xVCD vs xSVCD + Templates

[freak_in_cage_10k]

Hi all,

i am a little confused about the pros & cons of xVCD & xSVCD. i know that increased play time and quality can be gained with xVCD & xSVCD with the correct tmpeg templates, however, what i am confused about is what benefits would there be over having mpeg 1 instead of mpeg 2? other than VBR with mepg 2??

if anyone has any particularly good tmpeg templates (other than the ones in the tools section of this site) i would be very grateful for them!!!!!

thanks everyone¬

[hwoodwar]

There is no "significant" quality difference between MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 at the same bitrate and resolution. To some extent, what I use to determine wether to use MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 is the bitrate limitations of my DVD players. On my players they can play higher bitrate MPEG-2 files than MPEG-1 files. Where I use this the most is with 2-Pass VBR and the maximum bitrate setting. Sometimes I have to set that maximum bitrate up to 4500kbps to get rid of macroblocks in fast action scenes. On my standalone DVD players MPEG-1 has a max bitrate limit of about approx 2200kbps (I think, I know it's much lower than the MPEG-2 files.)

However, the main determining factors I use to decide wether to use MPEG-1 (VCD resolution) or MPEG-2 (CVD or SVCD resolution) format are:

1. Quality of original file good=MPEG-2, bad-MPEG-1
2. If good quality, do I really want to save it and how often will I view it afterwards. If I want to save but I won't be viewing it much than probably MPEG-1 and try to fit it on one CD. If I will be viewing it a lot (and still good quality) than MPEG-2.

[RabidDog]

Your post implies that you have used mpeg1 at other than the std settings? I was thinking of trying to encode a short section of video (as a test for my player) that was mpeg1 ...VBR... and 480 by 576 ?? yikes! I dont know whether this is possible or even if my player will play it but if anyone can post back saying dont waste your time then I would be quite happy
SUB note due to the increased resolotion obviously I will need greater bitrates? any thoughts? maybe 300/1700/2400?
what would the avisynth script look like? . I have searched the forums and couldnt find anything about vbr mpeg1 or increased res mpeg1

muchos gracias ....danke schun?... merci bocou( )

[DJRumpy]

You should check to see if your player supports xVCD first (check the DVD Players section). MPEG-1 standard doesn't technically support VBR (although you can still create one), so you might try CBR instead. The resolutions your talking about are SVCD standard. If your player supports SVCD, then you should simply use the SVCD standard template. You are correct about the bitrate. The higher the resolution, the higher the bitrate needed to display it properly.

To use AVISynth, you would need either a plugin to allow it to read MPEG directly, or MPEG2DEC.

[freak_in_cage_10k]

kool, thanks for the replies, i didn;t mean specifically mpeg 1 with vbr at high resolution, i was jus wondering what the optimum settings were.

however, i have now learnt that if you want vbr and high resolutions then you need to use mpeg 2, especially for dvd player compatability

does anyone have any templates i could have?? (i have already been to the vcd help links)

[RabidDog]

:P my point was to get mpeg1 video Cd at svcd resolutions to help alleviate some audio sync issues my player has with std svcd. I am going to give all these things a try and make the audio mp3 .. really make the player work its butt off
so mpeg1 vbr @ 480 x576 with mp3 audio... yup lets rock... 8)

[DJRumpy]

I've seen audio sync problems on SVCD, or MPEG's multiplexed with TMPGenc. An easy workaround is to simply click the rewind button. For some reason, it resyncs my audio. I wish there were more tools available to multiplex, besides TMPGenc, or bbMPEG. Neither seems to handle this as well as they should.

The 'template' your asking for sounds like the standard DVD template. What encoder are you planning on using? As long as you stay within specifications for DVD, you should be fine. It has a wide bitrange, and 4 different resolutions to choose from. Just browse the DVD-R section at the top left under 'What Is' to get the specifications
( https://www.videohelp.com/dvd ).

[RabidDog]

Actually I'm not going to bother with that I just need a good multiplexer so that I can add 300ms to the audio to keep it in sync (as a svcd). Funnily enough VCD's do not suffer from this problem.

[DJRumpy]

Chances are, your disc audio won't play at all. MP3 audio is not supported in MPEG-1, or MPEG-2. I'd be suprised if your player would play it. If your player supports SVCD, then you should expect it to work as advertised. If it doesn't, then there's something wrong with your SVCD, or something wrong with your player. Does it exhibit this sync problem on all SVCD's? Does the audio problem seem to get worse the farther into the video you get, or does it stay constant throughout?

[RabidDog]

the player is a tosh 210 and it exhibits the audio lag on all svcd (not on dvd or vcd). It plays all type of media perfectly eg cdr and cdrw and 99min cdr. I have tried the various fixes for it eg turning off pbc but none of them work. The only thing I've found is putting a 300ms delay in the audio! its too late too take it back (I've had it for 2 years) and I'm not sure that svcd capability is something that they advertised.

[DJRumpy]

Check the players section to verify. Does the lag stay the same thoughout, or does it get worse? Also, have you tried a different SVCD authoring package to see if your problem is software related?

[RabidDog]

I have tried both Nero, works great for burning but menus are c++p and vcdimager(vcdeasy) (uses cdrdao for burning) and the problem is still there. the lag stays the same thru out. I would like to try ulead video studio as I got this with my vid card. Also, another point, when I watch the mpg sequence on the pc they are in sync.