TMPGenc experts needed 2 answer my questions

[oxide]

1. is there a major difference between the normal and high setting (on video tab) when creating an mpeg1. cause my computer isn't that fast. would it be better for me use normal or higher?

2.i never have made a svcd, i was wandering if this is any good compared to vcd ? if the quality of the source file is not too good, there's no way of improving the quality, right? (just making sure)

3.how long would an athlon 1ghz would take 2 convert avi file 2 mpeg1 with the default templates (NTSC VCD) cause i might be getting one.

sorry about the length of this message or if the questions are stupid.
thanx

[hitechjunkie]

don't worry - the length of your message/query is actually on the short side...

[Vejita-sama]

My answer is longer than the question. I'm also a newbie (been doing this a few months).

1) Yes, setting motion search to high makes a difference, however, setting it to highest doesn't seem to do that much.

2) SVCD should be of higher quaility then VCD (480x480 MPEG2 vs. 352x240 MPEG1) but this isn't always the cause For a low quaility source I think VCD (ie. lower resolution) comes out better (others disagree). You can't improce the quaility of the source.
You can also make a xVCD/xSVCD with a non-standard bitrate (higher or lower) and encode with 2pass VBR. As the name states 2pass VBR doubles the encode time but it does (IMHO) make a better MPEG file.
Your best bet is to make several 2-3min clips of the same video at/with different setttings and what YOU THINK looks best. Everyone is a little different. You'll see lots of posts say VCD looks like crap compared to my DVD. Well no s&it At best VCD will give you VHS quaility. I make VCD/SVCD that are 'more than watchable.' I don't like to switching discs and will let the bitrate drop down to 1000. If you don't mind switch disc you can encode everything at 3,000kps

3) A few points. A 74min CDR will hold 740MB of MPEG1 data. A 80min CDR will hold 800MB of MPEG1 data. The VCD standard is 1min=10MB. The size of the source file DOES NOT MATTER. The resulting MPEG1 file will be 1min=10MB. I have a Tbird 1.2Ghz and with the standard VCD template it takes me ~1.3x the runtime for DVD rips (w/ the Vdub smart resize and VobSub filters running). If I encode xVCD, 2pass VBR min=0 ave=1800 max=2500, motion search high, it's ~2.5x the runtime, IIRC.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Vejita-sama on 2001-07-24 11:57:08 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Vejita-sama on 2001-07-24 12:00:59 ]</font>

[ktnwin]

Vejita-sama,

how do you get your encoding to run at 1.3X on your T-bird 1.2GHz. I have exactly the same one with 256MB RAM, UDMA-100 HDD and it took me 2.25X. I simply use the Sefy method (Smartripper -> DVD2AVI ->TMPGEnc with standard NTSC-VCD template).

Can you elaborate on "Vdub smart resize and VobSub filters"

Any trick to speed up the encoding process is greatly appreciated.

[Vejita-sama]

Well those numbers were from the top of my head. To answer your second question. I mostly rip Anime (Japanese Animation) DVDs. I then make VCDs with Japanese audio and English subtitles. So it's:

SmartRipper -> DVD2AVI -> Virtual dub
In virtual dub I resize the film from 720x480 to 352x240 (and clip and black around the edges) and then is the VobSub filter to add subtitles. I then frameserve to TMPGenc.

OK, so I just ripped a 60min DVD and tried to encode the d2v and wav file, and it took 1:50. But then I tried it with VBR and it took 1:25. So that's a big difference. I think maybe because there's 'so little movement' the vbr decreases the encode time???

This is for motion search set to normal and detect scence changes off.