hey guys i have a few issues i'm wondering you can help me with..
i've made a 30min photo slideshow with windows movie maker.. the resolution is 1024x576 pal (i used a custom profile to encode it in that reso)
i've been using a number of dvdauthoring programs: roxio mydvd (version 10 i think, it came with roxio creator 2009 ultimate), tmpgenc authoring works 4, tmpgenc xpress 4 and dvd flick
with all programs.. the resulting quality is nowhere as sharp as the original 250mb wmv.. they're all in 720x576 (AR16:9) reso.. it's like the pictures have been resized down and then interpolated up.. and u can tell from the edges that they're jagged, kinda like turning off anti-aliasing in games.. now is it just cos of the way mpeg2 is with it's conversion process? i have screenshot them both using MPC's save image function but it doesnt show the difference in quality.. u can definitely see it only on playback
also, out of the all the programs, i would like to use tmpgenc as it looks the best (relatively speaking) but then i have issues with them:
* when i use tmpgenc authoring works 4, if i don't choose the "automatic smart rendering prioritized" setting for the video encoding ie if i choose "re-encode all videos as below" (i choose this cos i can then change the bitrates) i get an error saying something about the GOP length is too long.. i can ignore it but then when i playback the resulting vob files in MPC, when i skip to certain parts of the video, the scene doesn't change.. so i don't know if that will also happen on a dvd player.. tmpgenc xpress 4 does not have this problem
* the problem with both xpress 4 and authoring works 4 is that in one scene which i have a full widescreen picture.. they both encode 2 small blackbars on the left and right side instead of going all the way to the edge.. i have tried selecting the source as pixel 1:1 (square) and display 16:9 but it doesn't make a difference.. xpress 4 format is set to 16:9, authoring works 4 is set to Letterbox. mydvd and dvd flick do not do this! here is a screenie of tmpgenc (the screenie ends up being saved in 720x576 unfortunately and i cbf to resize but u get what i mean anyways)... here is the original from the wmv
ps tmpgenc 2.5 free doesn't have any of the problems listed above
perhaps it's worth trying Avisynth to do the resize:
LanczosResize(720,576)
or Lanczos4Resize(720,576) - which may give a very slightly sharper
image (if that's your concern).
Then open the avi script in Tmpgenc xpress.
I don't think it will fix the bars at the side - (not sure why it's doing it. Are they visible on the TV?) My guess is the bars are 8
pixels each, which gives you 704*576
If you don't get a further response, I've got Tmpgenc xpress 3.
I'll give it a try tomorrow.