Making VCDs with go good video quality

[Guest]

I keep hitting walls in trying to make video CDs that preserve the original
video quality. The videos I want to burn are short (anywhere from 3 minutes
to 10 minutes), so high compression and small file size are not a priority.
I've tried TMPGEnc with VCDEasy, but the video quality is poor, despite
trying many combinations of settings. Then I tried loading an AVI file
directly from MM2 into Nero. The preview in Nero had great image quality,
but the video and audio were choppy, and when I burned the CD, it would not
play in any DVD player. Any ideas for burning relatively short video files
to a VCD while mazimizing video quality?
Thx

 

[PapaJohn]

VCD quality is the low end of video quality for playing on a DVD
player/TV.... by spec it's 352x240 (NTSC) or 362x288 (PAL)....

Anything higher in quality will be reduced to that when it's converted to
MPEG-1 for the disc.
--
PapaJohn

Movie Maker 2: www.papajohn.org
PhotoStory 2: www.photostory.papajohn.org
..
..

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the response. I'm getting the same results (poor video) with SVCD
as well. When I save my video file from MM2 using "Video for local playback
(2.1 Mbps NTSC)" I get great quality in MS Media Player, despite compression
from 700 Mb down to 32 Mb. Is there anyway to get similar quality with VCD
or SVCD? I may just need to shell out the bucks for DVD, I'm trying to avoid
that because I'll seldom use all the space on a DVD.
I appreciate all your help online.
goldriver

 

[PapaJohn]

At the standard of 480x480 (NTSC) and 480x576 (PAL), it's a closer to DVD
quality than it is to VCD. I've seen some pretty good looking SVCD, but I'm
sure it depends on the quality of the software that renders it to the MPEG-2
format.

Maybe you'll want to wait for the new DVD players that will handle the WMV
files.... available "around the corner'
--
PapaJohn

Movie Maker 2: www.papajohn.org
PhotoStory 2: www.photostory.papajohn.org
..
..

 

[Rehan]

My solution is to make cDVD or miniDVD which is the DVD compiled on CD
media. It isnt a universal solution as older players do not support it, but
most new players (last year or so) would play this format. The quality is
almost DVD.

I said "almost" since although the size of the frame on a miniDVD is same as
DVD 720x480/576 but the CD media cannot really be burned with the higher end
of DVD bitrates. This is because the CD media cannot deliver that sort of
bitrates fast enough to be played properly. My players' maximum is 4Mbps.

However this is perfect choice for still slideshows or small movies that do
not contain fast action. Most slow movies would work OK with as low as
2.5Mbps (same btrate as an SVCD).

The ability to use motion menus and chapter points, multiple sount tracks
and camera angles are the obvious added bonuses.

 

[Guest]

Rehan/PapaJohn,
You guys are awsome. Great heads up on cDVD, miniDVD, and writing WMV
filies to CDs. Thanks to your help, I am coming up to speed quickly with all
of the options. I'll find something that works.