Tips for TMPGEnc Plus bitrate

[harmsway1976]

TMPGEnc does a great job encoding if I use the highest setting, but I can only get about 1 hour on a disc that way. What settings do others use for bitrate? VBR or CBR? Average, minimum, and maximum bitrates if VBR? Linear PCM or MP2? I'm converting AVI copied from my digital camcorder if it makes a difference and Using WinDV to capture.

[jimmalenko]

Sometimes the bitrate determines what frame size we should use, other times the source. It is best to choose the nearest resolution to your source, always rounding down where possible. Choose between 352 * 240/288, 352 * 480/576, or 720 * 480/576 (there may be times when you have a resolution smaller than 352 * 240 - that is OK, you'll just have to use 352 * 240).

Given a perfect (DVD quality 720 * 480/576) source, I use the following:

(where ave is the bitrate you got from your bitrate calculator)

If ave is < 1000kbps, I'd use 352 * 240/288 2-Pass VBR (min 100 ave ave max 2000)
If ave is > 1000kbps & < 2000, I'd use 352 * 240/288 ave CBR
If ave is > 2000kbps & < 5000, I'd use 352 * 480/576 2-Pass VBR (min 1000 ave ave max 5000)
If ave is > 5000kbps & < 7500, I'd use 720 * 480/576 2-Pass VBR (min 1000 ave ave max 9000)
If ave is > 7500kbps, I'd use 720 * 480/576 ave CBR

If a resolution is "forced" because of the source, keep this in mind when perusing the above chart (ie. if your nearest resolution is 352 * 240/288, there is no point using a bitrate > 2000kbps).

Linear PCM takes up waaaaaaay too much room - Use AC3 or MP2.

[harmsway1976]

I'm making MPEG-2 for DVD, so I'd like to stay with 720x480. It won't hurt anything to go for a minimum of 1000 with VBR?

[jimmalenko]

I'm making MPEG-2 for DVD, so I'd like to stay with 720x480. It won't hurt anything to go for a minimum of 1000 with VBR?

No, not at all. In fact, I'm pretty sure that no encoder will go anywhere near the minimum (some people set the min to 0 with no apparent ill-effects, so that sorta supports the theory). Even if it did, it would only use 1000kbps for black screens, maybe credits and things like that, so nothing to worry about there

[harmsway1976]

Cool. I'll give those settings a shot and see what happens.

[jimmalenko]

Cool. I'll give those settings a shot and see what happens.

I'd suggest using the source range feature on the advanced tab in TMPGEnc to limit the encode to about a minute's worth of footage (preferably high-action to really stretch the encoder out), then run some tests on that footage with different bitrates, frame sizes, etc etc, until you find the right mix for you.

[harmsway1976]

Oh, yeah. I'll most definitely test it out on shorter clips before I try any full disc stuff.

[kbehel]

I'll try to keep this simple, without a lot of bitrates and video sizes. I've been capturing a lot of difference types of source material: home movies, tv show, and movies from TV. I have a few basic approaches that seem to work well for these different materials.

For all captures, I use almost the best capture quality I can with my system - 720x480 and PICvideoMJPEG Codec (quality factor 18). I have a 7200 rpm disk dedicated to video capture and use VirtualDub on a 1.8GHz Athlon. This gives me a good source material to work with.

For home movies, I live with 1 hour per DVD. I've never been quite happy with anything I've tried to get 2 hours per disk using TMPGEnc, and I want the best quality for home movies, and am using Hi8 analog videos for the source material. This is 80% of the quality of most digital video recorders, and is pretty much as good as most people can see on a typical TV. At $0.50 per disk, this is a no-brainer. I use 2 pass VBR and 8000kbps for home movies.

For TV shows, I use 2 pass VBR and 4000kbps. This means I can get about 2 hours of TV shows per disk. I don't need the best quality for TV shows, so I figure 2 hours per disk makes life easier.

For movies, I've found I can get a 2 hour movie on a DVD by just setting TMPGEnc to whatever bitrate fits 1 DVD. I usually use AC3 audio, as opposed to PCM, to get a little more video information per disk. If I don't like the quality, I use a noise reduction filter in Virtualdub. This increases the total encode time 3X. I figure I won't watch these movies often, so lower quality, or 3X the time to encode is a good trade off. 2 pass VBR. bitrate=whatever fits on 1 disk.

In short, I ALWAYS use 2 pass VBR, because it takes less time to encode it using VBR than to try to encode it a second time because I don't like the first results. Bitrate = 8000kpbs for home movies, and around 4000kpbs for everything else.

hope this helps.

[jimmalenko]

@kbehel:

I personally think you're a bit "fat" with your numbers, but each to their own I guess.