Does it make sense to maximize encoding bitrates for 2 disk

[shaady]

This is just a concept...perhaps some of you are doing this already...tell me what you think.

Should I encode at the highest bitrate possible to fit the VCD movie on 2 CDs? Since it will be on 2 disks anyway, why not use up the extra space with a higher quality product?

This makes sense to me conceptually, but I don't know exactly how to do it. I have been making VCDs using SmartRipper...DVD2AVI...TPMPGEnc. Can I adjust the VCD settings, or do I need to change it to SVCD and make the changes there? Perhaps using Sefy's SxVCD?

[Hollywood004738]

If you change the bitrate then it's a XVCD...

If you are going to go the 2 disc route then do a XSCVD or a SVCD

[Vejita-sama]

Sure you can do this no problem. However, as Hollywood004738 said you'd be making an xVCD. However, there's no quaility difference between MPEG1 and MPEG2 at the same resolution and bitrate (MPEG2 just supports more features, most notable being interlace). For a DVD source you can up the resolution from the VCD standard of 352x240 to 480x480 for better results thou. Sorry this is so long, anyway:

1) Click on Tools to the left

2) Run the vcdhelp.com bitrate calculator. Input all the data for your encode: number of discs, movie length, audio quaility, etc and you'll get a video bitrate that will fill each CDR

3) Run TMPGenc and load the standard VCD (or SVCD) template. Then click load again and load the unlock template (should be in ../templates/extra) this will unlock all the greyed out parts of the standard template.

4) Setup your encode as normal. Then click settings, and under encode choose either CBR or 2pass VBR:

CBR - constant bitrate, the same bitrate will be used for the whole MPEG

2pass VBR - variable bitrate, the bitrate will be raised for high motion scneces and lowered for low motion scences. 2pass means it will make two passes to encode the MPEG file (ie. double the encode time)

For best quaility, 2pass VBR is the way to go. But at bitrates above 2000 ~ 2200 you can save time and go with CBR, IMHO.

For CBR enter the video bitrate from the calculator. For 2pass VBR enter the number as the ave. The calculators only work for CBR or multipass VBR

5) If necessary, click on the audio tab and set the bitrate to what you used in the calculator.

6a) To make life easy, click of the advance tab. Then double click on source range, and choose 1/2 the movie. The choose file | same project. Go back to source range and select the 2nd 1/2 of the movie, make sure you give the MPEG a different output name and choose save project. Then choose File | Batch encode, add both projects, and run

6b) To make life hard, just encode one big MPEG file. Demux it with TMPGenc, then run bbMPEG and cut it into two files (either time of size limit).

Let me finish by saying that you might also want to take a look at DVD2SVCD (www.doom9.org under the guides), the newest software bundle can be d/loaded from dvd2svcd.doom9.net You'll also need to d/load CCE 2.5sp, there's a demo of that on the DVD2SVCD Guide url at doom9.org. The Demo will place a watermark/logo in the bottom right of your encodes; however I've heard that there's a crack to remove this

Doing 2-3 pass in CCE is actually faster than 2 passes in TMPGenc and gives a better quaility encode. For CBR TMPGenc might have a slight advantage.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Vejita-sama on 2001-09-12 20:57:08 ]</font>

[shaady]

Vejita-sama: Thanks for your post. I'm trying this as we speak. One more question...does this file (xVCD I guess) work as reliably in DVD players as a standard VCD?

I'll probably make a coaster testing this before you reply...

[kinneera]

One thing that should be kept under consideration...you don't want a bitrate that could potentially exceed the spin speed of the DVD/CD-drive in your unit. CDs encode data in a less dense format, meaning for each spin of the disk, less data can be retrieved. Thus, safe bitrates for CDs tend to be < 3000Kbps (2748 would be the theoretical max for a 2x speed), well below the allowable rates for DVDs.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: kinneera on 2001-09-12 23:13:00 ]</font>

[vitualis]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-09-12 23:11:41, shaady wrote:
One more question...does this file (xVCD I guess) work as reliably in DVD players as a standard VCD?</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

No. No XVCD is guranteed to work on any particular DVD player for the simple reason that they aren't designed to do this.

Some DVD players and most VCD players will not play XVCDs at all.

Most DVD players will play XVCDs though, as long as you don't push the bitrate too high.

Regards.

[Vejita-sama]

As Vitualis said some players have problems with xVCDs. But I've found that most players that can play VCDs can play xVCDs. The real problem is with SVCD and xSVCDs But most of the new popular players (Hitachi 415U, Pioneer 434, all Apex) don't have any problems.

If you are really concerned, then use source range to encode 2-3min as a test and see how it plays.

Kinneera - thanks, I forgot most DVD players are 2x (lots are 1x) drives. That's why you see posts about swaping your standalone DVD drive with a store bought 12x unit. If you can play SVCDs you should be ok up to 2800kbit/s. Luck