Last update 19 May 2001 additions shown in color - - - Home Page

Introduction:
Although I have edited video on a PC since 1994 I really did not get serious until 1999. It was all too hard in analogue with inadequate PC’s. Can you imagine starting with a PC that only had a 100 clock speed and now today using an 800 or even higher unit. If you can, then you will have some idea of the frustration that occurred in those early days. I began with Premiere 4 as my editing program; today its Premiere 6 with the Pyro firewire card and no third party programs as cheap inadequate substitutes for the NLE operation. There is a need to couple that level of program with a class capture card as a means of achieving a quality end result. You must also add Photoshop 5.5 in support for the processing of high quality stills.

In April 1999 I discovered something called a VideoCD which could be played in a DVD player from CD-R media. Hell what was a DVD player? I did not have one and even now, I have played less than 10 hired DVD’s. I read about the process on the “VCD Forum” and it all started from there using some very sound advice from those experts of the time. I think it is more important that I actually took notice and applied what was said, not always the case for others it seems. Today I am authoring in DVD-R in just two years made possible by the enormous turn around in software provision. Even so, I am personally not happy with some of the provided interpretations of what is required and I think that’s the first thing to recognize - nothing is consistent and there are so many options that it is almost the luck of the draw to succeed in getting real quality out onto the TV screen as the prime outcome. Most professional level users will comment as I have done on several occasions, that the programmers do not use there product, that has been a very common thread from as far back as 1994. In my view it still applies today.

LET ME ASK A QUESTION OF YOU: is the quality your achieving from your DVD player capable of being played to vhs tape and you do not comment on, or your friends do not comment on, the image quality or lack of it?

I can truthfully answer positively, and what is more, I can actually sell it. I no longer need to use the DV to camera tape option to get myself a high quality vhs copy for those that do not have a DVD player. Its even better on SVHS tape of course.

The VCD.
It’s a media that will allow 74 minutes of video on a 650 meg CD-R. It provides a low quality image by comparison with the alternate SVCD or DVD. What is brewed in the home cannot be compared to what comes off the commercial VCD product, the home brewed product will be of a lower quality. I followed the advice not to race into a shop and buy a DVD player, author a VCD first and try before you buy. Incredible advice that is just as appropriate today as it was then.

Not knowing anything about pirated software I bought the LSX stand alone encoder version 2.51 in April of 1999 and proceeded to author a still image project from Premiere 4.2 and off I went to the shop. Gezzzzzz half of the DVD players I tried would not play the disk. Sony did, Pioneer did and so too Philips. I decided on Sony at the time as it played the best, followed by the Philips and the goddess of all players, the Pioneer 525. I did not buy at the time. 4 weeks later I went back to the shop and fortunately took the disk with me because my chosen Sony no longer played the disk. So in the short space of 4 weeks Sony had changed the internals and not re-numbered the unit. I bought the Philips 725 DVD player as the Pioneer 525 chopped up my sound even though the file met the VCD specification in relation to video and sound data rates. By this time LSX had gone to version 3 and the image quality was terrible by comparison with 2.51. I then converted to using the Panasonic MPEG1 encoder on which all of my later VCD’s were based, the early LSX encodes were also re encoded. Later my tests showed the TMPGEnc encoder gave better image quality.

The main opinion of the time was that the XVCD was the best image quality available. My email forum friends, Roberto in Mexico, Long in Texas, Doug in New York and Matias in Argentina all had Pioneer 525’s or Hollywood Plus decoder cards and they happily played the full frame size XVCD at 2500kB/s. We swapped VCD’s and I was the one who could not play the XVCD in a DVD player so I never actually saw what the quality was that others saw in this high data rate alternative. In May 2001 I bought a Pioneer 535 and for the first time I saw the quality they talked about on my multisystem TV – guys you were so right in your selection, even if only a few DVD players could actually play the format. Even today, it would rival the SVCD quality except for, in my view, its inability to play as well as the original interlaced vision with across the screen motion. MPEG1 does not support interlaced field playing. That is certainly the case from testing in a DV baseline situation.

I then discovered the excellent CeQuadrat Video Pack 4 program for making multi level menus and my VCD’s reached a new peak in presentation. There is nothing that approaches the options available from that program, NOT even DVD has similar options and I thank Roberto, in particular, for the skills I learnt to allow screwing that program to the limit. I still marvel today at the results we got from the Video Pack 4 menu process and the quality of the simple VCD presentation that resulted.

In September 1999 I acquired my first DV camera. It replaced my hi8 cameras after an accident at a wedding put paid to my professional career involving 6 years of tape to tape linear editing. I first used the DV camera in an analogue process to the VCD with quite acceptable results that surpassed anything I had achieved before. DV processing was indeed the next step up in the search for quality.

