Is it possible to improve video quality while encoding?
I have a cheapo HD camcorder that gives me MOI and TOD files. When I copy videos from the camcorder I use Handbrake to encode them into MP4. Upon playback of the TOD or MP4 file you can see what looks like interlacing artefacts. That is when ever there is fast motion you can see lines of previous frames mixed with lines of the current frame.
Is there a way to improve the video quality while encoding? What applications allow you to do this? I am using Fedora 11.
From what you said:
When I copy videos from the camcorder I use Handbrake to encode them into MP4. Upon playback of the TOD or MP4 file you can see what looks like interlacing artefacts.
I take from this that your "cheapo" camera records interlaced. There are two quick solutions for this:
- Encode the video files as interlaced (less preferred if your target is a progressive screen)
- Deinterlace the source (preferred for progressive screens - e.g. modern TVs, computer monitors)
For a quick guide to deinterlacing with Handbrake, check out this guide. An alternative to deinterlacing would be decombing, which is discussed in depth here.
What you are seeing is an interlaced video (made for TV viewing) shown on a non-interlaced device (your computer monitor).
Video recorded for television viewing (most standard video cameras) is going to be interlaced; that is, each frame only contains every other line of video. One frame contains the odd lines, the next frame contains the even lines. That is how all standard TV video is recorded.
Computer monitors use progressive scan. Every line of video (both odd and even lines) is drawn in every frame. That is why you can see the interlaced signal (missing lines) when you view the video on your computer.
If you were to burn that video to a DVD and watch it on your TV, it would look perfectly normal. I am not familiar with Fedora but, if you want to view the video on your computer, you should be able to set the video encoding to "progressive scan" in the video profile. That will fill in each line of video on every frame so it will look normal on your computer.