OK, here are the facts: 1. Compaq Celeron 733mhz w/ 128 ram. Not sure of the HD speed 2. USB DazzleDVC 3. Adaptec 4 Deluxe Easy CD Creator 4. CD-RW media is Memorex Platinum 650 mb 74min 5. Played on Sony DVP-S360 DVD player

Now the problem: Everything works OK. I was able to burn the VCD and watch it on my DVD. The video capture and sound were great when I viewed it on my computer, however, after burning the disc and playing it in my DVD it looked like a badly jpged movie. I'm a newbie to this all and was wondering how I can improve the quality of my final VCD? Do I have the right computer and/or capture device. If no, recomendations would be appreciated but I would like to maximize the qaulity of what I already own first.

Thanks in advance...

-- Leon Roszyk (LDR22@aol.com), February 25, 2001

Answers

Sounds like the typical Video Cd it is probably not a problem with your computer or capture device. I have spent over two years trying to get better results. The only thing you can do if you want to stay in the Video CD format is to use a higher encoder rate which results in a non-compliant mpeg-1 file. It will only be acceptable by a few software packages such as NTI or Nero. Adaptec's EZ CD Creator will not accept the file. I have tried this and still prefer to use the standard video cd compliant mpeg files. I have been encoding episodes of Seinfeld and the result has not been that bad. There will always be blockiness on the scenes with a lot of motion and it is more noticeable on the larger picture screens

-- Al (amccraw@yahoo.com), February 25, 2001.

if your using the dazzle the key to get good looking video cds is you have to change the template to "movie quality" and change the bitrate to 2900(or however many zeros) and then use an encoder(such as tmpg) and encode down to the vcd rate and your pic will look a 1000 times better. I have a feeling your using the "vcd template" so that whatever you capture you are able to burn immeditely, and the result of that is a very horrible looking picture. Unfortunetly Dazzle fails to mention that when you buy their product

-- Doug (mazinz@aol.com), February 25, 2001.