TMPGEnc - Best Results With 23.976?

[bigb_y2g]

I am stumped and so I now ask the experts. I followed this guide to convert DivX to DVD https://www.videohelp.com/guides.php?guideid=447&howtoselect=4;10#447 but I'm still not getting good results.

Using TMPGEnc, I converted a DivX encoded movie that was split into two files to MPEG-2. The AVIs have a bitrate of 23.976 fps and I would like to playback the movie on a NTSC system. The DVDRHelp Bitrate calculator suggested that I use a bitrate of 4699 for both parts of the movie. I can't join the movies before conversion because there are sub and idx files for subtitles for both parts of the movie.

The problem is that after I author the DVD, I have a small pause during playback (jitter). Should I be using "Film Movie" as the video source format? Using 3:2 Pulldown? Constant Bitrate?

I know others have had problems with this framerate. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[adam]

For a 23.976fps divx source... First I'd recommend loading the NTSC DVD template and then loading the unlock template so that you can make changes to it.

On the advanced tab your video source type should be non-interlace (progressive). Field order makes no difference. Source aspect ratio should be 1:1(VGA). For video arrange method just leave it at full screen (keep aspect ratio.)

On the video tab you should choose a DVD compliant resolution which is closest to that of your source. You can find the resolution of your source using virtualdub. Load the avi and hit file/file information.

Compliant DVD resolutions are (NTSC):
720x480
704x480
352x480
352x240

You will most likely have to use an aspect ratio of 4:3. Framerate should be set to 23.976fps. Rate control mode is up to you. I prefer 2-pass VBR with min of 0, max of maybe around 9Mbits and I calculate the avg to totally fill my blank disk. Of course this might be overkill for a divx source. Just experiment. Encode mode should be set to 3:2 pulldown when playback. For DC precision, use 8 for bitrates up to maybe 4Mbits. Between 4 and ~7.5-8mbits use 9 and for anything higher use 10. For motion search precision the higher the better, but it takes much longer to encode. I recommend Normal or high quality (slow.)

If you were just using the default NTSC DVD template than it converted your 23.976fps source to 29.97fps by just repeating random frames. This will always cause noticable jerkyness. If you instead use the 3:2 pulldown when playback option then the dvd player will convert it to 29.97fps instead by performing a proper telecine. This gives you the NTSC required framerate of 29.97fps but without the jerkiness or loss of quality that you get by actually physically encoding the file to 29.97fps.

[bigb_y2g]

Thanks adam. I'll give this a try when I get home.