vcd newbie help

[xtrawidth]

progs used: smartripper, dvd2avi, tmpegenc.

i am in the UK and will be moving to Canada soon, and so i thought i'd convert the only r2 discs i haven't sold to vcd (or similar) so i can play them back in a r1 ntsc environment.

the only dvds i have that are r2 are the first two seasons of buffyTVS. they are 4:3 and in PAL (obviously). an episode runs at around 42-43 mins long.

at first i thought i could easily fit two episodes on a 80min cd, but a standard rip using TMPEGenc's standard vcd ntsc template ripped at 419mb. ok i thought, i'll just go with one episode a disc. no biggie.

so i burnt it off, but the quality is pretty ropey... especially around txt on the screen (credits etc) and if the action is pacey (which is regularly is).

any tips? ideal format/ template for such a project?

Andy

[Horrorking]

Hi Andy,

Whan doing a similar recording via a capture card I aim for a good quality initial .avi, which I assume your ripping program initially converts to. My 45 min episodes end up 2-3GB as an .AVI, and then 450MB as a mpeg (Pal format) when thrown through TMPGEnc.

I find upping the data rate, if your player will handle it, makes quite a difference - I usually go to 1800-2000, which gives me around the 640MB mark, depending on the actual length of the video.

Start with a good recording, and it makes all the difference!

David

[xtrawidth]

thanks david. i am presuming the source is as good as any, coming from a direct dvd rip. though i don't know if there are still pitfalls with the method of ripping i used.

the default bitrate i used is a CBR at 1150. is the jump to 1800-2000 significant from 1150? would it make more sense to use a VBR or not?

Andy

[vitualis]

Upping the bitrate and using VBR can make a big difference in visual quality (for the better). However, you are making an XVCD (that is, non compliant VCD) and there are downsides associated with that.

Regards.

[Horrorking]

I agree Michael, You really have to make sure that your software and/or DVD player supports greater than standard VCD bitrate before you start.

That's the advantage of a rewritable CD, but then again, not all DVD's and CD players support the reading of CD-RW. I personally buy spindles of 650MB CD-R's that I have found to work 100% of the time with my DVD player, and if I want to do a test of VCD/XVCD, then the 80c (Aus price) of a CD is not that much to throw away.

The difference between 1150 to 1500 is quite noticable in many scenes with high movement (Even around lips & general character movements of eyes, arms etc), and in the tests that I have done, 1500, to 2000 is only moderate, BUT I am only using Video input as a source - the difference between these data rates with a DVD input would probably be quite noticable.

I personally cant use Variable Bit Rate (VBR) as my DVD player has a severe barf when I do (Still trying though!), but I have seen that it does make a difference though.

David