Image Quality, probably a very common problem, so..... HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[destemido]

:confused:
Shit i really need help. I follow the doom9 guide strictly and still can't get a "DVD like" image quality. am using nandub to encode the video. I make 2cd's rips with a bitrate of 1700+ depending on the duration of the movie. and still can't get something i can call great image quality. i've used the built-in rezise filter only, btw the rez i'm using is 640x272. I used it in bicubic mode!!!
I've also used Donald graft smart smother in it's minimum level, but it made things even worse. 1st encoding now takes 7hours each pass.
2nd the image quality is worse than before.
i'll also tell you what configs i'm using in nandub.

Before we start the movie is "Bedazzled"

In DivX tab:
Quality control -> anti-freeze, because don't know how to calc the numbers needed.

In bitrate curve Tab:
curve compression 15%
luminace enabled threshold 10% gain 30%
high pass - 270
low pass - 6000
Bitrate redistribuition set to proportional
Smother 3%

Motion Tab:
span - 8 sensitivity - 10
the two sliders to the full rigth
crispness modulation 30%
bits reservoir unchecked

Gauge Tab:
corrections both enabled
gauge min:40% start 80% max:100%
hacks... left alone :-) (i,e, at zero!!!)

compression Tab, i only set the first line DRF Min:2 Max:6
keyframes quality min:4 max:31

cross point set to 460
sorry for this long post.

I really don't know what i'm doing wrong. maybe it's the resolution too high or the wrong filters used.
suggestions will be accepted....
thank you

[manono]

Hi-
1. Watch out for the Smart Smoother-it's liable to make blocks all over the place (and it's very slow-maybe use 2D Cleaner if you want to smooth a "dirty" source-much faster).
2. Make sure the player is not at issue (in WMP 6.4, right click the movie as it's playing and go Properties-Advanced-DivX MPEG-4 Video Decompressor, and move the slider to 4.
3. Maybe change the High Pass to 400 or so-it sets the minimum bit rate.
4. Maybe change the max compression to 5 or even 4 for a 2 CD rip (although that shouldn't be the problem).

[poopity poop]

yes as seen in my tests of smart smoother and warp sharp the settings are WAY to high. SS should have like settings of 3/20 to 5/25. Any more and you get crap. What is stated on my site, the settings are WAY too high I need to update it :(

[destemido]

I'm using Wmp 8 form winXP. i've also set the properties to 4, but there's no noticible diference.

[manono]

p p-Yeah-and have you ever used it in real people movies-it changes things more quickly even than the anime we love. You ever seen it make people's faces into a series of planes? Like they were chiseled from granite or something?

destemido-if you tried the suggestions and they didn't work, then I might suggest using Gordian Knot to set up your encoding. It takes care of all the settings for you, and except for putting in the bit rate in Nandub(which it gives you), and loading the modified stats file and the ecf file, it's pretty much fool proof. Doom9 has an excellent guide on it. You already have a first pass that you can use. You download and install the software, and after 30 minutes reading you'll be ready for the second pass.

[LotionBoy]

bedazzled settings.

1CD

res:576 by 240
Audio: ABR 122

VirtualDub.video.SetDivX(901,12);
VirtualDub.video.SetQualityControl(1,0,0,0);
VirtualDub.video.SetMotionDetection(8,10,300,300);
VirtualDub.video.SetCrispness(25,0);
VirtualDub.video.SpaceKF(24);
VirtualDub.video.InternalSCD(100);
VirtualDub.video.SetMinKBPS(360);
VirtualDub.video.SetCurveFile("D:\\movies\\Bedazzled\\bedaz.stats");
VirtualDub.video.SetCurveMcFactor(0);
VirtualDub.video.SetCurveCompression(18,3);
VirtualDub.video.SetCurveFilter(250,2000);
VirtualDub.video.SetCurveCredits(125203,250);
VirtualDub.video.SetLumaCorrectionAmp(1,10,30);
VirtualDub.video.SetCurveRedist(0);
// VirtualDub.video.CalcCurveCompression();
VirtualDub.video.SetCompLevelsMain(2,7);
VirtualDub.video.SetCompLevelsA(300,3,16);
VirtualDub.video.SetCompLevelsB(300,4,16);
VirtualDub.video.SetCompLevelsC(300,5,16);
VirtualDub.video.SetCompLevelsD(300,6,16);
VirtualDub.video.SetCompLevelsE(300,7,16);
VirtualDub.video.SetCompLevelK(2,31);
VirtualDub.video.SetBitsReservoir(0,35,30,70,45,0);
VirtualDub.video.SetLowBrCorrection(1,1);
VirtualDub.video.NoAVIOutput(0);
VirtualDub.video.GenStats("",1);
VirtualDub.video.SetEncodingControl("");
VirtualDub.video.filters.Clear();
VirtualDub.video.filters.Add("null transform");
VirtualDub.video.filters.instance[0].SetClipping(2,58,5,62);
VirtualDub.video.filters.Add("resize");
VirtualDub.video.filters.instance[1].Config(576,240,3);

Very nice, very watchable 1 CD rip.

LotionBoy

[LotionBoy]

If you want 2CDs (though there is no real reason, unless you really want the AC3 sound). To fix your profile.
Min gauge = 30
min Keyframe DRF = 2x
set High-pass = min. bitrate = something over 350
you can try dropping the crispness setting, which automatically smooths.
There is a sharpen filter in Nandub that might help (but be very careful with it. It can do horrible things to images :-).

Your problem maybe your player. I don't think that WMP8 lets you set the post-processing level. Download a Divx play from doom9 (I use ZoomPlayer as my back up player (WMP6.4 is the main player) and that works fine, and lets you set the post-processing level on divx movies. Try kicking that up to 3 or 4 and see if your movie looks better. Try this before reencoding: it will take a lot less time.

One thing you might want to consider doing is before reencoding the whole movie, create an avs using the gordian knot compressibility check. That will let you test out your filters/settings on a small portion of the movie. should be faster.

LotionBoy