[Zak Kingston]

OK, good luck then.

I guess that’s a real “basic” problem. Resolution of VCD is just too low to produce a good image. And the bitrate for encoding the video is too low as well (max. 1300 kBit, as I remember). SVCD has at least the “normal” amount of lines of a TV image, but watch out for compatibility problems: Try to test it on as many DVD-players as possible, many older players have problems with SVCD, even if they mention that they play it.

So, maybe still consider doing a DVD-you have full quality and you can increase the bitrate enormously. And it should run on all set-top players if you author it correctly.

[Zak Kingston]

Hmmm…let’s give it a try.

First, I’d recommend you to watch your project on a TV. VCD-quality in general really sucks, so if you watch it on a PC it will never look really good, because of the low resolution. So maybe you’re already satisfied if you have seen your project on TV, and I guess that’s what you’re doing it for.

In your scenario, I wouldn’t recommend using DivX as an intermediate codec, it’s not wrong if you use a high bitrate, but just for the convertion you’re doing consider a lossless codec like Huffyuv or use a DV-codec. This might enhance quality in the final product.

I thought that After Effects natively exports MPEG1, but as I did a quick look I have to say that it doesn’t (at least not on my computer).

I don’t know the program you’re using for the convertion avi>vcd. It depends more on the program you’re using for the authoring. If you really want to produce a vcd, I’d recommmend tmpeg. Of course you have to stick to the standard resolution of VCD (352/240). But if you want to have a good quality, I would prefer doing a SVCD or a real DVD, which you can author using a lot of programs (Encore/DVD studio).

Hope that helps a little bit.

[Zak Kingston]

Well, I guess it would be useful if you would tell us something more about the settings you’ve used. In general, DivX isn’t a bad decision so I guess the problem are the parameters…and what about the source file? And what’s the destination of the file (web/local playback/…)

[Zak Kingston]

Thank you.

But one thing: This is just for AVC-licensing, but what about “normal” visual mpeg4-content (I know that AVC is a part of mpeg4, but it’s a different “level”)? Like Apple’s MPEG4, for instance…same rules like AVC or different ones? I remember there was a lot of trouble about the release of QT6 because of this licensing stuff…

[Zak Kingston]

Hi Ben,

I’ve searched for a while…there seems to be no purchase possibility for this enterprise-edition with the command-line encoding. There’s only a note in the forum that it will be “available soon”. That’s a pity 🙁