Problem making SVCDs

[snuffi]

Hi there!

Sorry for the dumb question I tried to solve my problem with guides on this site but it didn't work.

I've been making VCDs for a while and got excellent results with pinoy's TMPGEnc Templates. Now I bought a Daewoo DVD, so I figured I could do SVCDs now for better quality (it reads VCD and SVCD - the VCDs I already have work fine). When I used the regular SVCD-PAL-Template in TMGEnc for the first time, everything worked fine, I got excellent quality but the size of the file was horrendous (nearly 400MB for 24 mins).

I have since read every guide and downloaded all the templates from this and other sites but all I ever get is a pictures which mostly looks like it's scrambled. Multicoloured blocks cover most of the screen, especially when there is motion (if the picture is nearly still there are only a few blocks).

My question: Is there some template like pinoy's for VCD but for SVCD (made about 20 different versions of a movie with all the different options in TMPEnc - CBR, VBR, CQ, ... - but all with the same result)? I tried Kingvipers's template but didn't work for me.
Or is there anything else I'm doing wrong? Strangely enough all the VCDs I made all worked fine...

I am using TMPGEnc 2.54, VCDEasy 1.0.7 (w VCDImager 0.7.12) and Fireburner.

Thanks for your help

[kitty]

Are you trying to get good quality at low file size? It won't happen.

A SVCD will only hold so much at a decent bit rate. If you try to lower the bit rate to make more room it looks very bad.

Look on the site - it says somewhere you only get 35-40 mins of "normal" (2520 KBS) video on a SVCD. Variable bit rate helps but if you have fast motion you'll not want too low a bit rate.

[snuffi]

I realize that the quality will suffer but the result I get is unwatchable. There are so many colourful blocks that I can't see the picture. And the file size isn't even that small: instead of 400 MB I reduced it to everything between 200 and 400, all with the same result. Even the files which are just a few MBs smaller are beyond recognition.

I also (just finished) tried to do CBR at 1500 (that's the same as VCD, right?) and still I get the same "Mondrian" picture where I can't even see what's going on on the screen. My VCD plays ok, though.

So I figured there's probably something wrong with the settings but I'm pretty much stuck...

[energy80s]

Try a CVD setting!

Load the SVCD template, unlock it and set the picture size to 352 x 576 (480), the bitrate to CBR at 2496, audio bitrate at 224 and audio sample rate at 48k. Save this as a CVD template. Try an encode with this using the "high" quality motion estimation setting. You will be limited to 40 minutes per disc (which takes about an hour and 40 minutes to encode on my 1600XP PC), but the picture will be better quality than SVCD and more compatible with standalone DVD players. SVCD is an oddball standard that most DVD players don't like. CVD on the other hand is "half DVD resolution" or D2 as its sometimes called. This is playable on nearly every DVD player on the market. Give it a go, you'll be pleasently surprised.

[brock4111]

Try dragging the movie file into Nero, with SVCD selected. It will encode it for you, although the audio will probably be out of synch. I am thinking that your DVD player doesn't ACTUALLY support SVCD. Also, if you are converting VCD to SVCD, you won't actually improve the quality. You have to be encoding from the source to have an appreciable difference. Try taking your SVCD to Circuit City, and play it on an APEX DVD player. I bet it will work on the APEX.