A success story.

[T.Bird]

Hello everyone.

I have been playing around with XVCD conversion for a couple of months now. I find that VCD or XVCD is the easiest and fastest for a newbie to start out with. I still consider myself a newbie. However, I would like to share my success story for obtaining the best possible quality XVCD using TMPGEncoder. This method works flawlessly on my Panasonic DVD-CV51 player, and it may or may not work with other DVD players.

Softwares:

SmartRipper2.41 ->DVD2AVI1.76 ->VFAPI1.04B ->VirtualDub1.4.8 ->TMPGEnc2.5 ->Nero5.5.5.6


TMPGEnc Settings:

Video Tab:

Stream type: MPEG-1
Size: 352x240 or PAL equivalent
Aspect ratio: 4:3 NTSC or PAL
Frame rate: Same as source
Rate control mode: Constant Quality, Q.100, Max.2500, Min.0
*Note: May also use CQ-VBR, Q.100, Max.2500, Min.0
VBV buffer: Automatic (0)
Motion search: Highest (Very Slow)

Advanced Tab:

Video souce type: Same as source
Field order: Same as source (typically field A)
Source aspect ratio: Same as source
Video arrange method: Full Screen
*Note: if resolution is 352x480, 480x480, or PAL equivalent, must be FULL SCREEN only.
Filters are optional.

GOP Tab:

Number of I pic in GOP: 1
Number of P pic in GOP: 5
Number of B pic in GOP: 3

Output interval of sequence header: 1
Max number of frames in a GOP: 0
Select detect scene change.

Quantize Matrix:

Select Default or MPEG standard
Select Floating point DCT
Select Soften block noise: default values

Audio:

Stream type: MPEG 1 Layer II
Sampling Freq: 44100
*Note: Must be 44100 only or my DVD player will choke.
Channel mode: Stereo
Bitrate: >160 (default value is good)
Emphasis: None
Deselect all boxes.

System Tab:

Stream type: MPEG-1 Video-CD
*Note: Must only be "MPEG-1 Video-CD" or my DVD player will choke.

Burn:

Use Nero5.0 or latest version and burn as VCD. If Nero complains, ignore him and turn off compliance.

Some notes:

Do not MUX audio and video in a separately process or TMPGEnc will spit out buffer over or under flow errors. Use "tooLame.exe" as a plugin with TMPGEnc to encode audio for better quality. My DVD player handles this type of errors flawlessly. ATI Video player chokes on them.

Quality of above method is equal to or better than VHS tape (store bought). Increase resulotion to 352x480 and you get S-VHS tape quality, but larger file size. Increase resulotion to 480x480 and you get near DVD quality, but even larger file size. Most movies 2 hours or less can easily fit on 2 80-min. CD's. Average bitrate is less than 2000. There is no reliable way to predict file size.

My DVD player (Panasonic DVD-CV51) plays XVCD flawlessly with bitrate and resulotion of SVCD specifications. It even plays XVCD that is burned as SVCD in Nero. It chokes on any
VBR MPEG files that is not MPEG-1 Video-CD stream. It does not play MPEG-2 files in XVCD or SVCD.

Use VirtualDub to split movie into segments or in half, then encode with TMPGEnc. It's not easy to get TMPGEnc to cut MPEG file at key frame (I-picture).

I tried encoding XVCD with CCE2.5 using 5-pass, and the quality isn't as good as TMPGEnc CQ or CQ-VBR. There seem to be a bug with CQ-VBR in 2.5 version of TMPGEnc. I can change the quality slider to 100, but during encode it shows 50. I am not using any template. Any explanation for this?

I have yet to learn how to make chapters, but I will learn. I welcome any comments, questions, or further refinements to this method. I would also like to know if this method
works on other DVD players.

Good luck to everyone.

-T.Bird

[War]

Your note is excellent. I have a Panasonic DVD-CV51 and was frustrated that it wouldnt play SVCD's, I did not know about XVCD. Thank you for the tip. I Have one question for you. I have an excellent new DVD ripped movie, but it is in 16:9 format, the VCD's I've made from it look good but they are stretched at 1:1 ratio on my screen. How do i encode them to 16:9 format properly so they stay in letterbox on the movie when played?

Thanks for any help.

[Rav]

T.Bird

I encoded a mpeg file with a resolution 480 by 480. But the picture is bit blocky and choppy.

Encode settingsTMPGEnc)

2 pass VBR (max=2100, avg=1800, min=500)
GOP(1,5,3)
Aspect ratio:4:3 ntsc
VBV=112

Bitrate viewer shows a peak bitrate of 1900+.

I encoded the same mpeg with 352 by 240 resolution with all the other settings same. That file plays well. Even bitrate viewer shows peak bitrate of 2000+.

Picture with 480 by 480 is more crisp/sharp than 352 by 240 but is choppy.
Also the file size for both files was exactly same.

What I am missing here. Should I try 352 by 480 resolution