Disc Media & CQ-VBR-CBR Former: Lotsa stuff...

[Twin]

Ok, here goes.
First:
Last night my pal came with a 25x pack of 'Mr. Platinum' CD-Rs.
I copied some svcds for him, LOTR, Swordfish, ScaryMovie2 etc, to test out @ home so he could see if it was worth doing some SVCDs for him @ home. When we finally tested the cds @ his place, every svcd was blocky and, hmm, looked un-encrypted. But it didn't start until like 10-15 minutes in on each cd. This was only happening on his Mr. Platinum CD-Rs, not on Sony's CD-Rs which I used to copy LOTR.
So, I guess it's the brand that wasn't the best. If I'm right here, please, tell me what brand to use.

Second:
I've seen tons of threads discussing the CQ-VBR vs CBR vs 2Pass etc...
I've been using CQ for most of my encodings, very good result, better than I ever dreamed of. But in all those threads, I think it was one person mentioning CQ, even tho it's the default option in, for an example, DVD2SVCD. So I wondered, which is the best one? I hope either a moderator or stan would answer to this one, I tend to agree with them most of the time, easier to trust No offense to others... Just post your oppinion too please, the bigger discussion the better.

Summary:
Best CD-R brand, and best encoding method?

[Twin]

sorry for bumping..
but please, take a guess or so

[Baldrick]

if you have entirely different questions PLEASE post them in their respective forum...and ALSO choose a better subject that reflects the posts.

[stanwebber]

cdr brand is a likely culprit, but it's unclear whether you tested out the sony media on his standalone as well. it might have choked on a high bitrate spike(within svcd spec or not). as to cq_vbr i hold a narrow view & actively discourage its use. as with anything there are compromises: cbr compromises disc capacity, multipass vbr....encoding time, cq_vbr....filesize predictability. if anything else cq_vbr filesize is wildly unpredictable & that should be enough to dissuade you ten times over(at least it is for me). anyone using cq_vbr is motivated by trying to save time which is a legitimate concern, but if you got the time go with multipass vbr. there is a bitrate ceiling so if want to remain within the svcd spec, cbr will give you maximum quality @ around 40min per disc so it's not automatically the 2nd choice. oh, and i'd like to add a pre-emptive '**** off *******!' should koalabear respond to this thread

[Twin]

Thanks for the reply..