TMPGEnc settings for DV to XSVCD???

[colbeck]

Hi:

I, like many people posting here, am trying to get good quality conversion (on a standalone player) from DV. My Toshiba SD5500 does not support SVCD but seems to support XSCVCD (720 x 480, MPEG2) and standard VCD. (The DVD player is progressive but I do not have a progressive TV at the moment.) I have not yet been able to get decent quality conversion (noisy or blocky) and sometimes the settings I use result in choppy video, choppy audio, pitch-changed audio, or incorrect video playback speed. I am using typically CBR with 3000-5000 Kb/s bitrates, at high or highest quality Motion Estimation. I do not think the issue is an inability for the DVD player to keep up with bit-rates, as I have sometimes stumbled (with some combination of settings) across reasonably decent video at high bit-rates. I use Ulead to capture the DV via firewire, TMPGEnc to convert, and Nero to burn. Some questions regarding TMPGEnc:

1) Should I be using interlace or non-interlace as the Video Encode mode?
2) Ditto question (interlace or progressive)for Video Source Type under Advanced tab?
3) What Audio sample rate and bit rate should I use.
4) Why does TMPGEnc not seem to reset all the settings when I load in new templates? I find that some settings hang over (such as filters) when I load in a new template. I am using version 2.00 (core is v1.7. This is making it difficult for me to have a decent record of my templates used for experiments.
4) Any other hints on settings to use for good conversion. My objective is high quality as opposed to high compression rates.

Thanks, ..Roger

rcolbeck@magma.ca

[chowder]

First, it doesn't make sense to me that your standalone will accept non-standard SVCD (XSVCD), but not SVCD.
Let's assume your DV cam has a high density ccd and records NTSC. Then, for (2) you need interlace, BFF, 4:3 NTSC. For (1) you probably also want interlace, unless you are sure you will only present on a progressive endpoint AND are willing to lose horizontal lines. For (4a) I recommend screen-capturing your settings to catalog them. As I experiment a lot, I don't depend on it's ability to remember settings for much. For (3) and (4b), I use default audio (mpeg-1 layer ii, 44.1khz, stereo, 224kbits/s), CQ_VBR 60/2500/300, high Q motion.

[colbeck]

Thanks for the tips.

Ok, I just did some more experiments:

720x480, MPEG2, 5Mb/s worked fine for the first 20sec of video, and then after that the audio started going haywire. Wierd!

I tried 480x480, MPEG2 (SVCD) again and you are correct it does work after all! (Maybe I had previously unsuccessfully tried 480x480, MPEG1.) SVCD seemed to give the best quality of all my attempts (better than 720x480). I used CBR 5Mb/s, interlace encode, progressive source, 9b, High Q, BFF, 4:3 NTSC, Sharpen Edge (-80,-80), default audio (mpeg-1 layer ii, 44.1khz, stereo, 224kbits/s). I'll do some experiments with VBR later to see if I can improve it further.

What difference should interlace (your suggestion) vs progressive source make?

..Roger

[chowder]

You seem more in the realm of XSVCD at CBR 5Mbit. Testing will tell if your standalone will accept that bitrate.
For you to stick with progressive source tells me your DVcam has progressive scan. If you are uncertain, encode both ways; you'll be able to see the difference. Here's more about interlacing: http://www.geocities.com/lukesvideo/interlacing.html.

I have a question: I assume you have encoded a clip with and without the Sharpen Edge. Do you really find a benefit? If so, under what conditions (motion, daylight, etc). Thanks.

[colbeck]

I guess I don't quite understand the X(S)VCD terminology. However, I thought that XSVCD referred more to the fact that it was 720x480 (as opposed to 480x480) MPEG2 than the bit-rate used. I need to re-read the notes on this site!

The bit-rate seems find on my standalone (as long as I use CDR not CDRW).

I'll check out the link you sent. Thx.

I have not done a lot of experimenting with sharpen edge on and off, but the little I did seemed to improve my movie. I actually have "de-sharpened" using -80,-80. I found it softened the video a bit and seemed to make the edge noise less visible (less grainy). I was using an outdoor natural light clip just of my kids playing in the driveway and of a bbq/swim day. The original is very crisp in native DV format. The latest compressed version is pretty good, with very few compression artifacts visible to me. However, it is not as sharp an image.

The effect of the sharpen edge is shown in the TMPGEnc filter preview screen, but then you probably know this already.

..Roger