Then came the SVCD!
I initially resisted the change to SuperVCD and its MPEG2 baseline until appropriate encoders where available to properly make use of the mpeg2 specification. I also waited till software was available to burn the disk correctly, for that I chose the Nero Burning Rom. To make matters worse, I went Firewire with the Pyro PCI card and because Premiere did not support firewire I was forced to use Ulead’s Video Studio 3 at first and then their Media Studio Pro 6. The learning curve therefore was far more complex from the start than perhaps it should have been – September 1999 I will remember well. Few providers actually supported firewire and that became the real hurdle to get around that no longer exists today.

The achieved quality from the beginning, even from the limited Video Studio 3 application was of a much higher standard and the SVCD did play interlaced fields in the same way as the source material. I initially used bbMpeg as the encoder until TMPGEnc appeared on the scene and frankly I have found that by far the best in the quality producing stakes of all the encoders I have tested using the same source material.

I have not used menus of any kind in the SVCD process, my original 233mmx system would not allow me to run Adaptec software so the I-Author program could never be considered. Adaptec always locked up the computer so there was a complete mismatch somewhere and I have never found where or tried with my recently upgraded P3 800. I do not find the limitation of about 38 minutes on a CD-R a problem as most of my productions are fully edited and are a complete entity in their own right. Only my demo testing SVCD’s really needed a menu structure. Some could have effectively employed chapter points but that does not appear to be part of the SVCD approach by the software providers. Heaven knows why! However, I understand I-Author can produce a very hi class menu structure but not at the same level as achieved by Video Pack 4 in the VCD era.

I returned to Adobe when Premiere 6 arrived in the market in January 2001 having tested it in November 2000 in its beta form. Thankfully, it allowed me to get myself out of the troublesome Ulead chain and get back to a professional level editing program that does deliver. That is not to say I think Premiere is the be all end all, after all, the Premiere concept has not really changed since Premiere 4 in 1994 – amazing, makes it easy to convert from one version to the other I suppose.

I think the big change in my process came with the use of Premiere 6, the Main Concept DV codec and a program called Avisynth. This program allows an editing project on the timeline to be frame served directly to the TMPGEnc encoder without a deliberately produced intermediate file or the use of a Premiere plugin encoder that lacks a quality output. The process works with Premiere 5.1c as well. With my success in using TMPGEnc Build 12a and the quality it produces this combination means there is no longer a need to wish providers would produce a quality end product at a consumer level. Both Avisysnth version 0.3 and the Premiere plugin version 0.25 (must both be loaded) and the 12a build of TMPGEnc are free software and I guess that has its advantages, particularly with the costs of keeping up when providers charge at wounded bull prices for updates.

TMPGEnc made some real problems for us in builds 12c and 12d (double images to the TV) and these later versions than 12a, including the latest 12f, have a time limit imposed on the use of the MPEG2 encoding part of the program. The image quality of the later versions in my view does not warrant the spending of money to achieve full use of the next best version 12f. Eric Bouly’s fix for the double image problem was effectively adopted by TMPGEnc at Build 12e and is still available from this web site for those who are unaware that 12c and 12d SVCD encodes will not play correctly on some DVD players. You must apply the patch or you may find that a DVD player update may not play those disks.

There is some doubt the encoder actually produces a compliant file for SVCD use. Eric’s tests in Canada using his templates, my templates and the TMPGEnc provided ones, indicated 1405 syntax errors in a 9 second test file which is a cause for concern when actually paying for the product. This was discovered over 2 months ago but we said nothing at the time of the testing. Who was going to believe us?

Other pages on this web site give details of my process and if you have similar equipment you are well advised to at least try my process and templates for the TMPGEnc encoder. My site is related to Firewire and an NLE baseline and I have no experience with other systems and despite the emails requesting information to fix someone elses problems in another system I am unable to comment from a hands on baseline, so I do not.

The DVD thing:
As far back as the first few weeks of VCD involvement in April 1999 I posted that I would love to archive for future use in DVD. A pipe dream, maybe, a challenge, yes. In a provider world that does not interpret specifications the same way it was a guess as to the real outcome in later years when maybe DVD burners could be afforded by the mere consumer. Build 12a of the TMPGEnc encoder accepts MPEG2 source material so it was not unreasonable to get further involved. but.........

SpruceUp came to my attention and I downloaded the trial program. Could have been a number of others I guess but I chose to use SpruceUp. Whilst I have had success with it, and a lot of criticism for selecting it, the TMPGEnc encoder has proven to be a good combination. However, I still believe SpruceUp is in need of updating to provide better user friendliness and in particular, acknowledgement of the PAL and NTSC system differences. It needs to support 16:9 as well. I do not think they are alone in those needs.

