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  • Converting MJPEG to MPEG

    How do I convert MJPEG to MPEG? I have Adobe premiere and the Ulead software that came with the Rainbow Runner G Series. I don't really know how to use premiere or the ulead software. thanks

  • #2
    In Ulead MSPro when you go to "Creat Video" the saved filetype will be listed as *.avi by default.

    Change this to *.mpg by clicking on the arrow next to the filetype and you will get a set of MPEG-1 selections in the Options page.

    In MSPro5.x this will include MPEG-1 only. In MSPro6 this will include both MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 as provided by Ligos' GoMotion codec. Both will also support Windows Media and DivX MPEG-4 if installed.

    Premiere does not have built-in MPEG support. You have to obtain a plugin. It does, however, support Windows Media and DivX MPEG-4 if installed.

    IF you happen to have Avid Cinema (YECCH!!) you can purchase an MPEG-1/MPEG-2 plugin from Ligos for only $30 USD. Not a bad deal....

    Then there is the demoware bbMPEG package that includes a plugin for Premiere;

    http://members.home.net/beyeler/bbmpeg.html

    Dr. Mordrid


    [This message has been edited by DrMordrid (edited 12 April 2000).]

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    • #3
      I was just about to post this when the same question was raised so I hope noone minds me adding this too!

      I know this subject has been raised before but I must have read almost every posting there is to read over the last few days and I seem to be getting more & more confused! There is so much to learn!

      I use my G400-Marvel to capture and process MJPEG video at full frame 704*576, 25fps with the least compression level possible. I have to say that after editing in Mediastudio 5.0 (VE) the final output is of stunning quality when played back to my TV. This is fine for outputting to tape (which I want to continue to do) but the file sizes are much too big to put onto CD so I wish to convert to VCD compliant MPEG1.

      Using Mediastudio takes ages and to be honest the quality is very very poor. I have tried the LSX transcoder bundled with my G400 but when converting from the 704*576 MJPEG to 352*288 MPEG1 again the quality is very poor. From reading other posts it would appear that I should be able to produce very good MPEG1 files to almost VHS quality.

      My question is, what is the best process to convert from MJPEG avi's captured at 704*576 to VCD compliant MPEG1?

      Apologies for the length of this posting but I am very keen to learn more and everyone here seems so helpful to each other!

      Thanks very much

      Andrew

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      • #4
        The Panasonic Premiere plugin ($79.95) gives good results. There is a trial version available:
        http://www.networkserve.co.jp/mpeg/index_e.html

        ------------------
        Please visit http://spincycle.n3.net - My System: Celeron 300a(@450/2v),Abit BH6, 128mb RAM, Win98SE, Marvel G200TV, Diamond MX300, Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 20g system drive, DiamondMax Plus 40 capture drive, IBM 8g Deskstar program drive, Adaptec 2940UW SCSI, 9gb Barracuda UWSCSI video drive, Hitachi GD-2500 DVD-Rom, UltraPlex CD-Rom, Plexwriter CD-recorder, Viewsonic PT775, Soundworks 4.1 speakers
        Please visit http://spincycle.n3.net - My System: Celeron 300a(@450/2v),Abit BH6, 128mb RAM, Win98SE, Marvel G200TV, Diamond MX300, Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 20g system drive, DiamondMax Plus 40 capture drive, IBM 8g Deskstar program drive, Adaptec 2940UW SCSI, 9gb Barracuda UWSCSI video drive, Hitachi GD-2500 DVD-Rom, UltraPlex CD-Rom, Plexwriter CD-recorder, Viewsonic PT775, Soundworks 4.1 speakers

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        • #5
          don't forget that MPEG1 is actually one quarter of your captured screen ! This means that you lose 3/4 of your MJPEG information just by converting it to MPEG1. When you play back a MPEG-1 file "full screen", the screen must be enlarged at least 4 times, blowing up the already pixellated image.

          If you want to conserve image quality AND gain disk-space, you will have to use MPEG-2. Alas, there is NO magic formula for converting any AVI file to a MPEG-2 file. MPEG-2 is such an "open" standard that you can create virtually anything with it.

          My advise : switch to MPEG-2 and start experimenting with all of the settings to find those that please you most !

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          • #6
            IMHO the only excuse for MPEG1 and VCD format is the possibility of playback on stand alone DVD players.

            Until a reliable formula for putting MPEG2 onto a CD-R or CD-RW that is acceptable to stand alone DVD players is found, its largely a waste of time too, since if all you want is playback on a computer, MPEG2 is not very good as few "random" computers your audience might have can playback MPEG2 right now. Just about every "multimedia capable" computer can playback indeo or quicktime files from a CD-R.

            --wally.

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            • #7
              I have downloaded the Panasonic MPEG1 encoder and it actually produces pretty good results.

              It seems to produce much better quality than MS Pro and the LSX encoder bundled with my G400.

              wkulecz: What is the advantage of quicktime over MPEG1 then? I thought the whole point of MPEG1 was that most "multimedia" computers could play them..with standard DVD players being able to play them a bit of a bonus?

              Andrew

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              • #8
                For computer playback its hard to argue one encoding (codec) is better than another without considering file size, distribution method, and data rate. My statement about Quicktime or Indeo is based mostly on not having to buy a seperate MPEG1 encoder (like Panasonic) to produce it, given the generally poor quality of bundled MPEG1 encoders as mentioned at the start of this thread.

                My point of view is biased by the goal of trying to get a VHS tape alternative with VCD.

