movies or cup holders?

[juandela]

newbie stuff here.....

i have followed all of the steps and taken a couple of passes at converting (avi to mpeg...virtual dub and tmpgenc) and burning (vcdeasy) the same movie (gossford park - gotten from imesh).

no matter what settings i change or don't change i wind up with unwatchable crap and a sweet 16 pc (and growing) set of designer coasters. this leaves me with some basic qustions that i didn't easily find answers for in this forum.

1) is there really a way to make dvd quality (or near) vcd's or are all of you squinting through the same crap that i have burned?

2) am i doing something wrong?

the copies i have made are blurry, no detail, blocky filth.

i even took the four hours to encode HALF of the movie to mpeg2 and it came out as 1.38gb. after that i have become frustrated and quit. the bummer is that i have 8 killer movies on my hard drive and i am not sitting in this seat to view them all.

it would be cool if you guys told me that i accidentally have the "convert into crap" button selected..... somehow i doubt it.

thanks in advance to you kickass people who take the time to help out a confused newbie.

-jon

[pacmania_2001]

What is the source of the movie, like a dvd rip or is it recorded in the cinema? Because if the source file is crap quality than the VCD is going to be crap as well.

CRAP SOURCE ---> ENCODING ---> CRAP VCD

[juandela]

there is no encoded message to tell where it was recorded, is there?

-jon

[Trailryder]

Have you tried Kwags template? I't's all I been using, with modifications sometimes here and there, and I get pretty good VCDs.

[juandela]

how do i get/load kwag's template???

[juandela]

also, i take it if the movie is still in the theatre then the rip probably won't be as good as a movie that is out on dvd.

is that a correct assumption?

-jon

[juandela]

so, is this the same kwag template?

http://ns1.shidima.com/kwag/
(bottom of page)

is this THE kwag template?

[kwag]

so, is this the same kwag template?

http://ns1.shidima.com/kwag/
(bottom of page)

is this THE kwag template?

Yes juandela. That's the link

kwag

[juandela]

you say you are getting good vcd's......

even with new movies (out in the theatre) like panic room and such???

even when the source is obviously not a dvd rip???

[kwag]

you say you are getting good vcd's......

even with new movies (out in the theatre) like panic room and such???

even when the source is obviously not a dvd rip???

Hi juandela:

You'll get best results from DVD rips and from good AVI captures.

If you're transcoding from a DIVx movie, it better be an excelent quality.
If not, the results will show.

Like they say: Crap in, Crap out!.

kwag

[juandela]

i guess i have been stepping around this question and should have asked it long ago


what does one do to get new (in theatre) movies?

[Marbles_00]

To find out what codec your downloaded movies are using, just right click on the file and look under properties. Where it states "Details" will give you all you need to know.

If you are downloading the whole movie off the net in one AVI file, chances are it is in Divx format. This format is a highly compressed video format. When encoding to MPEG you are compressing an already compressed file type, this will result in a loss of quality.

Now you are looking for "in theater" movies. Though I'm not going to tell you what to look for, there are certain types that you should be aware of:

CAM: This is recorded by someone sitting in the cinima with a camcorder. You will pick up outside noises of the audience. The picture sucks. Not to mention that every once and a while you will see someones head appear.

Telesync: Is also recorded in the cimima, usually by better equipment, hence the picture and sound will be better.

Telecine: Done a number of ways, all from taking directly from the reel. Good quality both sound and video.

Screener: A Screener is usually recorded form a promotional video tape which is sent to censors and film critics. I have seen a DVD ripped screener of the Lord Of The Rings. If it had 5.1 audio, I wouldn't even purchase the DVD...the video quality was that good.

look at the following for more info:
http://www.vcdhelp.com/faq.htm#cam

Generally speeking, if you download a Divx off the internet, your best to make a simple VCD out of it. Realize that your not going to get the quality you hoped for, but it is something that is free, and allows bragging rights to your buddies. Making a DVD rip to SVCD is the closest your going to get to "near" DVD quality without spending the money on a DVD burner and media. It takes time to make a proper DVD/SVCD movie...I'm not going to lie, but it is so worth it in the end.

Hope this was helpful.

