Need help figuring out which method SVCD was burned

[Hipnotik]

ok, i have some divx flicks and have been trying to convert them to SVCD. the divx movies consist of 2 avi's each, and i've followed the guides to a T and cannot duplicate the only method that led to a high quality SVCD with no degredation. the problem is, i've tried sooo many different methods, reading through the forums, applying suggestions, and i cannot remember what settings i used in TMPGEnc that left me with this flawless SVCD!

so here's what i've done, i took the SVCD and put the .mpg into the bitrate viewer from the tools section and got as much info on it as possible, to see if you guys could gimmie a hand wit this.

here's the stats on the SVCD that came out perfect (that i am trying to duplicate with my others):

Num. of picture read: 161889
Stream type: MPEG-2 MP@ML VBR
Resolution: 480*480
Aspect ratio: 4:3 Generic
Framerate: 29.97
Nom. bitrate: 2496000 Bit/Sec
VBV buffer size: 56
Constrained param. flag: No
Chroma format: 4:2:0
DCT precision: 8
Pic. structure: Frame
Field topfirst: Yes
DCT type: Frame
Quantscale: Nonlinear
Scan type: ZigZag
Frame type: Progressive

the source avi's are around 650mb (all 23.97fps), and the SVCD fit on one cd so i know it's possible, but my problem is that when i up the bitrate to 2496 to get good quality, my outcome .mpg is over a gig large...

please ppl help me with this, i beg you!

[Big_Jit]

You must've used a variable bitrate with 2496 as the MAX but I don't know what the Min would be The video should be 112 minutes 54 sec. right. It also looks like you did a 3:2 pulldown seeing as how the perfect SVCD was 29.97 fps and your source is only 23.976.

So far what I can Pull is your settings should be as follows:

480 x 480 MPEG-2
Aspect ratio = 4:3
23.976 (29.97fps internally)
Rate Control = CQ Max 2496kbps Min probably 300+ or even 0 Quality =85
VBV buffer size = 56 (or 0(automatic))
Profile & level = Main profile & Main level MP@ML
Video Format = NTSC
Encode Mode = 3:2 pulldown when playback
YUV Format = 4:2:0
DC Component Precision = 8
Motion Search Precision = Normal (or High Quality)

I don't know what your audio settings were. It doesn't show in your post. But you could probably figure that out by opening the video invdub if you have the mpeg-2 codec installed. Otherwise you'll have to extract the audio fron the disc and then open it in cooledit or something. But i think bitrate viewer should show you the audio...

[Hipnotik]

Big_Jit, thx for replying and trying to help.
However, i don't recall using a rate control of CQ (Constant Quality).
the only rate controls i've messed wit are CBR (which i've heard sux, quality wise), 2-pass VBR (which produces large mpg files, right?), and CQ_VBR (Could this mean what u were referring to? it is possible this is the method i've used).

but regardless, thx for your help.
i'll play with the settings some more and see what works best.

[Big_Jit]

You either used CQ_VBR or 2-pass VBR and 2-pass vbr usually gets you a smaller filesize but it depends on the movie.

[David M]

Sorry if this is a dumb question. I'm in a PAL country. Are the settings to get high quality SVCD's the same whether one runs NTSC or PAL?

Thanks,
David

[Big_Jit]

Not Always...

PAL has a larger framesize than NTSC and thus if you use the same bitrate for PAL as you do for NTSC then you'd "lose quality" because you're gaining

720 x 96 pixels @ DVD res
352 x 48 pixels @ VCD res
&
480 x 96 pixels @ SVCD res

So you may not always see the quality loss or gain. Just up the bitrate by a couple hundred for PAL and you should see the same quality...