is SVCD the way to go when it comes to quality?

[mojo2185]

I'm looking to make the best quality rips, i hear SVCD gives the best quality and picture? is this true? also, is DVD2SVCD the best way to go when encoding SVCDs, or is there another guide/method i can use to make SVCDs?
Which programs encode to the best quality?

Thanks for any help!
Mojo

[offline]

http://www.vcdhelp.com/newbie.htm

http://www.vcdhelp.com/dvdripping.htm

http://forum.vcdhelp.com/viewforum.php?f=15

http://forum.doom9.org/

[mojo2185]

Ok, so it looks like SVCDs can get pretty darn close to DVD quality.
Will using DVD2SVCD get me that "almost" dvd quality? or is there another program that will do it better?
Thanks!
Mojo

[xed]

For what it's worth (perhaps not much) my own experience in burning super video CDs [after finally getting TMPGENC to work] suggests that going from the 720 x 480 DVD format to the 480 x 480 SVCD format introduces some artifacts.
I use a reasonably high quality monitor, and when playing back such SVCDs I can see clearly visisble rasterization on the screen. This is probably due to the ddstortion induced by interpolating from 720 dpi to 480 dpi. 720 = 1.5 times 480, so every 3 pixels of a DVD must be scrunched down mathematically to only 2 pixels of a SVCD. This inevitably introduces some distortion. Colors and luminance values must be averaged out, for there is no possible way to directly convert all 3 pixels into only 2 pixels. Some mathematical averaging process must occur.
This averaging process appears to show up on my monitor as a set of almost invisible rasterization lines runn horizontally across the screen. You see the same artifacts showing up in prmo spots on UPN and also in the digital background on ST-TNG. I suspect these rasterization artifacts are the result of going from a 720 x 480 screen to a 480 x 480 screen.
Another source of visual defects in going from DVD to SVCD involves the fact that the pixels on a SVCD are square, while the pixels on a DVD are oblong. This introduces another form of distortion, geometric distorion, similar to the barrel distortion familiar in optics. While the interpolation process minimizes these visual artifacts on a SVCD, it cannot eliminate them.
Therefore my own hands-on experience (limited as it is) suggests that the best quality on a CD-R would be one which preserves the 720 x 480 format of DVD. That's XSVCD, which is essentially DVD format data on a CD-R.
The disadvantage is that you only get around 10 minutes of playback on a CD-R using XSVCD, and not all DVD players can play them. Just about all DVD players *can* play VCDs (though some models have problems reading CD-Rs -- see the FAQ for the models) and many DVD players nowadays can play super video CDs on CD-Rs.
--xed

[dtoolman]

For dvd backup DVD2SVCD works perfect. I have a 65 " tv and you cant tell the difference between the SVCD and DVD. I use TMPGEnc 2.54 Plus as an encoder. The best $48.00 I ever spent. If the movie is longer than 100 min I choose 3 disks under the bitrate tab.This seems to stop the 2nd CD from being to large to burn which can be an issue. It helps quality also
Hope this helps
dtoolman