Problems figuring out tmpgencplus settings

[photojoe]

I am trying to back up my over used copy of terminator 2 before it gets permanently damaged. I am using dvd decrpt, dvdavi, tmpgencplus and maestro. My problems I think are in the tmpgenc settings. My first back up showed lots of fine horizontal lines on the tv but still sharp picture. My problem is, based on the info from dvdavi am I putting the info on the tmpgenc setting correctly. I heard this is a hard to back up movie to begin with and I was hoping someone had success with it and could clue me in as to what to change in my tmpgenc settings. I dont believe it is in the bitrate control settings as the sharpness and quality there is fine.
In dvdavi I got the following info: 16:9, 29.970fps, FILM 98%.
Now based on that info I need details as to what my video and advanced settings should be.
I used the following settings under the video tab:
Stream: mpeg-2
size: 720x480
aspect ratio: 16: display
Frame rate: 29.970
rate control mode: Auto vbr, min0, max3000, quallity 55(these settings are good for me as I get great sharp picture)
Profile: MP@ML
Video format:NTSC
Encode mode: noninterlaced progressive
YUV: 4:2:0
DC: 10
Motion search: high quality
UNder advanced tab:
video source: noninterlaced progressive
field order: bottom field first B
Source aspect ratio: 16:9 525 line NTSC
video arrange method: full screen keep aspect ratio
Under gop, 1,5,2,1
that's it. I put this on a dvd-r using nero. I've used this set up with all my back ups and it usually works great, no problem. So what setting am I putting in that isnt right under the info I get in dvdavi that I should be changing in the encoder settings.
ANYONE have this happen to them please give me specifics.
thanks in advanced. this is a great site for learning.

[photojoe]

I have tried to do this movie in the settings I was given. changing the encode mode to interlace from noninterlace and top field to A instead of B. Now all I get is a black screen on my tv. I am in the US and our tvs are ntsc., I dont understand why I was told to use interlace setiing when I thought that was a PAL setting. I dont know who to ask for help to encode the Terminator 2 movie I've been trying to back up before it's so scratched up it wont play anymore. The more I read in these sites the more confused I get. CAnt anyone tell me after going through dvd2avi then into tmpgenc, if the movie says its a film and 16:9 and is 29.970 what settings should I set in Tmpgenc to encode this at to play on my NTSC tv? Should I be changing the dvd2avi setting to Force film or leave it at none under field operation? Please someone who understands this encoder explain this in simple terms, my head is spinning from overload.

[SaSi]

I'm afraid you have a few things wrong. Interlace and non-interlace (i.e. progressive scan) have nothing to do with PAL vs NTSC. Most DVDs are interlaced. Actually, very few DVDs are progressive - I have at least seen one at a friend who bought that just to enjoy his progressive scan projector.

Now, whether you use the correct settings relating to interlaced or not and whether you choose Field A or B as first, although important, should only destroy the quality of the encoded picture - not produce a black picture.

A black picture is what I get from CCE when encoding DivX encoded AVI files; that is if CCE doesn't crash or reject the codec.

Another issue with Tmpgenc settings I would point out is the min-bitrate of 0. I believe you when you say it works on your DVD player with other DVDs, however several DVD players will have a problem is bitrate falls below a certain minimum bitrate. Not sure which one it is, however I have read two different figures: 200 and 500. Normally, video content will be such that it's difficult to have sustained bitrates below these numbers - too little for video anyhow and Tmpgenc will usually encode at a minimum of 400 ~ 600. I use 500 as the min-bitrate, just to play safe and in any case very little is to be gained by lowering it further down.

Regarding your problems with DVD2AVI feeding to Tmpgenc, I don't have experience with DVD2AVI. For similar steps, I am using FlaskMPEG and huffyuv encoding and this has never produced black screens or flickery movies. (Using DivX and CCE does and DivX also blurs the picture visibly, even in extreme quality settings as Q = 2 or Bitrate = 10000).

I would recommend a different approach that has never failed me.

Rip the film with SmartRipper in Movie mode. Select the main feature, enable stream processing, and select the video stream plus the audio stream you want. Then, for each of those, check "demultiplex to separate file". In settings select "max filesize" and set it's size to 9000. Running this will produce an m2v file for the video and an ac3 or mp2 or whatever file for the audio (depends on the encoding in the original and for NTSC I guess it may even be PCM).

Tmpgenc can encode not only AVI files but MPEG-2 files. This means that you can import this m2v file to Tmpgenc, use the same settings as you do and produce a further compressed mpeg-2 stream.

Regarding interlace, my guess is you must select interlace for the source, interlace for the encoding mode and try with "Top Field First (Field A)"

Run a part of the movie and see what quality you get on the TV. You may test run it with Field B on top and compare.

Regarding compression settings, I would suggest you try the following:
2 pass VBR with:
6000 as max
4800 as average *
500 as min.
2 pass
and check the "enable padding"

4800 as average will produce a 4Gb video stream if the length of the movie is 120 min. I would increase this for shorter movies and decrease it for longer ones. A bitrate calculator will help you get precice numbers. The reason for this suggestion is based on encoding only the main film and wanting to use all available DVD-R space for it - why waste it anyhow?

Also, using DC precision of 10 bits doesn' really add to the quality much (especially at low bitrate encoding). It only adds to the file size (in CQ encoding) or slightly increases pixelation in action scenes (due to bitrate starvation). A value of 9 is a good compromise. 8 produces visible reduction in clarity.

Furthermore, I would suggest you try "Motion Estimate Search" for Motion Search precision. It is quite fast and the quality produced is good and sharp.