svcd cutting and conversion

[davidc78]

hi guys newbie here
im having a couple of problems with svcd in tmpge
when i encode movie and go to mpeg tools and try to cut movie it always freezes when outputting to file vcd cutter wont work with svcd and mpeg tool is a little hard to use i was wondering if there is anything i can use thats newbie friendly to cut svcd files? and..
when converting a normal running movie whats the best bitrate and pixel size usually ntsc movies so i can fit at least 50 mins on each 80mins cd? please dont say use bitrate cal as im a little confused! thanks guys

[Corkey]

David,

TMPGenc has a "feature" that makes it look like it's hung when you use the cut facility - but it generally has not - give it time and it will work. A lot depends on the speed of your processor. One thing that you may find with SVCD is that you can lose audio synch if you have VBR video. I have never been able to avoid this using TMPGenc for cutting this type of MPEG - I would suggest M-Edit2 if you can find your self a copy, this has a relatively simple time-line editing layout.

As to bitrates, I only do PAL, but would suggest that 2-pass VBR with bitrayes around 3500max, 900 min and soften block noise and output closed GOP turned on will give you pretty good results, but can't say how much this will fit on a CD-R as this depends on the type of film, action content, etc. For VCD, I use a two-pass encode with the first settings at 5000 max, 950 min, then re-encode using the PAL template, but tweak the bitrate to 12000 - this gives me around an hour on a 80 min CD-R and burns successfully with Nero or Ulead DVD factory.

I'm sure you will get some NTSC gurus replying too.

[davidc78]

thanks corkey ill give it a go! thanks for ya reply m8