TMPGEnc's quality is terrible

[ArchVile125]

Greetz,

I've been ripping DVDs to SVCDs for awhile now and every now and again I run it problems, that I usually figure out on my own but this one is killing me. I put this in the Newbie section because I just let DVD2SVCD do all the work for me, but here's my problem:

I've used CCE 2.5 and 2.6 and even use fameserving as a precaution. The last couple of DVDs I've tried to convert have jost frozen on frames. I can't figure out why. I remember I had serious problems with the movie Resevior Dogs and then upgraded to CCE 2.6 and all worked fine, but now on this Robin Williams DVD, none of my Cinecrafts seem to work at all.
Now if anyone has ever had this problem, or if it's a problem particuklar to these DVDs or has an answer for this, great, because I've never quite figured it out.

But there is hope. I can use TMPGEnc as an alternative, but whenever I use it, it just looks awful. I've tried running it on 2 pass VBR with a 4 pass setting (in DVD2SVCD) and it still looks horrible as compared to Cinecraft. now there have been debates as to which is better quality, Cinecraft or TMPGEnc, so i trust that there is a way to make it look better. I'm using DVD2SVCD, so what settings would i have to use to make it look better, because the quality is so bad right now that i can't even bother with it.

Cheers.

[morey]

I use tmpgenc and although ive only been converting for a couple of weeks ive had some exellent results.
my latest back up is star wars 1 and it looks stunning.
the settings i used are mostly default but i use 128 audio and increase max bitrate.I usebi-cubic resize for frameserving.
I abort the dvd2svcd process after be sweet has done its thing and let tmpg do both vidio and audio(i know your supposed to let bbmpeg do this but it works for me)
i load kvcd3 template set 2pass vbr at 2650max 2550av(depending of course on lenth)1700min and enable padding. motion at motion estamate(fast)( high qual setting better?) vbr buffer 0 automatic.
on gop i tick detect scene change
on matrix i tick soften block noise
i set the file size to 104% of my 80 min disc this gave me 801mb this went up to 812mb when i converted to image with vcdeasy ,this easily overburns on to my imation cdr
ps very new to this but this works well for me taking into account encoding time and finished quality

[Anonymoususer]

Since I started encoding, almost a year now...TMPGEnc, has been the best, after many debates and reading countless threads, and hearing how "good" CCE was, I decided to try it out, and after wasting a week I couldn't even get the damn thing to start, not even move, and in the end I found out that my 450MHZ Processor wasn't equipped to run CCE...soo disappointing..

Considering CCE and TMPGEnc, yes quality wise (According to some people) it is possible to get the same "exact" quality as TMPGEnc, Key word being Possible...overall flexibilty, compatibility, user friendliness, and Quality Wise TMPGEnc, blows many encoders out their, even though I've never seen the results of CCE, considering that it offers 2 - 4 Pass VBRS, the movies that have came out with TMPGEnc that I have gotten are just amazing...even with close inspection I rarely notice any macroblocks (only on dark areas sometimes) but still overall I think TMPGEnc is probably the best Mpeg encoder up till now..on top of that

www.KVCD.net [Kwag]

is enhancing TMPGEnc to it's highest potential (haven't tried out any Templates yet) by maximizing the settings, and creating templates...what other program has an entire website dedicated to getting the most out of it...(maybe they have some that I don't know of)...still I think their IS NO CONTEST.... if their was, TMPGEnc would be the winnah !

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My encoding method [If anyone cares]

Usually I make XSVCD's, Also called XtendedSVCD's or Non Standard SVCD's [Had to figure that out myself]

To increase the bitrate I usually unlock the NTSC Film Template, Change the Audio settings from 41,000KHZ to 48,000KHZ [I'm not sure as to what this is Im reading on this KHZ Audio setting] 224KB/s to 192, Stereo to Joint Stereo, as you can see Im not an Audio Fanatic, and I prefer Video to be superior...In the Quantize Matrix, depending if I'm converting an Anime, I use set the option CG/Animation
[I would really like it if someone elaborated on this]

I usually use 2 Pass VBR on a 40 Minute Video, depending on how long the movie is I use 2520 Video Bitrate If the movie is lower then 40 Minutes, 2 Pass Minimum bitrate is 1100, Maximum 2520, Average is usually 2167, and in the Advanced Tab I usually check Noise Reduction, Ghost Reduction, Sharpen Edge, and Simple Color Correction... get really good outcomes using these settings...as I read more on Audio I will probably start working on enhancing that as well...I really hope that this information is helpful to someone...&

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That is my 2 Cents...

[ArchVile125]

Thanx morey, I'm going to give your settings a try tonight. They sound like they should work good.

And Divx, I trust that you know what you're talking about. I'm not a CCE fanboy or anything. As long as it works, I'm pleased with it's results, but in my aforementioned post, sometimes it doesn't seem to work for one reason or another. I'm not concerned about any slight differeces in quality between the two programs. i mean, maybe if you do a very close analysis on the two you'll see a difference, but as long as they're in the ballpark with each other, that's what I'm happy with. UI figured TMPGEnc probably could do better than the results i'm getting, but I assume my settings aren't right and that's where I was having trouble. I agree TMPGEnc is much more user firndly and seems to work everytime. it was that quality that was the problem, and hopefully after today, I can use it as a good alternative. With CCE so far, my SVCDs have been practically DVD quality (with some distortion on scenes involving a lot of movement), and if i can get TMPGEnc to do the same, I'm just as happy.

Thanks for the quick response guys. I'm surprised.

Just one question to Morey, does the output compress everything to fit on one CD? Because it's quality I'm going for and don't mind totally if it spans over two CDs. After all of this, will I still have to cut the MPEGs myself, or will TMPGEnc split them into two separate files automatically?

Just as an FYI, here's the quality I've been getting so far:

It's actually much better looking on my TV, but on this I pushed the Sound quality up to 160, since i have a nice big sound system, I like to hear bullets and explosions rocking my house

[Anonymoususer]

does the output compress everything to fit on one CD? Because it's quality I'm going for and don't mind totally if it spans over two CDs. After all of this, will I still have to cut the MPEGs myself, or will TMPGEnc split them into two separate files automatically?

maybe I could answer your question, I kind of don't understand it though, to begin with did you break your AVI file or are you just loading up the entire movie, because you talk about "output compression", this will only happen if you deicide to put the entire movie on 1 CD, which in your case you wouldn't mind putting it on 2 CD's ?...Have you tried using the TMPGEnc Wizard ? their is an option in TMPGEnc where you can choose as to "How Much" of the movie you want to encode, then you, I guess don't have to break your entire AVI file up, I would really like it if you elaborated a little bit more...

I assume my settings aren't right and that's where I was having trouble...it was that quality that was the problem...

I guess this is your first time using TMPGEnc (Not trying to offend) but here try using this guide which I started out with...

https://www.videohelp.com/tmpgencsvcd.htm

(BTW this guide is for making XSVCD's or Xtended/Non Standard Mpeg2's/SVCD's...that's what I make, for Standard SVCD's just use the SuperVideoTemplate instead of the FILM one the rest is easy.)

Please repy back if you have problems...

*Hopefully the guide would more beneficial then my suggestions*

[morey]

yes i didnt mention that on star wars 1 i ripped the film in three parts and delt with them one at a time ie. pt1 chapters 1 to 16 pt2 17to30 pt3,331toend mainly because of my limited hd space.(i also cut out most of credits)
in this case i burnt on 3cds as there so cheap i dont want to compramise quality. i know that the kvcd template is for 1cd fitting but i cant get the standard template to increase max bitrate to compensate for my lower audio.