What are the best settings for TMPGEnc when making SVCD?

[Super Warrior]

Like for example when encodeing DVD VOB's,should i: Encode them in NTSC Film format,At Constant bitrate(CBR) and quality set to Motion estimate search(fast)?

As far as "NTSC Film" is concerned.Should i use it? Even though i read somewhere that NTSC film should be used when encodeing movie/DVD files.I don't think that is the case,as when trying to encode in SVCD NTSC Film,it usually ends up with more " temporay freeze" spots and jumpyness.

Where as if i just encode useing normal NTSC for SVCD,the problem no longer occurs like it did useing NTSC Film.

[sterno]

For best SVCD quality at a reasonable size you should probably use CQ or 2-pass VBR encoding. With a good source like DVD you're probably better off with high quality instead of motion search estimation. Most people agree that highest quality isn't much better than high but it takes a lot longer.

As for NTSC vs. NTSCFilm, if your DVD source is NTSC or hybrid material you should turn "force film" off in DVD2AVI and use the NTSC template. If your DVD source is mostly FILM (use the preview function in DVD2AVI) turn "force film" on and use the NTSCFilm template.

[puertorican138]

Also, NTSCFilm SVCD's use 3:2 Pulldown when playback.

[puertorican138]

Like for example when encodeing DVD VOB's,should i: Encode them in NTSC Film format,At Constant bitrate(CBR) and quality set to Motion estimate search(fast)?

As far as "NTSC Film" is concerned.Should i use it? Even though i read somewhere that NTSC film should be used when encodeing movie/DVD files.I don't think that is the case,as when trying to encode in SVCD NTSC Film,it usually ends up with more " temporay freeze" spots and jumpyness.

Where as if i just encode useing normal NTSC for SVCD,the problem no longer occurs like it did useing NTSC Film.

If your encoding to a NTSCFilm Template, Make sure your source file framerate is 23.976fps.

[puertorican138]

What is 3:2 Pulldown???:

3:2 pulldown when playback is used when you have a FILM source movie (23.976fps) to leave it 23.976 but have your decoder play it back at 29.976fps (works great for ripping DVDs). When 3:2 pulldown is used it does this.. It takes four sequential video frames (A, B, C, D) from the FILM and are drawn on the video display as A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, D1, D2, where the 1 or 2 represents the field number within the frame.

Hope That Helps!!! :P

[sterno]

Also, NTSCFilm SVCD's use 3:2 Pulldown when playback.

This is set by default when you load the NTSCFilm SVCD template.

[Super Warrior]

For best SVCD quality at a reasonable size you should probably use CQ or 2-pass VBR encoding. With a good source like DVD you're probably better off with high quality instead of motion search estimation. Most people agree that highest quality isn't much better than high but it takes a lot longer.

As for NTSC vs. NTSCFilm, if your DVD source is NTSC or hybrid material you should turn "force film" off in DVD2AVI and use the NTSC template. If your DVD source is mostly FILM (use the preview function in DVD2AVI) turn "force film" on and use the NTSCFilm template.

When useing 2-pass VBR,there are these settings that ask for the desired:Maximum,minimum and average bitrate.

Is it okay for me to just set all 3 to the same bitrate that i want for good quality? Or do i have to do some crazy combination for best results,and have some lower/higher than others?

[Super Warrior]

Also why not use Constant Bitrate(CBR) when encodeing? Is it lower in quality than 2-pass vbr?

[sterno]

The reason to use 2-pass VBR (or any kind of VBR) is that it make more efficient use of the space available. With SVCD you have a limited amount of space (~800MB for combined audio and video), so if you're trying to fit more than 40-45 minutes on one CD you probably want to use VBR.

A complex scene with lots of motion needs more space to encode with decent quality than a scene that has almost no motion. With CBR, both scenes would get encoded with the same bitrate. With VBR, the more complex scene would get more and the simpler scene would get less. With 2-pass VBR you set the average to the bitrate you need to fit your video in to the space you want to use (the bitrate you'd use with CBR). Usually for SVCD people set the maximum to around 2500 (if you use 224k audio) and the minimum to 300 or 600 or something along those lines. 2-pass encoding takes a long time because it analyzes the entire video before encoding it. CQ encoding is a one-pass VBR mode, but it's more difficult to determine the final file size.

Setting the min/max/avg bitrates to be the same defeats the purpose of using VBR encoding. If you want to put less than 40 minutes on a CD your average bitrate will be high enough that it's not really worthwhile to use 2-pass encoding.

