I use Pinnacle StudioMP10 Recorder tool to capture and directly convert my video (VHS, NTSC) to a White Book compliant MPEG file. I then burned it to a CD-R using Adaptec EasyCD Deluxe 3.5. The result looks great when played on PC or my PlayStation console (equiped to play VCD). But the picture is blocky with large squares when played on Panasonic SL-VP55 VCD player. I don't have access to other VCD player so I don't know if the problem only occures on my particular player.

Could anybody give me suggestions on how can I improve the picture quality? Is it the capturing process, EasyCD, or the VCD player?

Thanks.

-- Maya (dinokun@visto.com), February 04, 2000

Answers

its the studio mp10 thats giving the results like that. i own that as well as the dazzle dvc. if you capture directly at the 115bit vcd format your results will be pretty horrible. What i do is change the rate to 3000 data rate (in studio mp 10 its under "custom settings") then i use the panasonic encoder to reconvert the mpg file to vcd format(usually with a filter on as well) the result you get is a thousand times better looking vcd. Some of the ones i have made this way look better then some original ones i own. Please also note that compared to what others do on this site, my method would be considered quite unorthodox

-- Doug (mazinz@aol.com), February 04, 2000.

bottom line is capturing direct to MPEG format is not going to give you great results no matter what bitrate you capture at.

Best thing to do is capture to uncompressed AVI then convert to MPEG. I have seen (using the above method) captures from VHS look almost identicle when converted to MPEG with practically no blockiness.

-- MrVCD (mrvcd@juno.com), February 04, 2000.

i understand your method as well MR VCD as i too have played with avis. But using the method i mentioned can get the same results you have mentioned using the avi method. it also depends greatly on the quality of your source as well

-- Doug (mazinz@aol.com), February 05, 2000.

Another thing that substancially increases the quality is to capture from sources that use S-Video Rather than compostite video. S-Video images are much sharper than composite--this can be seen from sources such as laserdisc, DVD, and sattelite TV.

Finally the use of a video enhancer is good to tweak saturation, color, and things like that.

I must ask, is 3000kbps the maximum bitrate that the Studio MP10 can capture at (the website where this is made has sample clips and the best clip is at 2.4mbps)? If not, what is? How much time does it take to convert a 3000kbps mpeg to VCD compliant MPEG? Also, when you capture with your Studio MP10, does the audio and video ever go out of sync when capturing for long periods of time (like over an hour)?

Thanx

-- MrVCD (mrvcd@juno.com), February 06, 2000.

Hi all

Doug, I do not agree that your system is unauthodox, its another example of a get around that obviously works for you and may do for others with similar equipment. Its akin to me using hi data rate mpeg2's as an archive source for vcd's and the Panasonic encoder, even MP4 is a good source as well. I think if I remember 3000kb/s is the limit set in the mpeg-1 standard, but we are locked into a much lower final by choosing to go VCD's. Some people use data rates over 2000kb/s for a vcd but my tests were not succesfull as the DVD player simply locked up on the first frame. Some we loose but some we get better quality and thats what a discussion site is all about.

-- Ross McL (rmclennan@esc.net.au), February 06, 2000.

Doug, What's the encoder times for the panasonic or Xing to convert an Mpeg1(3000kb/s) to VCD 2.0 format? I also have a DVC and I am using the Ulead VideoStudio 3.0 SE to do my conversion. The result is great, however, it's sooooo slow! one minutes of video/audio = 11 minutes to be converted. This is too slow.

-- lnguyen (wingstarzz@hotmail.com), February 07, 2000.

Does that mean that if I go out and buy a VCR with an svideo out that it will improve the quality of my video. I am using a camcorder that does not say SVHS on it but I've heard that all camcorders record in an svideo format and then output to composite. I'm trying to improve the video quality on captures from camcorder and I don't want to buy a SVHS VCR if it won't make any difference

-- Al McCraw (amccraw@ix.netcom.com), February 11, 2000.