Best Settings in TMPEGEnc ?

[12Boiler34]

Hi People

I encoded several SVCD's with TEMPGEnc, using the templates (and the guide listed here).Yet, Im just not happy with the quality the files have.
Can anyone tell me what the best settings in TEMPGEnc are to get the very best quality (no matter how many CD's are needed) ?

Is there perhaps a guide somewhere ?

I would appreciate any advice

Thanks

[Macros746]

You really have to be specific about what your goals are. If there was just one holy grail of TMPGenc settings don't you think every one would be doing it? Are you trying to get the best quality possible on two CDs? DO you not care how many CDs? Is three your max? What exactly are you not happy with? Blocks? Color? Blurriness? Give us your details and we'll help. Just being very general if you are making SVCDs and not VCDs I would HIGHLY suggest looking into DVD2SVCD and CCE. In fact, I'd suggest it anyhow since it also is the most painless way to get from DVD rip to VCD or SVCD using TMPGenc.

Macros

[12Boiler34]

Hi

To Macros: You are right. I have to be more specific. So here we go.

1. What is generally better: CBR or VBR? When do I use what ?
2. Under Advanced: Can I improve the quality here (Sharpen edge, Noise reduction etc.) ?
3. Should I manually change something under GOP structure? What effect would this have?

Just one more general question. What would you consider the best way for converting an AVI-File into a high quality SVCD?

Thanks again

[Tommyknocker]

Although this guide was written by a Dazzle card owner, I found the info here extremely useful. Hope you do as well.

http://www.vcdhelp.com/dazzlecapture.htm#filters

[12Boiler34]

This seems to be very useful. Thank you

[Macros746]

Alright boiler....let me give you my rundown: I still don't know what sort of computer you have....but I assume that you have a power rig (at least 900 mhz) If you are capturing from a VHS source then you are going to want to capture at a resolution of 640 x 480 (I am assuming NTSC here...if you are PAL just adjust to the equivalent res.) if you are capping from the TV I usually capture at 352 x 480....but you can go as high as 480 x 480 if you like. You are going to capture using VirtualDub to the MJEG codec set to a quality setting of 18. Make sure you tick the box that says 'lock audio to video' in case you drop a few frames (which you will if you are capping from a video) Then, after the capture is done, you are going to want to load it into Virtualdub. Apply the resize filter (I should have mentioned earlier...if you are wanting to end up with a 480 x 480 SVCD you shouldn't capture to a lower resolution...you always want to resize down and not up if possible) and ONLY the sharpen filter...set it to about 35 or so. Then set up the frameserver and try a few minutes in an important part of the movie in TMPG. THEN, based on your results, you can play with other filters. I can't tell you specifically which ones because it will depend on taste. If sharpness is of the utmost importance you wn't want much in the way of anti-noise filters which tend to blur things a bit...but a little can be very effective. I try to use the filters in VD rather than TMPG because it speeds up the encoding a bit. That is the best I can do for a quick overview. You might want to try playing around with the avi function of DVD2SVCD as well...because when it comes to SVCD CCE really does rule the roost..and it is faster. Go over to www.doom9.net forums to find out more about using that software. Good luck and good encoding.

Macros