Converting AVI to MPEG2

[Feff]

Hi There,

I am using VideoStudio V9SE.

Anyone know how to convert an AVI file to MPEG2 without losing quality?

The conversions I have made turn out a little blocky.

Any help much appreciated....

[daniel]

Use a high bit rate :-) 8000kb/s is safe to use and quality is near commercial DVDs. Higher can choke the player, lower is compromising quality for "difficult" scenes, usually visible below 6000.

Other than that, please supply us with more info about your AVI file and the expected target (computer, progressive monitor, TV) and you will get detailed help.

[Feff]

Thanks Daniel,

Have tried the 8000 bit rate a I think that it was the default rate.

The AVI file is one downloaded from internet. It is 174mb. Once converted to Mpeg2 it became 1.4g. The AVI file quality is very good but once it was converted, it became blotchy. I am wanting to put the mpeg2 file on dvd.

Hope this extra info makes sense..

[Ken Berry]

Can you click on the original AVI within Video Studio, and copy down the properties here. I suspect, at that size, it is really one of the mpeg-4 files that use AVI as the carrier format (such as DivX or Xvid). The are extremely compressed, and uncompressing them, even to the extent necessary for an mpeg-2 file, is both complex and likely to cause the sorts of conversion artifacts you are seeing.

[Feff]

Hi Ken,

Here it is. Looks like you were right.
Properties say Divx Decoder Filter as Video Compression.

I couldnt work out how to paste the actual page here.

Is there any other way of getting this file on dvd without losing quality?

Thanks Ken

[CycleWriter]

Is there any other way of getting this file on dvd without losing quality?

I'm not Ken, but I'll share some wisdom that was imparted to me on this. Anytime you start with a compressed format, especially one so highly compressed as DiVX, converting it to another compressed format will almost always result in a reduction in quality. What you're trying to do here is convert a file that is already in an end-user format (DiVX) to another end-user format (MPEG-II). Each successive run of a compression algorithm on the file via conversion will reduce quality, especially when those algorithms differ in format. In your case you are trying to expand the higher compression DiVX file (small file size) into a lower compression MPEG-II file (large file size). Doing this forces the conversion to actually create data instead of simply manipulating or uncompressing it. Since DiVX does its thing differently from MPEG-II, that's where the quality loss comes from.

Do you need to view this video on a TV or a computer? If you don't need to change the pixel dimensions of the video, why not just copy the original file to a CD-ROM and disseminate it that way? Most computers have the DiVX codec and will be able to play it. If you have to make it readable in home DVD players, you're pretty much stuck with the quality loss unless you can get access to the original source video.

[Feff]

Thanks Cyclewriter. I will just put up with it i guess.

Thanks all.

[Ken Berry]

Increasingly, newer stand-alone DVD players have a capacity to play discs with DivX files on them. I have one (an LG) and it works well. Playback quality, depending on the DivX settings used (which can vary widely), display quality on my TV is not remarkably different from a standard DVD.

[Feff]

I tried Nero Express 3. It actually worked better than Ulead. The conversion was of a better quality. Not 100% of original but probably 75-80% as apposed to 50%.