[Super Warrior]

Cool sounds like useing 2-pass VBR can auctually result in lower filesize.

[puertorican138]

Also, NTSCFilm SVCD's use 3:2 Pulldown when playback.

This is set by default when you load the NTSCFilm SVCD template.

I know, I was just stating that.

[puertorican138]

Cool sounds like useing 2-pass VBR can auctually result in lower filesize.

Yeah, it can lower the filesize with good results.

[rufus1995]

how about video settings, like 1:1 vga, or 4:3, etc.....should i go by the dvd video settings, it the dvd is widescreen or full screen

[puertorican138]

how about video settings, like 1:1 vga, or 4:3, etc.....should i go by the dvd video settings, it the dvd is widescreen or full screen

I think you would go by if the DVD is widescreen of full screen. Under the Video Tab, make sure it's 4:3 for aspect ratio. Under the Advanced Tab, select either 4:3 or 16:9 depending on if the movie's fullscreen or widescreen.

Hope That Helps!!! :P

[Super Warrior]

The reason to use 2-pass VBR (or any kind of VBR) is that it make more efficient use of the space available. With SVCD you have a limited amount of space (~800MB for combined audio and video), so if you're trying to fit more than 40-45 minutes on one CD you probably want to use VBR.

A complex scene with lots of motion needs more space to encode with decent quality than a scene that has almost no motion. With CBR, both scenes would get encoded with the same bitrate. With VBR, the more complex scene would get more and the simpler scene would get less. With 2-pass VBR you set the average to the bitrate you need to fit your video in to the space you want to use (the bitrate you'd use with CBR). Usually for SVCD people set the maximum to around 2500 (if you use 224k audio) and the minimum to 300 or 600 or something along those lines. 2-pass encoding takes a long time because it analyzes the entire video before encoding it. CQ encoding is a one-pass VBR mode, but it's more difficult to determine the final file size.

Setting the min/max/avg bitrates to be the same defeats the purpose of using VBR encoding. If you want to put less than 40 minutes on a CD your average bitrate will be high enough that it's not really worthwhile to use 2-pass encoding.

Hmmm i'm not so sure if that 2-pas vbr stuff is much good at all or worth the long wait.

For SVCD i set the main/average bitrate i wanted to 2000kbs.Then i set the maximum to 2520 and the minimum to 300.After over 2 hours of encodeing at High quality setting with 2-pass vbr.The resulting video was about exactly the same in file size as before when useing cbr.

Did i do something wrong? Cause so far 2-pass vbr seems like its not worth useing at all.

[sterno]

A file encoded with 2-pass VBR and 2000k average bitrate will be the same size as a file encoded with 2000k CBR. But, depending on the material, the 2-pass version may be of higher quality than the CBR version. The difference in quality will be more noticable at lower bitrates, though.

[RabidDog]

stick with the two pass encodeing. You will get a better looking svcd than using CBR for the same file size. You might need to adjust the settings for yor Player check the max and min bit rates in the dvd players section.. others have already done the experiments.. No point in re-inventing the wheel.

[Super Warrior]

Uhhh i don't like that 2-pass vbr stuff at all.It takes a hell of a long time to encode and in the end,its no better than the CBR stuff.Just dos'ent seem to be worth it.

Anyone got any suggestions on the settings for the Max/average/minmum bitrate? What usally works good for you guys most of the time?

[RabidDog]

If you cant afford the time try CQ mode. Presonally i have never used this but it is only one pass vbr? stick to the std PAL or NTSC SVCD template and I normally get greta resluts. (LOL thats the film I watched last nite)

[sterno]

2000k is a pretty high average, you'll see more of a difference with lower bitrates. I decide how much I want to put on a CD and use a bitrate calculator to find the right average to exactly fill it. I can generally put over an hour on one 80-min CD with very good quality. The CBR bitrate for that would be unacceptably low for most material. At the same time, some material can be encoded at low bitrates and still look fine because it doesn't have much (or any) fast, complex motion scenes.

[banjazzer]

If you don't like the time taken by TMPG's 2-pass VBR (who does??) then consider using CQ. Min bitrate=1100, max bitrate=2496 and quality 75-85. This will give excellent quality equal to 2-pass VBR, but you won't know how big the film will be until the encoding finishes. However, in general it will fit on 2-3 CDs. If you want a more accurate idea of the filesize at a given quality setting, you need to make 2 or 3 short test encodes, and rewaken that passing interest in simple maths. 8)