I'll make an XVCD template for you...

[puertorican138]

Variable Bit Rate is better. You can get higher quality with a lower file-size. With CBR you get the same 1150kbps bitrate which can cause blockiness in your MPEG. With VBR this usually doesn't happen because your using a different bitrate for every frame. With VBR better bitrate allocation can be achieved. But in some cases CBR can be better than VBR. Example: A SVCD with a CBR of 2500kbps would be higher quality than a VBR with a maximum of 2500kbps. Some say a CBR with a bitrate of 2500kbps will almost look like DVD quality. You can get about 35 minutes of very high quality with a SVCD at a CBR of 2500kbps.



Hope that helps!!!

[biggantdogg]

Can anyone answer me this?
I usually encode all my movies at 2500kbps max, 0 min, avg 2350.
(2pass vbr)
Should my average or min be changed for better quality?
2500 is max for my player, so what would be optimal settings for min and avg?

[pimp80]

from lookin at other peoples setings and my own experience try settin the min bitrate to 300

[banjazzer]

Provided your player is happy with a minimum of zero then it is fine to set zero. Some players aren't, which is why some set a min of 300-500. However since your average is set so close to your maximum it begs two questions:

1. Do your mpegs ever get anywhere near to zero bitrate? ie, if your average was set in between min and max and min dropped to zero, would your player still be happy?

2. Why not encode at CBR and save yourself a lot of time?

The reason to use VBR is to make optimal use of your bits, and save space. With your average set so close to your max, a bitrate viewer would likely show the bitrate never dropping much below 2000!

[pimp80]

what bitrate do you suggest if encoding with cbr?

[banjazzer]

I don't suggest encoding with CBR. I said his average was so close to his max that he may as well have saved a lot of time and used CBR. I suggest using 2-pass VBR with max=2520, min=300, and whatever average will fit 50-60 minutes to an 80 minute CDR. (With the proviso that I check an output sample first, because some movies are far more compressible than others). Or, preferably, if you are prepared to produce a couple of sample encodes, CQ with the same min and max settings and a quality setting between 75 and 85 (usually). 8)

If I was forced to use CBR I would go for a setting close to 2520. The point is, with VBR you can go much lower than this (average) without sacrificing quality.

[pimp80]

cool mate, how about comapring 1vbr pass to 2 vbr pass is the time worth the extra quality, is there any quality increase?

puertorican could you tell me the bitrates for

Ali G Innit

89 mins

to be played on my computer

[pimp80]

sorry puerorican for the Ali G rip if possible fit it into 2 cds

[banjazzer]

how about comapring 1vbr pass to 2 vbr pass is the time worth the extra quality, is there any quality increase?

The point about 2-pass VBR is that the first pass is purely to analyse where best to use the bits, so I would not expect 1-pass VBR to be anything like as good. However, CQ is also 1-pass VBR, but does not need to do 2 passes, because whatever bits are needed are used. This is governed by the quality setting chosen. However, the downside is the filesize is unpredictable, unless you do some representative sample encodes.

[puertorican138]

pimp 80, 2 CD's and 89 minutes right?:


Average Bitrate: 2174
Maximum Bitrate : 2500 (To be safe, raise it if only playing on computer or DVD Player supports higher bitrates)
Minumum Bitrate: 300
Audio Bitrate: 224

[pimp80]

thank you

[puertorican138]

Thanks for replying to my topic, big pimpin' 8). Did you like the results from your encode that you used from the average, maximum, and minimum I gave you?

[puertorican138]

Anybody else???

[banjazzer]

Why are you wasting time doing this when TMPG has it's own bitrate calculator which works perfectly well?

[puertorican138]

Yeah, you are right .

[pimp80]

hey man hes jus helpin out the lazy amongs us its all good

[banjazzer]

Teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime... 8)

[chickenboi]

Training Day Divx ( 2hrs 2mins 6secs )
2 80min CD-R

thanx!

[puertorican138]

chickenboi:


Average Bitrate: 1524
Maximum Bitrate: 2500 (To be safe. Raise if your player supports higher, and if you're going to raise it raise it up to 2800)
Minumum: 300
Audio Bitrate: 224

The file-size should be close to 790 MB's.

Hope that helps!!!

[banjazzer]

If you can't cope with TMPG's perfectly good bitrate calculator, why not use the perfectly good bitrate calculator in the Tools section? http://www.vcdhelp.com/calc.htm
Or use one of the many other perfectly good bitrate calculators to be found all over the net?

Or why not get someone to actually encode the files for you, and watch them for you, and explain what they are about? Then you can go back to your Bingo.

[puertorican138]

You're right banjazzer. I just like to help the lazy people on this board. Thanks pimp80 for the comment :P.

[pimp80]

i think banjazzer has really taken this personal, as you can see there are a number of people who would rather ask puertorican for help so chill out man.

[puertorican138]

Thanks again, pimp 80 :P!!! Anybody else want help?

[banjazzer]

It's not a question of taking it personally. I Knew the internet had got dumbed down. I just didn't realise things had got so bad so quickly.

[tkwish]

well it may have helped the idle but i found it also started a good line of explanation and helped me to understand a little more about the use of bit rates theres something about listening to a varied point of veiw that a tutorial cant give you

[banjazzer]

The important thing is to choose a sensible minimum and maximum bitrate for the encode. These generally never need to change. And the right number of discs to use, of course, because if the average is too low (ie you are skimping on discs) then quality suffers. After that it is simple mathematics to work out the average bitrate to fit to one, two or occasionally three CDs. But there is no need to resort to simple mathematics, because there are 4 bitrate calculators in the tools section to the left, a perfectly good one in TMPG itself, and countless other ones at every video-related site you come across.
Whilst puertorican138 is only trying to help, which is an admirable trait, how do you think he is coming up with his suggested bitrates? Unless he likes playing with his calculator, he is entering the figures in a simple bitrate calculator, which any 5 year old kid could do.

[puertorican138]

well it may have helped the idle but i found it also started a good line of explanation and helped me to understand a little more about the use of bit rates theres something about listening to a varied point of veiw that a tutorial cant give you

That's a good point .

[puertorican138]

Anybody else need help :P!?

[puertorican138]

Anybody???