Why do SW DVD screencaps look so bad?

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Can someone explain why screencaps of the SW:SE DVD looks so bad at 1920x1080? Is it because of the low resolution of DVDs? If so why doesn't it look that bad on a 65" TV? Some of the screenshots look great, but others almost look out of focus. Guess I'll have to wait and get the Bluray versions.

 

[Wes R]

It's the polish coming off the turd addons lol. I've noticed that some other films do the same thing. it's like the effects and such are stuck between frames.

 

[Jedi2016]

In general, it's mostly a problem with stills, probably due to the compression on the disc or the method used to capture them. They tend to look better in motion, if a bit soft and lacking detail.

Oddly enough, I've yet to actually watch a DVD on my new TV, and I've had the thing for almost six months. It's been all HD content so far.

 

[robn1]

Quality will vary a lot from one frame to another. Motion blur in some frames, digital artifacts in others. You have to step frame by frame to find a good one, then cap it.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Yeah that's what I'm doing. I just thought maybe it was because of the DVD res. Sometimes the screen you pause on looks good, but looks like crap once you cap it. So far it seems like anything showing characters farther away from the camera ends up with their faces being a pixelated mess.

 

[msleeper]

DVD is also not a 1080p native format so that's part of the problem too. Try capturing it at the native resolution and see if that helps.

 

[robn1]

What software are you using? I find that Media Player Classic does the best job, the cap looks just like the video frame.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Power DVD 7. I'm using them for wallpaper mainly. 50% look great and 50% look blurry. So I think I'll get a Bluray drive for my PC.

 

[Treadwell]

I was going to say it sounds like you need to deinterlace the captures, but aren't all the SW DVDs progressive?

edit: I meant deinterlace

 

[robn1]

PowerDVD has settings to adjust caps. I haven't looked at it in ages, but it has something to do with fields. It allows a capped frame to be one field or two (two being what you want). Basically deinterlacing the frame as it's capped.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

My version only has options for capture size/ratio. I'll have to download the newest version and try it.

I didn't really have a problem with the SE movies (other than garbage chute scream, Luke ESB falling scream, and Jabba dance thing), but I noticed the matting around the TIE Fighters when they attack the Falcon leaving the Death Star. I would have much rather had them fix that than the stupid Jabba dance number!

 

[John Hart]

You also have to worry about the grain from the original film.