XVCD vs. SVCD?

[BrindA17-Kevin]

How good is a XVCD compared to a SVCD? What is the highest resolution possible for a XVCD?

I found out that my DVD player plays XVCD's, so if it is almost as good as SVCD, I will give up my recent troubles in trying to trick my Sony DVP-s330.

Stupid question; but is a file being MPEG-2 what makes it a SVCD? Basically, can a VCD or XVCD be MPEG-2?

[darkangel]

Vcd,Svcd & dvd r all standards which have strict presets anything outside these r called Xvcd or Xsvcd etc the x meaning out of standard.
quality is subjective might look good to u but crap to me.
svcd's need to be mpeg 2 otherwise they r no longer svcd as explained above, read the explaination as to whats it vcd & svcd etc

[BrindA17-Kevin]

Vcd,Svcd & dvd r all standards which have strict presets anything outside these r called Xvcd or Xsvcd etc the x meaning out of standard.
quality is subjective might look good to u but crap to me.
svcd's need to be mpeg 2 otherwise they r no longer svcd as explained above, read the explaination as to whats it vcd & svcd etc

Ok, let's say, for instance, that SVCD 2500 bitrate and 480x480 has a resolution rating of 10. How far behind would be a XVCD with the same bitrate and 352x240 resolution?

Also, do you know how I can make an XVCD with a higher resolution than 352x240?

[darkangel]

like I said quality is subjective but in my opinion svcd is markedly better than vcd or xvcd but then again depends on the source, so in my opinion I would say xvcd would rate around 7 with setting close too svcd but there r too many variables ie the x part of xvcd to say 1 is better or worse than the other.
What program r u using too encode?

[Donny661]

That can also be debated. A SVCD at 2500 bitrate will look sharper because of higher resolution, but the xvcd at the same datarate will have less artifacts such as macro-blocking and other compression introduced noise.

To make an xvcd with higher resolution with TMPGEnc just change the size in the settings tab to whatever your little heart desires(or whatever your dvd player can play). You can't use the wizard because it doesn't have that option anywhere. Also, if you loaded a template first you have to press the load tab and in the template-->extras directory load the unlock.mcf file.

[hwoodwar]

I have not really seen it documented, but "I" have always believed that which MPEG format (MPEG-1 or MPEG-2) ultimately determined wether a file was an XVCD or XSVCD. So, I doubt that making a file MPEG-2 will help you.

Increasing the bitrate to 2500 (like you mentioned) but staying at standard VCD resolution 352 x 240 the quality will be increased by helping to eliminate macroblocks and blurring.

I would suggest making some short 5 minute captures, and for a first shot you try 352 x 480 resolution, which is kind of a standard. That resolution is also CVD resolution, and also called half-DVD resolution. To do this you will need to capture at 352 x 480 resolution or higher and then in TMPGenc or whatever encoder you use, set the resolution to 352 x 480. Kwag, already has a few 352 x 480 resolution SVCD templates (for TMPGenc) made up at: http://www.kvcd.net/dvd-models.html . I would suggest trying the 352 x 480 Plus template and see how much better it looks. You may want to modify the template to "High Quality" motion search precision.

When you burn to CD, burn it as a VCD, but turn off compliance checks.

[darkangel]

@Donny661
i said quality is subjective, don't want to start anothe v's do we

@Hwoodwar
anything outside the standard is xvcd or xsvcd bitrate or otherwise, as far as pushing him towards a none standard template don't think thats a good idea at his stage

[hwoodwar]

I made a stupid mistake in my last paragraph so, before someone points it out I meant to say "Kwag, already has a few 352 x 480 resolution XVCD templates (for TMPGenc) made up at: http://www.kvcd.net/dvd-models.html ."

[mikero55]

I've made XVCD's at 480x480 and 720x480. XVCD is Mpeg1 SVCD is Mpeg2. Mpeg2 is better quality but it takes more space. I use DVDx or TMPEnc. Select VCD then set the resolution to 480x480 then set the bitrate to something between 1600 and 2400. Usually 1800-2000 are good bets to fit a 90-100 Minute movie on two CDs. Adjust the bitrate up or down to fit it on the CDs. at 480x480 don't go below 1400. If you do then you are better to set the resolution to 352x240. You'll get a better looking picture. 480x480 gets real blocky below 1400. My Panasonic DVD-RP56 will play these and will not play SVCD without the header trick. I've got a Mintek 1600 and it will play anything including the XVCD so I just do my movies in XVCD 1600-2000 bitrate.

One important thing to remember. If you are converting a DVD then make sure you keep the frame rate at 24.96 (NTSC) or 25 PAL.

Cheers,
Mike

[hwoodwar]

DarkAngel:

Since BrindA17-Kevin seems to want to try an XVCD and since there is no actual XVCD standards, other than changing at least one parameter to something outside of the true VCD specification, than I say why not let him try a XVCD template that has been optimized already. Also, since there is no XVCD standard there can be no standard XVCD template.

