Do the following factors matter in the final quality of a VCD (particularly in reducing the pixelated look)? Can anyone rate them (lets say 0 to 10) on what matters most?

1. CPU speed 2. RAM 3. cache rate (does it matter to have 256kb vs 1mb cache?) 4. Video source (DV versus analog) 5. Capture device (DV capture via IEEE 1394 interface vs. analog capture) 6. Hard disk size 7. Use of storage media like (MEDEA Video Raid for example) 8. Speed of CD writer 9. CD-R brand (and even color of under-side)

Do you have other factors?

-- ian cruz (cruzi@delmonte-phil.com), April 04, 2001

Answers

The biggest factor is something you didn't mention: the abilities of your MPEG encoder. All other things being equal, for example, TMPGenc produces much better (read: no or very little blockiness) MPEGs than, say, Xing. The factors you've mentioned all affect largely the encoding speed, not quality. In general, you can't have both. You choose speed or quality. In TMPGenc there are options for this: you choose fast encoding for wretched-looking MPEGs, or super slow encoding for high-quality MPEGs.

-- Mehmet Tekdemir (turk690@yahoo.com), April 05, 2001.