Newbie question about quality

[MSlave]

I've got a xvid movie (007), at 23.XX FPS. I've burnt the movie as a VCD, and a SVCD. The SVCD looks great, but its a little jerky (video "lag"? ), but it would take something like 5 CD's just for the one movie.

So what I want to try is an XVCD, but I'm just wondering what settings I want to maximize the quality. Does increasing the resolution help, or will it just strech & distort the video? Also, is there a way to do a VBR with an XVCD, as it seems to be the best way to maximize quality while minimizing size. Are there any other tweaks you would recommend?



That is all the file info from VDub, if it helps. In my recent readings (I've only really been into this VCD stuff for a while), I've kind of gotten the impression that an XVID looks nice on the PC (It sure does ), but is pretty shitty for making VCD's due to the heavy compression; is there even a point in trying for higher quality?


One final, technical question, can I burn an XVCD using anything but Nero? When I look on the Authoring porition of this site, the only guide is for Nero, I tried it in VCDEasy, and it said "Warning..." and something about the video needing padding? Unfortunatley I can't get Nero to work on my machine, so I was hoping for another alternative.

Thanks.

[Nelson37]

For XVCD, you can make it anything you want. I would suggest 352x240, VBR, AVG 1250-1400, Max 1400-1600.

On your SVCD, did you add the pulldown flag? If the "jerkiness" is very regular, this may be the problem.

The XVID's I have seen have been very good, heavy compression not ideal for re-encoding in general, but a better source is a better source.

[MSlave]

Where would I check to see if the pulldown flag was enabled or not? (I used TMPEnc w/ all the default NTSCFilm settings).

Another question about inverse telecine. I was reading around on this forum, and the general consenus seemed to be that if you're movie was 23.XX FPS, that do a soft telecine would be best, as it saves quality. However, how do I do a soft vs hard? The only option in TMPEnc I see in regards to this is a check box "Inverse Telecine: Convert to 24 FPS: Non-Interlace Source" ?

[Nelson37]

You want the "Add 3:2 pulldown on playback" as oppossed to the "Apply 3:2 pulldown". Alternately, you could run Pulldown.exe on the video stream before re-muxing.

You want the playback device to add the extra frames rather that putting them in the file and encoding them. Your version may be different, the ON PLAYBACK is the important part.

[banjazzer]

The SVCD looks great, but its a little jerky (video "lag"? ), but it would take something like 5 CD's just for the one movie.

To use 5 CDs at high quality I would need a movie well over 4 hours long. The most satisfactory method is to encode to variable bitrate SVCD, where you will get 50-60 minutes video per 80 minute CDR.

The result should not be jerky if you match the source and target framerates. As already stated, you need the NTSC(film) template with Encode mode 3:2 pulldown on playback.

[DivXExpert]

I usually decide to go 2 disc SVCD, anything more than that would be annoying to watch. Most VCDs I burn are usually 2 discs also. But the SVCDs quality is far better than that of a VCD even if both are 2 discs.

[MSlave]

Variable Bitrate = 2Pass-VBR right?

Thats what I had it on, with the 480x Resolution, and it made this huge file.

[banjazzer]

Variable Bitrate = 2Pass-VBR right?

It can be, or it can also be CQ mode. With 2-pass VBR you must specify a minimum, maximum and average bitrate. It is the average bitrate which determines the size of your encoded file. You either use the Project Wizard (in recent versions of TMPG) or any other bitrate calculator to determine the bitrate to use for a given filesize. The aim is to get 50-60 minutes per 80 minute CD, and no more than 795MB for each individual CD. Suitable values for min and max are 1200 and 2496, although you can try others.

[MSlave]

Ahh I see. Does TMPGEnc have any sort of "Maximize Quality while fitting one 1 CD" feature? I've used bitrate calculators, and all, but I thought those did not work when the bitrate was changing?

My movie right now is split into two avi's (& corresponding wav files), each about 1:06 long, which is about 66min/CD. Is that still do-able? I really don't want to re-merge, re-rip, and re-split the video in 3 avi's .

[banjazzer]

The bitrate calculator will tell you the average bitrate to choose to get a size which will fit on one 80 min CDR (~795MB). The quality constraint is the average bitrate, and 66 minutes is really pushing the boat out. You might find the result acceptable, but many wouldn't. The best bet is to try it and see, or else go for VCD and accept its limitations.

[sunmanking]

hi,

i'm into xvcd.

2013 kbs for 62 minutes is really ok. video quality superb.
352*288 (pal).

i've tried 2759 kbs for 46 minutes. yet to check the smoothness
during playing. maybe 2759 is too much... i want top quality
but there may be no need to top quality when say 2500 kbs
is already top quality. why pushing the bitrate higher than
what is already top?

greetings,

sunmanking

[banjazzer]

If you want up to 120 minutes on one disc with quality better than VCD then you need to look at http://www.kvcd.net/