VBR or CBR?

[jonx2]

hi,
ive joined 3 SVCD films from cd to one file,i want to encode with TMPGenc to dvd,what would give the best results? svcd is about 2700 bitrate so would a constant of 3000 be ok? or should i go with a variable bitrate? id have thought that going high with the bitrate (8000) would make no diference as the source is still an svcd movie.

thanks for any input.

jonx

[PlaiBoi]

If the average bitrate of the SVCD is 2700, then the max would probably be somewhere around 3000. So using a CBR of 3000 would most likely do a good job. Do you know exactly what the max bitrate was?

[roach76]

Just go as high as you can with the bitrate. I personally use VBR pretty much all the time, actually, all the time.

Unless the encode speed bothers you.

You could also try the header trick without encoding and see what happens...

http://www.vcdhelp.com/svcddvdr.htm

[Martyn1980]

Wayhay, i havn't been on here in ages.

As for the question, for best results VBR with a high max is best, for speed then CBR with the max u can get on one disc is best.

The problem with putting SVCD onto DVD is even though the bitrate of the SVCD is probably about 2600max, the resolution is 480 x 480/576 and will need to be changed to 352x480/576 or 720x480/576, the first one will lower the detail of the film, but will allow u to use a lower bitrate if u maybe want 2 films per DVD, while the 720 resolution will let u keep the sharpness of the original DVD(it wont make it better)but u will have to use a higher bitrate, othersise it might get quite blocky in places.

Hope that helps, im a bit rusty, been a way for a while.

[DJRumpy]

Jonx2, although your source may be SVCD, your output will not be. Remeber that a DVD has higher resolutions, and as a result, the bitrate requirments are higher, in order to display without bitnoise. Chances are, your MPEG's are a bit soft, since they've already been compressed. That will reduce your bitrate requirements a small amount.

Assuming your using full DVD resolutions (720x480), and not half D1 (352x480), then you should set your encoder to the following:

VBR
Min: 0
Avg: 5000
Max: 9000

CBR
Bitrate: 5000

If your moving is too long to fit on one DVD at these bitrates (happens when the are around or beyond the 2 hour mark), try lowering your bitrates by 1000 (except for your MIN of course).

I wouldn't suggest you go down to Half D1, unless your just having a difficult time getting your movie to fit onto one CD. I say this because I have an HDTV, as you most likely will in the near future. With a progressive scan DVD player, and HDTV, the difference between a video at 352 width, and 720 width is very noticable. The scaling that you do, in TMPGenc, or VirtualDub, or whatever you use, will not introduce too many artifacts, assuming your source is clean. I would suggest you rescale it in VirtualDub, or using AVISynth, using Bicubic resize for the best results.

[wulf109]

If your transferring SVCD to DVD-R re-encodeing is not going to improve the quality is is not requied. You can demux in to m2v and mp2. Repatch the headers on the m2v. Convert the audio to 48000. There are good guides on this website for doing it.

[Martyn1980]

It is possible to do that wulf, and its usually what i do as both my DVDplayers have no problems with this, but i have heard that this causes problems in some players, though ihavn't encounterd myself yet.

[jonx2]

thankyou all!,so many replys,and its christmas! i shall take these suggestions all onboard (when my head is a bit clearer,hic)
im still struggling at the joining process at the moment,ive got a mint copy of a film on 3 svcds,there being reported as NTSC in dvd2avi,but when i try to join them the audio go's out of sync,ive used vcdeasy to make a "true" mpg file,but ive also got to trim the slight overlap between discs to make a smooth transition,tmpgenc cut go's haywire when i try to trim thje end of each disc,cuts in the wrong place,audio out of sync etc,so at the moment im using dvtool to clone the file and guessing the end!
ive tried vcdcutter and similar progs,but they just dont work.
i'l'l get there in the end!
thanks again
jonx

[sterno]

If your transferring SVCD to DVD-R re-encodeing is not going to improve the quality is is not requied. You can demux in to m2v and mp2. Repatch the headers on the m2v. Convert the audio to 48000. There are good guides on this website for doing it.

This will not work with some players because 480x480/576 is not a valid DVD resolution. Some players won't play them at all, some only show them as a rectangle on 2/3 of the screen. That's why some people always use CVD (half-D1), it is a legal DVD resolution.