Videora vs. DVD

[ACraigL]

I have a 42" plasma HDTV. I also have lots of AVIs that are in 16:9 aspect. I've used Videora TiVo Converter, which works well enough, but there is considerable artifacting (particulary with dark, or black scenes) when played back on my TiVo through the HDTV.

By contrast, anything I burn to DVD, and playback has much better picture quality, but is obviously less convenient, overall.

I've tried various settings in Videora (up to 8MB/s), but there is only minor improvement and ridiculously long transfer times since the file sizes balloon so.

Any ideas why I'm seeing such a difference with the DVD over file conversion? Both are being converted... is it just the component hook-ups? Something else I can try to improve it?

[ACraigL]

Bump ;)

[greg_burns]

Have you considered modding an XBOX and running XBMC? Especially, if you do this a lot.

[ACraigL]

No xBox :(

[Dan203]

Could be that the input your DVD player is connected to is better calibrated then the one your TiVo is connected to.

The easiest way to know would be to take one of the DVDs you've made and load it up in DVD Decrypter. In IFO mode extract the main video to a single VOB file. Now simply rename the .vob to .mpg and try transferring that to your TiVo. If it looks the same as the original DVD then you'll know it's the encoder your DVD program is using, but if it looks different then it's probably a calibration problem with your TiVo input.

Dan

[Stu_Bee]

What software are you using to Burn the avi to DVD? I'm assuming you aren't saying that the same MPG you get from videora you are then burning to DVD.

If you are using a different software program to convert/burn from avi to dvd, does it have the option to output the DVD to a file instead of burning? Then rename that .vob file to mpg and put in your PC tivo directory. Does it look similar on playback now?

I think you are just running into the size vs quality issue, that happens when converting avi to mpg. 'course it would be great if Tivo could playback unconverted mpg4/avi files...but it can't. Some think the Series 3's will be able to do this.

Edit: Darn it Dan! I type too slow.

[ACraigL]

Hi Dan203,

Worth checking, that's for sure. Maybe it's just the limited range (compared with component) of S-Video. I'll try a few tests and report back... I know I hate seeing the artifacts, though.

[petew]

ACraigL,
Stu_bee asked What software are you using to Burn the avi to DVD? This is the key question. Or are you using a DVD player that plays DivX?

[ACraigL]

Using Nero Video Express (v 2?). Standard DVD format applies -- not DiVX capable. I will try 2 things based on the suggestions from this thread:

1. Rip a "good" DVD and see how it looks when transferred to TiVo.
2. Export the MPEG from Nero using the same characteristics I'm using for Videora.

Anything else worth looking at?

[Dan203]

Sounds like a good plan to me. :)

Let us know the results.

Dan

[petew]

Agreed,

Nero is for profit software while Videora is built on top of freeware libraries, so the resources applied to the Nero transcoding software are probably much greater and it sounds like the results might be better.