Can I fit 3 or 4, 50min SVCD movies onto a DVD?

[1maestro]

Recently I purchased a copy of the Alias DVD series. Prior to that, my friend had already captured some of the series from his TV onto his HD. The files were saved as Divx files. He asked me to tranfer his movies onto a DVD (his player can play SVCD's). Here's the problem:

After converting a 342MB Divx into a SVcd, the SVcd become 2.8Gig. I can only fit one movie on that DVD (which would be a waste). The DVD's I purchased has four movies on each. What can I do to at least come close to that, and end up with a decent quality video.

Oh, to convert from Divx to SVcd I first used VirtualDub to extract the audio (wav file). Then encoded with TMPEnc. "I'm more than sure I had my settings wrong..."

[Craig Tucker]

Why are you converting to SVCD specs when you want to burn to DVD. SCVD resolution is not a valid DVD resolution.

Convert the files to a valid DVD resolution with a bitrate which will allow what you want to fit on 1 DVD. Use a bitrate calculator to calculate the bitrate.

[freebird73717]

Your best bet would be to encode to 352*480ntsc or 352*576pal. Make sure your audio is 48khz. Use a bitrate calculator like Craig suggested.

[mh2360]

Something you might want to try while you are experimenting, is converting the SVCDs to MPEG1 1700kb (VCD resloution), audio 48khz, you will fit a lot more on a DVD and its perfectly DVD compliant...

[1maestro]

Thank you everyone, for your response! Craig, I went the direction of SVCD because I was under the impression that DVD format would be even larger in size. If I'm wrong, correct me. Because I would rather use DVD conversion. Note: I have 18 Divx movies I will be converting. So to avoid having a stack of Svcd's or Vcd's, I want to put as many clean movies on DVD as possible.

Freebird73717 and mh2360, I have AdvBitRate Calculator. I just have to figure out how to use it. When I do, I will try your suggestions.

Thanks again for all of your help

[Baldrick]

you can use "low" quality on a dvd similiar to vcd,svcd and fit several hours/dvd. www.videohelp.com/dvd

just use low bitrates and low resolution(frame size).

[MysticE]

SVCDs to MPEG1 1700kb (VCD resloution), audio 48khz, you will fit a lot more on a DVD and its perfectly DVD compliant...

Although that works most times it is not DVD compliant (MPEG2).

[mh2360]

SVCDs to MPEG1 1700kb (VCD resloution), audio 48khz, you will fit a lot more on a DVD and its perfectly DVD compliant...

Although that works most times it is not DVD compliant (MPEG2).

VCD resolution MPEG1 IS DVD compliant:

http://www.mpeg.org/MPEG/DVD/Book_B/Video.html

[Craig Tucker]

SVCDs to MPEG1 1700kb (VCD resloution), audio 48khz, you will fit a lot more on a DVD and its perfectly DVD compliant...

Although that works most times it is not DVD compliant (MPEG2).

The DVD specs support mpeg1 and mpeg2

[MysticE]

Thanks for the heads up. If using MainConcept will there be any quality difference, there sure is a file size difference. In a short test the MPEG1 and MPEG2 look the same in PowereDVD.

[Craig Tucker]

All else being equal (bitrate, res. source etc) you will not notice any difference in quality between mpeg1 and mpeg2, the main difference between the two is that mpeg2 supports interlacing. And if the bitrates are the same, the filesize will be the same.

[1maestro]

Looking at the recent response, I think I may have misdirected some of you with the understanding of what I'm trying to do.

I have 18 Divx movies. Each with the same specs (except for the time):
Video>
Frame Rate: 23.976
Frames: 62246, length: 43m 16s
Size: 608 x 336 pixel

Audio>
Sample rate: 48000
Samples: 124616448
Bit per sample: 16
Channels: 2

I want to convert the Divx movies to the most feasible format that will work on DVD+RW's. I want this format to enable me to fit as many clean movies (with chapters) onto as few DVD+RW's (with menues) as possible.

I would like the final product to be compatible with most DVD players.

So what would be the best conversion method to use, for what I want;
Divx 2 DVD, Divx 2 Svcd, Divx 2 VCD, Divx 2 Svcd 2 Vcd?

Thanks again!

[freebird73717]

Quality is very subjective. If you are happy with vcd quality then encode your files as 352*240 mpeg1 and use a bitrate of about 1500-1700. Me personally I find mpeg 2 to look better to my eyes and I would encode to 352*480 mpeg2 with an average bitrate of 2200-2500...you should be able to fit 4 and 1/2 hours of video on your dvd and get svcd quality video. The big advantage that mpeg 2 has over mpeg 1 is that mpeg2 supports interlacing and gives you a much smoother picture...in my opinnion.

[Craig Tucker]

As freebird says it really is up to you to decide what quality you are happy with, how good you can get it will obviously depend on how good the source is also. But if it were me and the quality of the originals was good enough I would only go for 3 clips per disc as this is a playing duration of just over 2 hours. For me I am much more concerned with retaining as much quality as possible rather than how many disc I have to use.

But then if the quality of the originals was ony comparable to VCD to start with it would be a waste of time encoding at such a high bitrate, so you would be better off lowering the res. and bitrate to get more playing time on 1 disc.

[1maestro]

OK. I do want fairly good quality. So this is the way I'll go; I will encode to 352*480 mpeg2 w/bitrate of 2500. I'll set it up for 3 movies per DVD.

By going this way, is it going to be "Divx 2 DVD" conversion?

[Craig Tucker]

Yes that is DVD compliant, but why such a low bitrate.

3 movies works out at around 2 hours and 10 minutes, with an audio bitrate of 224kbps you can set your video bitrate upto 4462kbps.

[1maestro]

Craig,
I'm somewhat clueless as to what I'm doing. So please have patiance with this lost soul.

I'll be sure to try the settings you sent me.

Thank you again!

[Craig Tucker]

Use the bitrate calculator here to determine you bitrates.