need some advice on video bitrates

[z68h]

hi all, this might be a long post so please bear with me.

i have downloaded nearly all of the Sopranos episodes in DiVX and i am getting ready to convert them to VCD. the average lenght of an episode is around 55 or 60min. i have decided that to preserve the quality i would only put one episode per cd. now, here are my questions:

1. if i change the bitrate to a non-standard rate, then it becomes an XVCD, right?

2. if i use the SVCD calculator (in the tools section) will it still work proplerly if i choose XVCD in the drop down menu? i can't make SVCD's because my DVD player won't play them, but it will play VCD and XVCD.

3. would it make sense to use a constant bitrate for each episode i encode? or will the quality solely depend of the source (DiVX)

4. if i use the bitrate calcualtor and enter the time, it is better to enter a time longer than the clip or shorter (ie: if i only want to calculate 1 bit rate for all conversions, then should i enter say 60min for the lenght even though no one episode will be that long? but where some episodes are 55min and some are 50 min). did that make sense?

anything else you would recommend? I would appreciate any advice at all.

i have TMPGEnc 12f and 12a and i burn with Nero.

thanks!!

-Mark

[EricB]

You want to make an xVCD. Use the online bitrate calculator in Tools and enter your target time for 1 VCD. The resulting bitrate is the maximum that you can use and fit the file on one disk. Check your DVD player specs in the listings here to make sure that you don't encode at a rate that is higher than the player can support.

[z68h]

bump...

would like to get some more input as to the best way to approach this.

thanks

[dumwaldo]

1> yes

2> yes

3> yes constant bitrate

4> yes

"anything else you would recommend? I would appreciate any advice at all."
yes do not expect miracles for a 600 Kb/sec DivX @ 352x240 or 320x240. if your DivX file is around 250 meg then the bitrate is rater low to use as a source, save your time and effort and just make a standard VCD and deal with the blocks. if you have 400 meg plus DVD rips with bitrates in the 900+ range and 640x480 resolution then it will be worthwhile to spend the effort to make a nice looking VCD.

"would like to get some more input as to the best way to approach this."
go get TMPGEnc, follow the guide on this site and just do it. if you fail or dont like the results search the forum for specific issues and read some of the past posts, they have tons of knowledge in them and then try again armed with your new knowledge. there is nothing wrong with burning a coaster as long as you learn something from it so try and if you dont succeed try again.