MPEG2 to SVCD — Authoring/Burning/Playback prob

[mongrel]

Hello, and Happy Halloween to all those celebrating the holdiday this weekend.

I am a complete newbie to video in the digital age. I'm hoping that THAT means that my prob is something really dumb that y'all can spot right away.

I located a great site for public domain audio and video and have downloaded some old newsreels and such in MPEG-2 format. They seem to be pretty high quality judging by how good they look in Quicktime 7 Pro.

What I would LIKE to do is watch them on my TV while sitting on my couch rather than on my computer. I searched for ways to do that and wound up here. I DL'ed ffmpegXm Streamclip, VCD-builder, DivX, and a host of codecs, to get started on the job of burning them to a CD in SVCD format. I have Toast Titanium 6.

What I get is really good looking video that stutters along with the audio track. I mean it stalls and jerks every half a second or so when I play the disc on my Panasonic RV-32.

https://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDnameid=1069&Search=Search&#comments

I have tried a number of different configurations but with no success.

I have indeed RTFM for these apps and can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. Is there anyone who can, given the apps I'm using, give me a hint as to what the proper way to do this is?

I know that the MPEG2 audio is at 48000 and SVCD requires 44100, so I am wondering if that is giving me probs. I also wonder wonder if I am confused about authoring vs. encoding.

I intend to purchase a DVD burner one of these days soon, but for now, I'd at least like to know what I'm doing wrong. All suggestions appreciated. And thank you for being here. I learned more in the last 24 hours reading posts than I imagined possible while I was waiting for the posting waiting period to end!

mongrel

[rumplestiltskin]

Probable answer is to get Toast 7 and drop in the video. Tell Toast you want SVCD and let it encode. Get a cup of coffee, maybe a few cups (depending on your Mac's CPU). If your DVD player can play SVCDs properly, you'll get the result you want.

SVCD does, indeed, require 44100. It is possible that is the issue.

Encoding is the process by which the video is altered to fit the proper bitrate, pixel size, audio format, etc.

Authoring is the process by which the converted video is made to fit the specs of the intended disc format (SVCD in this case). Authoring can also include menus (which Toast will do for you nicely).

[Frobozz]

You may have more success with SVCD playback if you burn to CD-RW media instead of CD-R. Give it a try.

[AntnyMD]

If your player supports SVCD and doesnt allow for exceeding the spec, your video will stutter if your audio is out of spec (as suggested above), and if the total muxed bitrate for audio+video exceeds 2.5Mbps.

[mongrel]

Thank you all for the tips. I still have not gotten the encode/burn to work, unfortunately. What I start out with is (according to Streamclip):

Stream: bb_minnie_the_moocher.mpeg
Type: MPEG program stream

Duration: 0:07:46
Data Size: 325.32 MB
Bit Rate: 5.85 Mbps

Video Tracks:
224 MPEG-2, 720 × 480, 4:3, 29.97 fps, 5.50 Mbps, upper field first

Audio Tracks:
192 MP2 stereo, 48 kHz, 224 kbps

Stream Files:
bb_minnie_the_moocher.mpeg (325.32 MB)

What I have been doing is:

1) Using FFmpegX, I drag the file to the "Source Format" box under Summary

2) Choose SVCD (mpeg2enc) on the "Target" side under "Choose Quick Preset."

3) It appears that the resulting files will put me over the "2.5Mbps" combined audio and video bitrate
a. "mpeg2enc mpeg2, 480x480, 2500 kbps, 29.97 fps, no crop" is what
shows up in the Video Window, and...
b. "mp3, 44100 Hz, 224 kbps, normalize" is what shows up in the
Audio window.

So my revised questions are:

1. What should I be selecting for a target format?

2. Why, when I hit "encode," do I get a separate .wav file for the audio (which the "Author" tool in FFmpegX AND Toast both say is not a valid audio format), so should I be choosing a different audio setting before I hit "Encode?"

3. When I "Author," assuming that I generate some kind of usable file/s, do I then use Toast's "Copy" function (Multi-Track CD-ROM XA) or Video/SVCD function?

I know that this is a mammoth post with a lot of questions. My apologies. I think, though, that if I can see it work one time (and see how it works), much will become clear to me.

Also, if anyone knows of any good tutorials/books that explain the whole digital video thing (as it pertains to what this site is about), please let me know.

Gracias.

mongrel

[rumplestiltskin]

Drop the video bitrate down to 2150 and the audio bitrate down to 192. By doing this it provides less data that must be processed by your DVD player. This alteration of the "standard" SVCD spec is called "XSVCD". Some folks like to cram more bits t get a higher quality (at the expense of fewer minutes) but it all depends on whether your player will accept the higher bitrate. However, there are many more players that will accept a lower bitrate under the SVCD spec.

The ".wav" file is an intermediate file. It's been de-muxed from the original and then it gets converted to a file that ffmpegX can then convert to the appropriate format before re-muxing it all. (Yeah, sometimes this is just silly.)

[Case]

3) It appears that the resulting files will put me over the "2.5Mbps" combined audio and video bitrate
a. "mpeg2enc mpeg2, 480x480, 2500 kbps, 29.97 fps, no crop" is what
shows up in the Video Window, and...
b. "mp3, 44100 Hz, 224 kbps, normalize" is what shows up in the
Audio window.

That should be no problem, as the specs say "variable upto 2.6 mbps".

1. What should I be selecting for a target format?

Either SVCD mpeg2enc or SVCD ffmpeg.

3. When I "Author," assuming that I generate some kind of usable file/s, do I then use Toast's "Copy" function (Multi-Track CD-ROM XA) or Video/SVCD function?

The Options tab has a checkbox for authoring SVCD in CD-ROM XA Multitrack files in .img containers. Disregard the _pregap.img file for Toast.

[rumplestiltskin]

Actually, once you get the mpg files complete, you may drop them into VCD Builder (search for it here). That will create the two "img" files needed by Toast for burning. Another advantage of using VCD Builder is that it is somewhat more strict in what it expects from the mpg files so, if it gets authored there it will probably burn and play fine.