If you don't want him to try some variety of XVCD (and since the VCD header trick would produce an XVCD, XSVCD or whatever, since the header would be different), what is your suggestion to get a better quality VCD image onto his TV (other than buying a different DVD player), since his player does not play SVCDs?

[BrindA17-Kevin]

Is there a method to make an XVCD from ripped VOB files? The only tutorial I found expects you to have an AVI file ready to make the XVCD. What is the easiest method for making an XVCD from scratch (from a DVD)? Any way with DVD2SVCD?

[kwag]

Hi BrindA17-Kevin,

Try this: http://www.kvcd.net/guides/kguide/kvcdguide.htm
The result of this will be much better that any SVCD you've ever seen

Happy New Year!,
-kwag

[Jeffco]

I've used the kvcd templates for Tmpgenc,
Encoded VCD at 704x480 (kvcdx2, NTSC)
Burned with Nero 5.5.5.9
Played Great in my Mintek 2580 and Norcent DP300!

Also have encoded VCD at 352x240, Constant Bitrate of 2496kpbs
Also played great in my Mintek 2580 (have not tested with Norcent DP300)
Experiment with different Tmpgenc templates - look in tools section
at VCDHelp.com

[BrindA17-Kevin]

I've used the kvcd templates for Tmpgenc,
Encoded VCD at 704x480 (kvcdx2, NTSC)
Burned with Nero 5.5.5.9
Played Great in my Mintek 2580 and Norcent DP300!

Also have encoded VCD at 352x240, Constant Bitrate of 2496kpbs
Also played great in my Mintek 2580 (have not tested with Norcent DP300)
Experiment with different Tmpgenc templates - look in tools section
at VCDHelp.com

Is there a way to use those settings while performing the operations in DVD2SVCD?

And possibly set up CCE to similar settings? CCE is much quicker and better quality.

[darkangel]

hwoodwar since i had realised he was using dvd2svcd i was trying not to confuse him with the Optimised template em..thing since u can't do it in this collection of programs, i agree he should take a look at 1 of the Optimised templates that are around & judge for himself as many other have done

[BrindA17-Kevin]

I just translated as best as I could what I found on that tutorial into DVD2SVCD and with CCE. You wouldn't believe how much easier it seems that way. Some of the programs in that tutorial came with DVD2SVCD or the programs were similar to one another. I think I got it pretty accurate, so I hope it comes out right.

The only likely problem is trying to use those TMPGEnc settings for CCE. CCE didn't have all of the settings that TMPGEnc had, and visa-versa. Like I said, I think I got it really close, so everything should work out great.

I am using frame selections to test so it cuts down the time by a large margin. I should be able to report my results before the new year.

[kwag]

Hi BrindA17-Kevin,

You might want to consider using TMPEG if you're encoding to MPEG-1. CCE's quality really shines on MPEG-2, but it's pretty sad on MPEG-1

-kwag

[BrindA17-Kevin]

Hi BrindA17-Kevin,

You might want to consider using TMPEG if you're encoding to MPEG-1. CCE's quality really shines on MPEG-2, but it's pretty sad on MPEG-1

-kwag

Damn it, lol. Oh well, I'll let this one finish, but then try TMPGEnc afterwards. I was just discouraged from using TMPGEnc when I heard that CCE was faster and better for SVCD's. You'd think it would carry over for VCD's too, but I guess not .

[vitualis]

I have not really seen it documented, but "I" have always believed that which MPEG format (MPEG-1 or MPEG-2) ultimately determined wether a file was an XVCD or XSVCD. So, I doubt that making a file MPEG-2 will help you.

A fair assumption, but that's probably not the best definition. What if I use an MPEG-2 video file but author it as if it were a VCD?

My definition of XVCD:
A video disc that has been authored as if it were a VCD but with non-standard settings and/or non-standard media source files.

My definition of XSVCD:
A video disc that has been authored as if it were a SVCD but with non-standard settings and/or non-standard media source files.

Thus, I believe that an MPEG-2 file author onto a disc as if it were a VCD is still firmly in the grounds of "XVCD" rather than "XSVCD". Indeed, the player will try to play it as if were a VCD rather than SVCD.

A few other things in general:
XVCDs and XSVCD are non-standard discs. That means, you can make them however you want to (higher bitrate, lower bitrate, different framesize, whatever). As such, you can make such likes look BETTER or look WORSE than standard discs.

Obviously, X/S/VCDs are a pramatic solution to more flexibility. There's no point making a disc that won't work or looks like crap...

Regards.

[BrindA17-Kevin]

In DVD2SVCD, there is something called Movie Offset Seconds in the bbMPEG tab that has something to do with synching. When I played the XVCD, the sound was out of synch with the picture. Maybe I should set this setting to zero (it was set at 2 and the sound was coming a bit late)? I am trying that right now, and also encoding with TMPGEnc instead of CCE.