question for all

[c_walkin]

i know that you guys have probrbly answered this a few times to many but i use dvd2svcd and i have cce or canopus encoders,,
1.what bitrate would give best quality with each encoder?
2. how many passes should i use?,,
not really sure on the encoder settings,,,,
3.would it be best to just leave default settings?
4.what are the PASSES for,,,,what does 3 or 4 mean? how do they differ?

[poopyhead]

multi-pass VBR is best at keeping the best quality possible when trying to fit a movie on a certain number of CD-Rs.

with CCE, ppl have mentioned in the past that anything above 4 passes is overkill and you won't see that much difference.

CBR (constant bitrate) = gives each scene the exact same bitrate, no matter if that scenes requires that much or not. (i.e. action scenes get as much bitrate as end credits)....BAD

VBR (variable bitrate) = the encoder dynamically allocates the needed bitrate to each scene. so, an action scene will require/get more bitrate than a slow scene.

with each pass in VBR, the encoder goes through the video and determines where the bitrate should be allocated. the more passes you have, the more chances you give your encoder to do a better job at allocating the bitrate. in the end, each scene is suppose to get the "perfect" amount of bitrate.

assuming you use VBR, the average bitrate is what determines filesize. the avg. bitrate you use is determined by the number of CD-Rs you wanna fit your movie on. obviously, the more CD-Rs you're will to use, the higher bitrate/quality you can use for the movie.

however, VBR allows you to set a max and min bitrate. this is a range where the encoder will decide on how to allocate the bitrate. it's best to give a wider range so that the encoder will have more flexibility in allocating bitrate. (i.e. the end credits should get as little bitrate as possible because scrolling text doesn't need to much of it, while action scenes should get as much bitrate as possible).

BUT, the overall quality and filesize is determined by your avg. bitrate. this is bacause certain scenes will have a bitrate LOWER than the avg. (min bitrate is lowest possible), which is balanced by scenes having HIGHER bitrate than the avg. (max bitrate the highest possible), so that on average, the overall bitrate = avg. bitrate you set.