Pioneer DV-440 playing sample XSVCD

[Lightman]

My Pioneer DV-440 plays the XSVCD sample(from this site), but the video is jerky at parts. Other SVCD's I've made with TMPGEnc are also jerky. Can't seem to get them to play smoothly in the DVD player. They look fine of software players such as WinDVD and Media Player. I'm wondering if my DVD players maybe has a hardware problem. Anyone out there with this DVD player experiencing the same thing ? If not, then I'm going to assume I have a faulty DVD players.

Thanks!
Lightman

[Lightman]

Please, anyone with this model of DVD player(Pioneer DV-440) experiencing this problem ?

[House de Kris]

I have a DV-440 and it took a long time for me to discover what max bitrate it would handle with ease. My final results were a max 2350 for combined audio and video. This then results in 2158 for video and 192 for audio. I'm guessing, your sample XSVCD file has bitrates in excess of this. Most likely, the sample is a VBR file and only during the high bitrate times is when you experience the jerky performance.

[Lightman]

Kris,

That's interesting. I would have thought maybe I didn't have enough bitrate, but what you are saying is the opposite of what I was thinking.

The sample I was using was from this site. I've also tried many SVCD burns. The standard templates for SVCD in TMPGenc is what I've been using. Nero never complains of the format I'm giving it.

With the bitrates you are using, do you see a lot of pixelation ?

[bbb]

I use max video bitrate 2450 (tmpgenc standard of 2520 is too high for the Pioneer 440) and audio bitrate 160 (224 sometimes stutter, haven't tested 192 yet).

With CBR, use 2450 and 160 for no problems.

With VBR (e.g., 2 pass VBR, CQ), still use 2450 as the max and 160 for the audio. However, be sure to use a minimum bitrate of 900 padded. Otherwise, you will see wierd random blocks in low motion scenes. Evidently, the Pioneer 440 doesn't like it when the bitrate drops too low.

[House de Kris]

Lightman asked:

"With the bitrates you are using, do you see a lot of pixelation ?"

It's not too bad actually. But, my sample size so far has only been a couple TV shows that I captured from VHS tape. Also, I've been making CVDs instead of SVCDs. The screen resolution for CVD is 352x480 which requires fewer screen pixels to be encoded per frame, and I believe this helps the pixelation situation some. I also chose the lower than typical audio bitrate of 192kbs to help keep more bits for video. 192 doesn't sound as good as 224, but it is a decent compromise considering how low the combined bitrate is.

I made a series of test clips that ranged from a combined audio and video bitrate of 2500 down to 2200 in steps of 50kbps. The combined bitrate of 2400 was pretty good, but it did have audio hiccups once in a while. 2350 had no glitches at all. Probably somewhere between these two settings is the threshold of problems with the DV-440, but I decided not to continue with the search.

[rozak01]

I had similar problems with Pioneer DV-444 (jerky video etc).

Just try this:

Demux the mpg file with TmpgEnc and remux it with i-Author muxer.

It works for me without any problem so far.

Just let us know if this solves your problem.

[Lightman]

I've tried the CBR 2450 and 160 and there are still scenes that jerk. I've re-examined my source and it looks solid using WinDVD. If you are so inclined, I'll put a small sample of the mpeg on the web. Send me a PM if you are so inclined. BTW, which manufacturer are you using for your CDR's ? Incidentally, I've tried burning at 1x, but that didn't help. I'm currently using Verbatim 1x-16x disks. Maybe my DVD player is marginal to that brand ?

I use max video bitrate 2450 (tmpgenc standard of 2520 is too high for the Pioneer 440) and audio bitrate 160 (224 sometimes stutter, haven't tested 192 yet).

With CBR, use 2450 and 160 for no problems.

With VBR (e.g., 2 pass VBR, CQ), still use 2450 as the max and 160 for the audio. However, be sure to use a minimum bitrate of 900 padded. Otherwise, you will see wierd random blocks in low motion scenes. Evidently, the Pioneer 440 doesn't like it when the bitrate drops too low.

[bbb]

Make sure your source is using the correct Field Order. Usually, it's top field first.

Also, change the VBV to 0. This will recalculate a VBV value for you. DC Precision: 10. Motion Search Precision: high quality.

Are you using Tmpgenc 2.54a? The latest version fixes various bugs and is advisable to use.

Oh, i burn at 16x with Imation cdrs. Verbatim discs cdrs/cdrw also have a good rep. Is your system up to speed? Did you enable DMA on your burner? On your HD (install busmaster drivers if you didn't)?

What do you mean by "jerk" more specifically? Does it occur only in fast motion scenes? Horizontal lines appearing? Pausing-Stuttering movement? Does it only occur in slow panning scenes? Non-smooth, choppy panning movement?