Like most providers, there is a need to accept that we view a DVD on a TV and therefore there should be the correct aspect ratios involved. It follows that the computer image should be a simulation of what is seen on the TV. Well! DV, in particular with its basic 3:2 NTSC or 5:4 PAL aspect ratio is not a TV screen size, we have only 4:3 and 16:9 as I am aware, so why does everyone persist in not providing those shapes for the computer. Premiere 6 certainly has it right as you see your production in 4:3 or indeed 16:9 and that’s how it should be for everyone. Well done Adobe your almost completely on your own in that one.

I wrote my "DVD for the consumer" web page based on the concept of "someone else doing the DVD-R media burn." That has proven to be a success and can be used as a viable alternative to the costly DVD burner when one has no way of getting any return for the outlay. However,I believe there is only a justifiable need to consider the DVD-R as an archive medium. Let me explain.

If you are a video camera user then you will come back from holiday with video that needs editing to be of interest to any viewer, now or in the future. You can cut out all the shot in the foot clips and you can produce an excellent record of your holiday. It was a common thing in film editing back in the 60’s and 70’s that you edited, cut and spliced your film after the event and THEN LEFT IT FOR A MONTH before you did the final edit to cut it back even further. The end result was a far better more viewable product.

Consider that a "cut" clip is from 2 to 4 seconds and one should not use clips over 10 to 12 seconds unless there is a very good reason for it. How many home movies are acquired with that in mind. If you apply those limits your movie will be watchable after the event. As an example, my South American 2000 holiday resulted in 4 hours of video and an edit of 104 minutes on 3 SVCD’s and it contained hundreds of 2 and 4 or 5 second clips, I think its watchable now and it will be so in the future. No clip in it is longer than about 10 seconds without good reason, the helicopter flight over the Iguazu Falls in Argentina/Brazil is perhaps one subject that required longer clips with enough interest. Think about that for a moment.

I believe the SVCD is the medium for the holiday film "first edit" and DVD for the "archive" version after a further cut out edit. If you apply that then no one will be bored with your production and then "DVD-R by remote" is a good viable option at this point in time. We should think of the DVD-R a providing a highlights package as the end result. Put another way, I therefore do not see DVD-R as a general use process for just everything we do in this video based age. In my view, leave that to the SVCD, after all, the process of achieving either is basically the same, only the frame size and data rates change. If you can edit it then you can SVCD or DVD it! Success with SVCD means success in DVD or do not even bother! The exception may well be that if you experience blockiness in your SVCD then the higher data rate of DVD will eliminate it.

Where too now!
Consolidation of a process that does actually work, does provide super quality and no longer requires me to chase my tail and the providers for a better quality. If the system works why change it? With the totally inadequate, ill conceived, indeed disgracefull menu structure provided by the long awaited Nero 5.5 program there must now be an an involvement in I-Author for SVCD menus. That only after I ghost my system in case of mishap. For sure the developement and more involvement in widescreen together with a belief that maybe the providers will one day actually provide what we need to achieve our aims.

Thanks
My thanks to Mike Velte who provided NTSC DV material for me to experience NTSC, Eric Bouly, Gareth, Tony, Itay and all the others who have supported my web pages and made me aware of issues and problems that would have gone unnoticed and therefore without a solution. No one person can be up with it all and my gratitude to all who have contributed to make these firewire based pages a success.

MY HARDWARE - a Summary:
COMPUTER: P3 800 with 384M Sdram (July 2001 from 128), 43G video drive (7200),
10G system drive (7200rpm)
ADS Pyro 1394 firewire card from October 1999.
BURNER: Sony CRX145E for CD-R & RW. (10x/4x/32x)
DVD ROM: Pioneer 104S (10x)
MPEG2 DECODER CARD: Hollywood Plus - DVD playback to computer or TV.
TV MONITOR: Sony Professional Studio 14" 450 line at centre capable monitor.
DVD PLAYERS: Philips 725 and Pioneer 535 for playing the DVD-R media

MY SOFTWARE:
CAPTURE/EDIT: Adobe Premiere 6 - output PAL Main Concept DV Type 2 avi 720 x 576.
Also Premiere 5.1c for DV Type 2 VfW. (Capture AVI_IO) also using Main Concept DV codec.
ENCODER: LSX Suite 2 version 3.5 standalone for SVCD, CinemaCraft CCE version 2.5 for DVD and TMPGENC when comparison testing and for audio extraction. Encoders fed directly form Premiere 6 timeline using Avisynth and suitable script files.
DVD AUTHORING: SpruceUp DVD (Full Version).
COMPUTER PLAYBACK: Hollywood Plus decoder card and software. Media Player will also play to a connected TV monitor via the Hollywood Plus card.
STILL IMAGE PROCESSING: Adobe Photoshop 5.5

First posted 19 May 2001

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