max mins can i fit on Svcd

[stb]

i would like to burn my DVD movies on SVCD, but what is the maximum number of minutes i can put onto one of these disks, does putting the max number of minutes on the Svcd alter the quality?

[Vejita-sama]

The SVCD standard calls for MPEG2 video, 480x480 @ 2520kbit/s and audio (mpeg1 layer II) 44.1khz @ 224kbit/s. That works out to ~38min per 80min CDR.

You can make an xSVCD (non-standard SVCD) thou. xSVCD is NOT better than SVCD, just non-standard. So you can raise or lower the bitrate, change the resolution, or the auidio, etc. to produce an xSVCD.

So if you lower the bitrate you can fit more data (ie. increase runtime) per disc. But quaility goes down. What's more popular than SVCD these days is CVD (baically the same as SVCD but video at 352x480). The lower resolution means that the kbits/pixel are still high, so as your drop the bitrate video quaility doesn't go down as fast. Also 352x480 (aka 1/2 D1) is supported by DVDs, so you can (fairly) easily transfer your SVCDs to DVDs in the future if you wanted (esp if you encode your audio at 48khz).

You can read more about SVCD and CVD on the left. How far you are willing the drop the bitrate is a personal choice. IMHO anything more than 60min is pushing it (that was with 3pass VBR in CCE).

[sterno]

Actually the SVCD standard does allow for variable bitrate video and only sets a maximum, not a fixed or minimum bitrate. You can also use different audio bitrates, from 32k to 384k. Lowering the bitrate or using multipass VBR does not make it an XSVCD. Increasing the bitrate beyond the limit of around 2750k total (audio + video) or changing the resolution does.

[ZippyP.]

And by using VBR (CQ, 2-pass or more) you can get quality close to CBR with a lower average bitrate. Lower Avg. = more minutes per disk. How low you can go on avg. bitrate depends on personal preference and maybe on the type of movie. High action calls for higher bitrates. Personally, when I use 2-pass I don't like to go below 1800 b/s. That gives me a little over 50 mins. per disk. Of course, 2-pass takes a lot longer to process.

[ghoster]

well the first thing i would do is lower the audio birate to like 128 or even 96 kps before i mess with the video birate. you might be able to squeeze a few more minutes onto it. but i rather turn the volume up then look and a even worse picture. but i don't have to worry about it not being compatable either. as long as it is mpeg it will play in my dvd player.

[SatStorm]

My experience for CVD untill today, show me that:

4:3 perfect picture for CVD: Not possible
4:3 really good picture (not perfect!) for CVD: CBR 2520kb/s (or 2pass with min/aver/max @ 2520kb/s)
4:3 good picture for CVD: 2 Pass vbr, average 2300Kb/s (Music Videoclips looks okey most of the times using this)
4:3 acceptable picture for CVD: 2 Pass VBR, average 2000kb/s (Cartoons and most of movies and TV shows are OK with this)
4:3 VHS like picture for CVD: 2 Pass VBR, average 1800kb/s (for most movies it is okey)

Lower, better use VCD....

For a perfect 4:3 picture, the 1/2 CCIR way, you need an average of 3000kb/s, way more CVD's top bitrate standard!

[mats.hogberg]

As the SVCD standard doesn't seem to stipulate a lowest video bitrate, you can cram in an incredible amount of video on a disc: 3 kbps video, 64 kbps min audio would give you about 20 hours of video... On a 74 min CD. (My calc doesn't go lower than 64 kbps audio, even if lowes legal audio bitrate is 32 - I wont calc this on paper!)
Will it be watchable? No, but it will still be a SVCD!

/Mats

[fantomlord]

well the first thing i would do is lower the audio birate to like 128 or even 96 kps before i mess with the video birate. you might be able to squeeze a few more minutes onto it. but i rather turn the volume up then look and a even worse picture.

huh?
higher audio bitrate doesn't equal louder sound

[mats.hogberg]

It's more like:

...but i rather listen to sound that sounds like it comes out of a telephone than look at a picture that loks like it comes out of a TV without antenna.

/Mats

[Gazorgan]

I still do a lot of SVCD backups (kids scratch things!). I run multi-pass VBR with 500 minimum, 2500-3500 max (non standard for SVCD, but plays fine on my cheapo Apex, depends on the movie type). My Audio is typically 192k, a downmix of the 5.1 channel. My Average video bitrate is what I use to fit to CD. Most movies up to 90 minutes go on 2 CD's. 2+ hours on 3 CD's and over 2 1/2 hours on 4.

On my 27" TV I can't really tell the difference from DVD! I think that's the key, how does it look on your entertainment system. You can keep the complient bitrates, but it's noticable in some scenes (like rain). If you've letterboxed a widescreen, then you can keep the complient bitrate (constant black doesn't add much to the bitrate).

Play with it. Try a few different settings for a single DVD chapter and look at it on your player. More than likely you can make XSVCD's and enjoy nearly perfect backups (as far as you can see :P )

[Frontier]

Ever heard of VBR? Variable bitrate? It'swithin the Phillips SVCD standard, and allows for both greater quality (higher bitrate there when it's needed), and most important: lower bitrate when that is needed.

My record so far, is 1 hour and 20 minuttes. One just have to "help" the MPEG encoder a little. Frameserve from VirtualDub - where you are running Steven Don's "Dynamic noise reduction" filter. And also "Chroma noise reduction filter", if your source is analog.

Use CCE, bbmpeg and CCDeasy to make it work :)

/Frontier