                I've not been happy with Panasonic, LSX, or anything else I've tried for VCD format MPEG1 when viewed full screen from MJPEG captures. I have not yet tried the MSP6 conversion proceedure I described above on a MJPEG source, so perhaps my objections have been overcome or I just got lucky with my short DV capture test clip this one time. Only further tests will tell.

                When viewed 352x240 on a computer monitor running 800x600 or greater the MPEG1 quality is generally acceptable from any of the encoders.

                I've seen lots of claims of "VHS quality" from VCD format MPEG1. I had never seen it until very recently, thus I was skeptical of it really being possible. Having seen it on a short clip I know it is possible, but all I can say from experience is that it is very difficult to actually produce.

                --wally.

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                • #9
                  Ligos also now do a Premiere plug-in for MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 creation. Bit expensive though....

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                  • #10
                    You can convert your MJPEG-avi's to 352x288 using the VirtualDub (excelent program!) and then convert it to VideoCD-MPEG1 using the Ligos encoder shipped with your Marvel. You needn't buy anything. The final quality is IMHO good.


                    [This message has been edited by Mike_wdf (edited 12 April 2000).]

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                    • #11
                      I've tried all the demo stand alone encoders and have been less than thrilled with the results whenever MJPEG is the source.

                      I've pretty much gotten equally poor results with DV firewire captures as the source. I'm coming to the conclusion the the compression loss on capture is probably the root of the problem for MPEG1 from MJPEG or DV sources.

                      I did finally blunder onto producing what is almost "VHS quality" VCD format MPEG1 from DV source in Media Studio Pro 6.0.

                      First enable the "advance" option in the setup dialog by adding Advance=1 to the Ulead32.ini file in the windows directory. The details were described here by Doc a while ago.

                      Fire up MSPro and get your source ready. Choose File->Create->Video. In the save options, choose mpeg, and under options you'll need to do the following:

                      1) under general set 352x240 and 29.97 or 25 depending if NTSC or PAL

                      2) under compression choose VCD and click apply or OK. Note the "advance" button is greyed out.

                      3) here is where it gets goofy. On the general tab choose MPEG1 and push advance.
                      Don't mess with the size, data rate, or audio settings or you not get VCD format! Under the MPEG1 tab check the "constrained parameters" box. Under Motion Vectors set: 20-very slow and change the I and P frame H&V values to 80 80 40 40 (I may have gone too far here but these worked much better than the defaults). Click apply or OK.

                      4) Finally once again choose VCD as the template on the compression tab. I said it was goofy, but if I don't do this the result of leaving it set to MPEG1 looks the same to me but the file doesn't play back correctly full screen in media player!

                      This took ~8 minutes to encode 1 minute of DV into VCD format MPEG1 on my P-III 500 with 256MB RAM. I have not yet verified it'll play on a stand alone DVD player, so we may not be there yet, but at least I finally got VCD data rate to be watchable quality when played back full screen encoded from DV source.

                      I haven't had time to repeat with MJPEG sources so I'd be interested if this recipe generally helps or was a fluke of good quality from my specific clip (although up to now I'd never got a decent full screen VCD format MPEG1 from it).

                      --wally.

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                      • #12
                        It seems that when converting from MJPEG good quality results are only achieved if the original capture is made with the least compression possible. You do not seem to notice much difference in the MPJEG captured avi at higher compression levels but you really notice it when you convert to MPEG1.

                        The Panasonic encoder seems to be able to convert from 704x576 MJPEG to VCD MPEG with acceptable quality and looks pretty good when played back to a TV. If you increase the data rate to about 1600k/bits sec (then not VCD comliant) the quality is much improved.

                        So from my hours (literally) of testing I have concluded that if you want to convert from MPJEG to MPEG1, the MJPEG needs to be captured with the least compression possible and the Panasonic encoder will make a good job of the conversion.

                        Andrew

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                        • #13
                          There's two important factors concerning making VCD compliant MPEG-1:

                          1. Resizing! Use VirtualDub's resize filter with the highest quality.

                          2. Noise! Any "noise" in the picture will lower the quality of the produced MPEG. Experiment with different noise-removal filters and see the difference! Try VitualDub again.

                          The main issue is to get the thing played on a standalone DVD-player. If not, use MPEG-2. I have one Philips 730 DVD that will play VCD compliant CDR only, and a AVPhile that will play xVCD (480x576 MPEG-1). Choosing the latter gives me better results but shorter playing time.

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                          • #14
                            I have tried using VirtualDub to resize the files using the highest quality filter but the resized video is not as good quality as if I do a MSPro "convert".

                            I think it may be something to with the interlacing and field order. When resizing to 352*288 does this mean the video is de-interlaced? Using VirtualDub the resultant picture quality seems less sharp.

                            If I just use the Panasonic encoder straight from 704*576 I think it can do clever things with de-interlacing and seems to keep a clearer picture.

                            Also, how do you define "noise"? The original captured MJPEG files look superb...

                            Andrew

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                            • #15
                              sportive,

                              Perhaps there is an NTSC vs. PAL issue here with the panasonic encoder or maybe you've a newer version, But I get some pretty horrid artifacts with the pana encoder on MJPEG sources. I've only done MJPEG captures at highest quality and data rate with the slider set from "speed" to "quality" in the capture dialog. I can find short 10-20 second segments where it is very good indeed, but there is an ongoing "pulsating" in the background that make it un-watchable for most anyting over about 30 seconds or so.

                              --wally.

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