SVCD quality

[RastaPiggy]

How good is the quality of the SVCD encoder? And does using Quicktime make a difference instead of mplayer? Because I have an SVCD of 111 minutes split over 2 CD's. I made this 1 myself. Another 1 I got from a friend. 116 minutes split over 2 CD's and the quality seems to be pretty much better. Am I seeing this wrong... or are there better quallity SVCD encoders?

[major]

How good is the quality of the SVCD encoder?

I would rate it as good, though the quicktime mpeg-2 encoder is better (but it can't make SVCD).

And does using Quicktime make a difference instead of mplayer?

Quicktime decoder lead to better sync results with NTSC material. mplayer decoder let you burn subtitles. This does not affect image quality.

Because I have an SVCD of 111 minutes split over 2 CD's. I made this 1 myself. Another 1 I got from a friend. 116 minutes split over 2 CD's and the quality seems to be pretty much better. Am I seeing this wrong... or are there better quallity SVCD encoders?

Quality both depends from encoding settings and encoding engine.

[RastaPiggy]

To make the quality of the video somewhat better it is possible to lower the quality of the audio. But what do you reckon is like the lowest 1 should go with audio? 128?

[major]

I would not go below 128 as mp2 has less compression than mp3. You can also try to check mplex results of Average and Peak bitrate and if they differ more than 20%, then you can lower the "qmin" compression factor.