D2S Half-D1. The good and the not good

[MSlv]

What can I expect when encoding to DVD with half-D1 resolution (352/480-576)? I know you can fit more on the DVD, but how's the quality? Does this leave more room for higher bitrates? Is it compatible with all DVD Players? Is there any noticeble difference on screen between 720 and 352?
I'm asking this because I don't feel that you have to waste 720 pixels on an avi, and 352 could be more apropiate, so I wanted to hear some of your ideas...

[jsoto]

A vertical low resolution is more noticeable than an horizontal one. I believe this is why "Half-D1" keeps the number of lines.

Please note in a small TV set you do not have enough horizontal pixels to distinguish the difference between 352 and 720. You have to use a PC/ big TV, etc

There is other point to take into account: 720x576/480 can be 16:9 or 4:3 DAR, but AFAIK, the DVD standard does not allow 16:9 in 352x576/480, so to be compliant, you have to resize and add borders. (However, all the players I tested allows 16:9 in Half-D1).

Using Half D1 you will be able to get a better Q using the same final size

jsoto

[MSlv]

About the 16:9 in Half D1: I'm using DVD2SVCD so I have to chose between "4:3" AR and "16:9 encoded as 4:3 + borders", so no problem.
So you're saying I should use 352p horyzontal resolution as there isn't much difference on the TV. Thanks for that. So I'll start using that instead of 720p for my next encodes.

[jsoto]

In any case a 2 hours movie usualy fits at very good Q at full resolution in a DVDR, so the use of Half D1 could be limited to very long movies, or to fit two movies in a DVDR..

jsoto

[Matthew]

I've used half-D1 before with avi source (e.g. 640x352) and I noticed the extra lack of detail (blurriness), and it annoyed me.

I found it better in one instance, where the source was a bit too noisy, but other than that I prefer to use full-D1.

Also, note that when using half-D1 you shouldn't need/have any denoising filters turned on, at least that was my experience.

Oh yeah, and I only have a 36 cm tv...

[MSlv]

So you're saying I have to turn off Deblocking (Y & UV)in XviD? What do you mean by denoising filters?

[Matthew]

I've never fildled with the xvid decoding settings, I just meant that I wouldn't use avisynth filters or CCE's filters, namely effect restricted vertical (antinoise). The reason is that half-D1 is blurry enough to begin with, and using antinoise just makes it blurrier.

[MSlv]

I'll burn it to DVD+RW soon, to see the final quality. Q was set to 2, and from what I've seen on my PC monitor, it isn't too blurry, but at least there are no blocks.