Newbie here, questions about encoding

[Elemental Crisis]

Hello everyone, I just recently picked up a Philips DVP5960 becuase of its ability to play divx files. I tried one of my burned fansub anime dvds (Burned with Nero 6 Ultra Edition) and because of overscaning some of the picture was cut off making it hard to read the subs. After coming here and reading I got 3 programs FitCD, AVISynth and TMPGenc I used this guide for FitCD https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1487285#1487285 and once down used the file made with FitCD and AVISynth to encode my anime episode with TMPGenc, after about an 1 hour 1/2 my 24 min episode was encoded with a new file size of 240 MB (Original 173 MB) I also tried WinAVI and the speed with much faster (Took 25 min) but the file size was huge (650MB) thought it did look much better on action scenes. When I was playing my new avi file made with TMPGenc most of the overscanning was fixed excpet for some on the left side. Anyway heres some questions I have.

1. I've heard TMPGenc is the best but it takes forever, is there anyway to make it faster or is there a better program?

2. For WinAVI is there anyway to reduce the file size so its around 200-250 MB?

3. Whats a good program for making menus? and once made how would I implament them on a dvd?

4. I've heard HDTV dont have an overscan problem, is this true? If not what TV's dont have overscan problems.

5. I read somewhere thats its best to encode fansub anime at 16:9, is this true?

Sorry for all the questions, im really new at all this and just want to be able to watch my fansub anime on my tv. As said im new at this so any help in the right direction or tutorials would be great!

Thanks!!

[guns1inger]

1. If you want mpeg2, the CCE basic or ProCoder Express are both much faster. If you just want to re-encode as Divx then virtualdub and the appropriate codecs are all you need. Both of the methods you talk about in your post are aimed at converting to DVD while fixing the overscan issues. You could just use the resize filter in virtualdub to create borders, re-encode as Xvid, and you're done. Much simpler and faster. You also need to realise that there is no correlation between mpeg4 file size and mepg2 file size. Closest numbers generally put the conversion at a 3 - 4 fold increase to maintai quality.

2. There is no good use for WinAVI except, perhaps, using up excess HDD space.

3. Tmpgenc DVD Author is simple and good for quick work or beginners. DVD Workshop 2 or DVD Lab Pro for more complex work.

4. All TVs have an overscan area to some degree. Some flat panel TVs have very small areas, some have larger ones. Just like CRTs. PC monitors and some projectors do not have overscan areas. As all TV is shot knowing that overscan exists, you don't lose anything by it being there. If only fan-subbers understood how it works.

5. A large proportion of anime is 4:3. When you encode it 16:9 you get a pillarboxed image. On a 4:3 TV this will look like a postage stamp in the centre of the screen. You won't have overscan issues, but it will be very small. On a 16:9 TV you will still have overscan issues. The best solution is to resize with a border.

You bought a Divx capable player so you could watch Divx encoded movies. You can only have menus if you convert to DVD (OK, Divx Ultra aloows for menus on Divx films, but only on a per film basis, not to select from multiple films). You need to decide which way you want to go, before you can determine the best method to get there.

[Elemental Crisis]

Well my old DVD player died so when I went to buy a new one I saw it and picked it up.

Thanks for the reccomendations, i'll try it out. Also about the menus and stuff its just something i've always wanted to know how to do.

[Elemental Crisis]

Well I Just got VirtualDub, any suggestions on what to do like filter wise or something?

[guns1inger]

I use virtualdubmod, so these may not be exactly the same as your, but they will give you the gist.

File -> File Info - Note the resolution of the video
Video -> Full Processing Mode
Video -> Add Filter (or Filters)
Click on Add and select Resize

Set the top part of the filter to be the same as the video's current resolution so we don't resize the actual video. Tick Expand Frame and Letterbox. Enter numbers that are 40 pixels larger than the original. This will add a 20 pixel border all the way around the image. Confirm this with the preview button.

Click OK back to the main vdub window.
File Save As . . . choose a codec, set the bitrate and encode. I don't know if you can use Normal or Fast recompress after you have added the borders. Something for you to play with.

[Elemental Crisis]

Thanks, should I mess around with compression or leave it blank?

Edit: When leaving it blank it projected a file size of 4 gb so instead I used the XVid one, is that a good one?

[guns1inger]

Compression is where you set your codec. If you don't set one, you will get uncompressed video, which takes up huge amounts of disc space. I suggest you set it to Xvid at a slightly higher bitrate than the original to account for the extra pixels.

[Elemental Crisis]

lol, thanks!

I have it set on full process mode, whats the difference between the other options?

[guns1inger]

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/archive/t145121.html

The basic rule seems to be if you use a virtualdub filter, you have to use Full Processing Mode because of the colour space shifts. If you are just re-encoding from one format to another, Fast Recompress is the better method as it prserves the original colour space.

[Elemental Crisis]

well the format it was orig. encoded with was XVid so re-encoding it with xvid can I use Fast Recompress.

Also after doing the file with Fast Recompress and XVid Compression the file size was reduced from 175 MB to 126 MB.

Now time to test it out on my tv.

Edit: Checked it, it does look a tad better but I need to increase resize filter for more then 40 pixel increase, maybe 80 or 100.

[guns1inger]

Just becareful. You probably can't go greater than 720 pixels wide, so if you need borders that big (and I can see how you could, frankly), you will have to shrink the actual image down instead. Try 64 as the next border increase - 32 pixels all round.

Just remember, overscan varies from TV to TV. What you don't see on yours, you may well see on another. This includes the border.

[jagabo]

VirtualDub processing modes:

Direct Stream Copy: copies the video from the input to the output without decompressing it or changing it in any way (except re-multiplexing with the audio). Use this if you are just re-multiplexing the audio and video, or are converting just the audio.

Fast Recompress: Decompresses the video but leaves it in the decoders native colorspace, usually YV12 or YUY2. Use this for fastest and best quality (in theory) video conversion. No filtering is allowed.

Normal Recompress: Decompress the incoming video and convert it to RGB but no filtering allowed. About the only time you would need to do this is when you are saving with a codec that only understands RGB.

Full Processing: Decompress the incoming video and convert it to RGB and allow filtering. Use this if you need to perform any filtering, including resizing, cropping, etc.

Oh, and one hint for speeding up TMPEnc: Don't use Motion Search Precision higher than Normal. The higher settings take much longer to encode but deliver very little more quality. Even Motion Estimate Search is pretty good in most cases.