/PCMCIA adapter for it,

[chanchao]

> Are you sure you don't want to convert to SVCD, rather than plain VCD.

> (I believe it can adjust the bitrates to reduce blockiness).

> Most of the VCDs you buy in Thailand are actually SVCDs...

I don't think so... SVCD is 480x576 and will only fit about half an hour's worth on a regular 700MB CD-R. VCDs rented in Thailand manage to fit close to an hour of video on a disc.

My DVD player reports these rented discs as VCD 2.0 Would that be the difference? For me I mostly make DVDs now, but when I do a VCD for people who don't have a DVD player then the quality I get (Vegas, Ulead, Nero etc) is not nearly as good as the commercial VCDs I rent.

So... what are they doing to get that quality in VCD what I'm lacking?? (So, basically the same quesation as the original poster

Does one have to get really nast with TMPGenc settings-wrestling?

Cheers,

Chanchao

[phazey]

google for vcdgear. very good and simple to use.

[Khun Jean]

My DVD player reports these rented discs as VCD 2.0  Would that be the difference?  For me I mostly make DVDs now, but when I do a VCD for people who don't have a DVD player then the quality I get (Vegas, Ulead, Nero etc) is not nearly as good as the commercial VCDs I rent.

So... what are they doing to get that quality in VCD what I'm lacking?? (So, basically the same quesation as the original poster

That is exactly what i mean. My source files are very good quality. I got them off the tape with a firewire connection. Resolution is 768x576 25 fps. DV Video Encoder - Type 1.

With Ulead Video editor i edit the clips and save them to a Video CD-PAL. 24 bits, 352x288, 25 fps. Frame-based. Video rate 1150 kbps

This produces a file that is very "blocky" and has many visible artifacts.

I tried SVCD, a little better but still not even close to the commercial VCDs. And my intended audience (Grandma) can only play VCD (2.0) or DVD. I don't want to go the DVD route because the costs. And the VCD 2.0 should be very acceptable quality.

With Nero i made a vcd with even worse result. And in Nero i don't have many options to fiddle with.

I am downloading vcdgear now, thanx for the tip.

I will give it a try and let you know the results.

[Khun Jean]

Checked vcdgear but it seems like it is not capable of convrting a DV file to mpeg.

Or am i missing something. Which version should i use?

[bkk_mike]

If it's only for one person - the best option is probably just to buy them a new DVD player that handles Divx....

You can then do MPEG4 compression - so decent picture, small file size, burn to a CD in PC format - and so long as you stick to parameters you've tested, it should play with no issues.

My sister got one for Christmas from my brother - I think it was under £50. He was quite impressed as he chucked a few different Divx and Xvid files at it with no problems.