Marbles

[juandela]

thanks a ton, marbles

that was all stuff i didn't know.
i will look for those details before i d/l

one more question.... svcd uses mpeg2 format, correct?

if so, isn't the file huge and will require 4 or 5 discs?

thanks
jon

[juandela]

okay, i know i am a pain in the arse here....

now i do understand what "ts" and "scr" mean but i still don't see the details section under properties or any codec info for that matter.

[Marbles_00]

For your first repost:
Correct...SVCD utilizes a VBR (varible bit rate) MPEG2.

Yes it could get up to 4 discs. The Lord of the Rings was 4, but to me, that set a new standard of what I am now trying to achieve. In the earlier days of encoding I kept them down to three, but now realize, if I'm going to push the envelope of quality...it just plainly takes space. It all comes down to how high a bitrate you encode with (as well as a few other tweaks). The higher the bitrate, the larger the file, but better the quality. This still all depends though on the input file. If your input file is highly compressed or a "CAM" movie, which is low quality, you will never restore a "near" DVD image. So there are certain tradeoffs that we just have to accept. Dealing with size, back to your origional post..half the movie and the size is 1.3 GIGS...that is just about on-line. I'm currently doing a DVDRip using CladDVD/FLask/Avisynth/TMPEG/UleadDVD Factory for a SVCD. I'm at the point of cutting the MPEG2 file into segments and it is 2.23 GIGs in size (just under 4 discs with intros and chaptering). It is also a long process as the Flask/Avisynth/TMPEG process took around 32 hours. But from the test segments I have tried. The picture quality is near DVD. A good stab after a lengthy time away from being frustrated from trying to make the perfect Divx to SVCD convert, now realizing you will never get.

As for your second post. I'm assuming you are looking at some video file other than AVI? I looked at the properties of some MPEG (both type1 and type2) as well as an ASF and they didn't indicate anything other than the typical properties window. Sorry about that. I didn't realize. But the AVI's that I have all showed a Details tab. But if it is an MPEG file...well you know it is an MPEG...likewise and ASF file is just that a crap ASF (Microsoft shit). It seems that AVI with its multipe types of codecs showed show the details tab. Another way is to go to Start/Control Panel/Multimedia then click on the Devices tab. There you will see pulldowns for video compression codecs and there you will see the whole list of codecs installed on your machine. If you are downloading "theater" movies, make sure you have installed the Divx codec and the SMR codec for sure. And as I and other people have stated...stay away from the anglepotion codec...it leads to nothing but problems.

Hope this was helpful...sorry about the length.

Marbles

[kwag]

Hi Marbles:

Lord of the rings is a pretty dark movie, so it will compress pretty good. If you want to put it into 2 Xvcd's, download the template below and adjust the CQ to 80. You should be able to fit the whole 3 hours with room to spare.

kwag

[juandela]

you guys are teaching me tons.

if i may, i have a couple more questions.

what is:
(tmd)
(smr) and
pcm

??????

[kwag]

you guys are teaching me tons.

if i may, i have a couple more questions.

what is:
(tmd)
(smr) and
pcm

??????

PCM ( Pulse Code Modulation )
SMR ( A format, like mpeg, asf, realvideo, etc )

TMD ?? Could you be refering to TDM ( Time Division Multiplex ) ?.


kwag

[juandela]

should i look for/avoid any of those????

[juandela]

so i go to imesh for panic room (for instance).

there are many options: cam (avoid), ts, smr, tmd, pz, scr....

file size just over 100 to over 250mb for each half.

is it always a safe bet to d/l the biggest? highest bitrate??

[eatin sammiches for lunch]

TMD iz a shitty azz group that re-releases an original groups pre-release movie rip....


for people that didnt know bout prerelease vcds/svcds check out

www.vcdquality.com

check out the svcd section also for dvdrips

u cant download a prerelease from there but it has the nfo's and jpeg movie samples of the releases......


also dvdrip of movies still in the theatre iz VERY common..... i have many dvdrips of movies still not for sale to the public


if anyone wants to know how to get these releases i not gonna provide this info in this forum...cuzz of legality reasons for vcdhelp.com...but u can hit me up by email eatin_sammiches@yahoo.com
and i can send u in the right direction......56Ker's please dont respond cuzz vcd/svcd files are large