Hcenc (AVStoDVD) min. bitrate issues, multiple coasters ....

[Rainer77]

Hi all - post#1, hope this helps someone out;

twice in row I've encoded movies from bluray rips and ended up with discs (verbatim DVD+R SL and DL) that can't be read on either of two Sony players (DVP-585P, DVP-78H) or an old, cheap, toy-like player of a friend's (can't remember the make). I burned multiple copies (three each, to be precise) on two different writers (LG and Liteon) but no go (they play fine on my PC).

I eventually realised what the two source videos had in common - nearly three seconds of black screen at the start, which Hcenc, with its lack of a minimum bitrate parameter, presumably encodes at a few kbs and with which DVD players go into buffer under-run [ETA - or is it under-flow?].

I've read a fair few discussions and queries about Hcenc's peculiar (AFAIK unique, actually) lack of a minimum bitrate setting, generally about blocking on long fades to/from black (which I've not encountered) - I wonder how many others have ended up with multiple dual-layer DVDR coasters at nearly £$€1 a pop (when bought in 10-spindles as I do).

[davexnet]

Post the avstodvd log. Make sure to burn the disk at half the rated max speed

On the AVStoDVD edit title/Avisynth tab you can deselect auto avisynth script, and choose trim.
You can get the encode to start 3 seconds into the movie. Here I started at frame 75 and entered 0
at "enter trim end" to get to the end

[Rainer77]

Will check it out.

In the meantime what I've done is trim the MKV's in Avidemux - the first keyframe is usually 2-5 seconds in, so the cut isn't too jarring. It's quick (actually VERY quick) and dirty, but it works.

[Rainer77]

I just obtained another 'vintage' Sony, a NVP-708H (model after the 78H previously mentioned), and it has no problem with the discs - I guess the buffer-underrun is an issue with some players as much as with the discs.

[poisondeathray]

If that seems to be the issue with some players and discs , you can also try setting zones (as a bitrate multiplier) in hcenc for the first part instead of cutting