When it comes to video compression, there are several options available in VirtualDub 2, but one option that often raises questions is Convert to YUY. Many users believe that this mode offers a 'lossless' conversion, but I'm not convinced.

In my experience, Convert to YUY produces a file that is significantly smaller than the original, about half the size in fact. However, it seems that this compression comes at the cost of some quality loss from the very first capture and encode. This is in contrast to other compression options available in VirtualDub 2, such as predict left, predict median, and so on.

To test the effectiveness of Convert to YUY, I conducted a series of re-encodes using the predict left/predict left option, stopping at eight re-encodes because it became clear that there was no discernible loss. However, when I used the Convert to YUY option, I noticed a slight quality loss with each additional encode, with the chroma moving one pixel to the left.

To further investigate this phenomenon, I encoded the resulting file and loaded it back into VirtualDub 2, changing the caption to 'copy02' so that I could keep track of the different versions. I then loaded the new file into Sony Vegas and added a caption 'copy01,' which forced the software to re-encode rather than simply saving the file without recompression.

In conclusion, while Convert to YUY may offer some benefits in terms of file size reduction, it is clear that this option comes at the cost of some quality loss. For those who value high-quality video output, it may be worth exploring other compression options available in VirtualDub 2, such as HuffyUV, which I have been using for years and highly recommend.

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