# imrpoving VCD quality



## ibalik (Jun 8, 2003)

i created a movie using iMovie, and burned it to vcd using toast.

i know VCDs arent the greatest but the finish product was unacceptable. the images were pixelized specially the part where there's a lot of movement going on.

is there any way to somehow improve the quality of a VCD? or any format using a CDR and readble by DVD players?


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## Dlatu1983 (Jun 8, 2003)

What sort of media were you using? (still pictures, DV video, analog video, etc). How did you get it into iMovie? What compression did you select?


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## ibalik (Jun 8, 2003)

was imported from my dv cam. i used the option from imovie to burn it into toast (in the process i believe it's automatically compressed to mpg1).


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## chrisdavies (Jun 9, 2003)

I am also very interested in this. I have burned some short projects to DVD (using Final Cut Pro 3).

The DVD is great, but when I have then converted to a VCD using Toast, the results are quite pixellated (especially text).

My understanding is that the encoding quality/rate can be adjusted, to trade off the file size against quality.

How can this be done?


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## Dlatu1983 (Jun 9, 2003)

Same thing happenned to me a while ago...what you do is export the movie as full quality DV video. THEN burn it to a VD with Toast.


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## ibalik (Jun 9, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Dlatu1983 _
> *Same thing happenned to me a while ago...what you do is export the movie as full quality DV video. THEN burn it to a VD with Toast. *



i did that: export as full DV quality, then export again to vcd with toast. but the finish product quality is the same.


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## chrisdavies (Jun 9, 2003)

When you say a DV movie, do you mean a 'Final Cut Pro' movie, from the file menu?


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## Arden (Jun 9, 2003)

I just got the latest issue of MacAddict today (the first in about 6 months, I might addbut that's another thread), and on it is a program called MissingMpegTools (http://homepage.mac.com/rnc/).  In the description, it suggests using Super Video CD (SVCD) to create your discs, as it quite improves the quality, apparently.


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## MikeXpop (Jun 9, 2003)

SVCD uses Mpeg-2. And good luck on finding a free converter that works.


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## themacguy (Jun 9, 2003)

I've been playing with SVCD (mpeg2) encoding in OSX for a number of months and have found nothing that provides an accetable result (unless you are willing to let your Mac grind away for 10-12 hours while encoding takes place).

A reasonable alternative is a product called "Instant DVD" from ADS Technology which you can find at TigerDirect for about $90. Pick up a USB-equipped PC (PIII/466 or better with a sound card or motherboard sound I/O) for under $200, plug in the unit, and send analog A/V through the unit into the PC. The package does real-time encoding so a one hour movie is encoded in one hour. I send my finished iMovie back out to the camcorder via FireWire, and then connect the analog ports on the camcorder to the Instant DVD unit. Works like a charm and you can encode as VCD, SVCD, and three different bitrates for DVD. The mpeg1 and mpeg2 files are cross-platform compatible (with QuckTime mpeg2 Decoder or VLC); I fileshare and send the captured movies to my Mac where VCD Builder can make SVCD tracks that Toast will burn. (You can also use Nero Burning ROM on the PC but that's not included with the package. Nero works great and even has an SVCD plugin.)

Don't confuse this product with ADS Tech's "Instant DVD for Mac" product (at about $280). That package will not produce anything that can be burned to SVCD. The encoder chip and software produce proprietary format mpegs that can't be processed by VCD Builder nor Toast. In fact, the files arrive on the Mac (through the encoder box and software) in a format that is "overstuffed" (too high a bitrate) for use in anything other than the included software (which transcodes the movies into VCD and DVD).

Drop me an eMail if you have ?'s.

Barry


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