How to minimize pixelation when converting AVI to MPEG?
 

Hello, first time posting here :)

I'm having trouble when converting

I accidentally posted this before writing my problem :smack: Merged. :laugh: -LS

What I was trying to say is that when I covert the video I captured in VirtualDub to mepg using Adobe Mainconcept encoder 1.3, the final output looks pixelated (I don't know if it's the correct term) and I was wondering what I could do to eliminate or minimize the effect. I don't know much about video restoration and I just started capturing my family VHS-C videos to the computer using the JVC HR-9800U and the ATI 600 USB capture card that I bought from LordSmurf (Thanks LS :congrats:). I have attach the videos and the settings that I use. Any help on what I can do minimize or remove the pixels on the video is greatly appreciated :)

Attachment 8136

Attachment 8137

Attachment 8138

Attachment 8139

Attachment 8140

Pixelated how/where? I'm not seeing that.
Hint: Open the MPEG in VirtualDub. How does it look there?

Video looks good when viewing it on Virtualdub, but when I play the video on the DVD on my 32 inch HDTV I can clearly see the pixels that make the picture, espcecially when the camera turns and moves. When watching a action scenes on commercial DVD's I can't seem to notice it. I was wondering If there was something I could do to minimize it?

I tried increasing the bitrate to 9000 to minimize it, but I could still see them. Maybe i'm imagining it and I'm expecting it to look smooth like the commercial DVD's :screwy:

Here is a close-up the problem, when the camera moves from left to right I can see the pixels/blocks. Maybe it's suppose to be like that and I'm just very nitpicky?

Attachment 8141

Fast motion pans on interlaced will never look great.

The other issue is GOP. Commercial DVDs often have custom GOP lengths per scene, and are manually encoded. It's tedious, but that's one reason why the DVDs take so long to make. You just picked a single GOP length, checked a few auto settings, and let it do what's wants. (And that's usually what I do, too.)

Commercials DVDs are also usually progressive. That makes a difference, too.

Honestly, I think you're looking for errors. Lots of video newbies get way too OCD. Wanting quality is great, and should be done. For example, the hardware and software you have is quality. But don't go overboard with it. As I've said for many years, the goal is to make video better/enjoyable. Not make it perfect. It will never be perfect.

Another thing to try is to filter the video. Macroblock/mosquito noise happens because of bitrate starvation, as casued by noise. Filter out even a tiny bit of noise, and you'll make huge gains in compression optimization.

I've not used MC1.x in Premiere in many years. I forget where 2-pass is. Be sure that's also in use.

Thanks for the response lordsmurf.

I understand that I can't make the video look perfect, the video in question already looks good in my opinion and I just gonna transfer it to DVD as is, but the blocks/mosquito noise that it makes when watching it on the TV has been bother me a lot and I thought it was because I was encoding it wrong. I even used some other programs to encode like avidemux. Now I know it was because of the noise on the video that was causing the blocks/mosquito noise.

How do I go from cleaning the noise from the video? I know Virtualdub filters is use to improve the image on the videos but I don't know how which filters to use to remove noise on the video that I have. I see people use Temporal Cleaner to remove noise, is this correct?

I don't think Adobe Mainconcept encoder has the 2-pass variable bitrate, I couldn't find it on the settings. I might use avidemux 2.5 as it does have 2 pass VBR

Avidemux is good, as uses ffmpeg freeware encoding. Odds are, even without 2-pass, you'll find MainConcept to be better. Especially since you're very observant/picky. Cheaper encodes are heavier on the mosquito noise and blocks.

You may also want to look into the MainConceot noise sensitivity settings (which is not NR!), and lower it from default to a 3.

Enable motion search.

Try again with that.

I don't remember what the "additional settings" all are. You have them collapsed. There may be some more room for tweaking.