Need Help With VCD Playback Quality!!!!!!!

[RabidDog]

8) for Cvd simply use the svcd template and chnage the resolution from 480 to 352 (the first resolution box) and save some bitrate and lower the audio quality to less than 224k. I have in the past produced superb std svcd but have sometimes noticed the loss of detail with 352 res(cvd) as opposed to 480. 2 pass vbr is worth the wait, you use your bitrate to the fullest. any format @ 500-1000, vcd or svcd is going to look quite pixellated. 99 min CDr's are great as are CDRW for testing!

[telemike]

Since you are doing SVCD at CBR with TMPGenc, you may want to look at the CQmatic program over at www.kvcd.net.

This will calculate the CQ value for TMPGenc which is a 1-pass VBR that will give great results.

You can do the same thing with DVD2SVCD. You set the mode to CQ for TMPGenc and it will sample the movie to determine the CQ value to fill the number of CD's you want.

[jsl272003]

ok i have just burned 3 of my movies and here is what i did and they look awesome...
1) open FitCd and run your settings in it and it will give you a bitrate as
well as a max and min bitrate (you will need it later, so write it down).
2) open TMPGenc and us the project wizard.
3) select NTSC FIlm and click next.
4) input your audio and video file click next.
5) put a check in the box next to source range and it will take you to a
screen where you can splilt your movie in to 2 files ( 1 per cd).
6) on the next screen you will see at the bottom how much of your disk
the file will take up and all your settings. you can click on expert and
ublock the bitrate and select 2 pass vbr.
7) then click the setting button next to it and plug in your avg, max, and
min bitrates from earlier. here you can also unlock the pixle and
change it to whatever you want ( i used the 352x480 from Ejoc's CVD
template).
8) i also make sure i use 23.976 FPS with High or Highest Quality Motion
Precision Search.
9) after clicking ok, you will go back to the screen where you can see your
disk usage. if you are over, just input 100% on the bottom where it
says "makes files size x% of disk usage".
When i do this, the videos look awesome with very good sound. Then just run it through VCDEasy for your chapters and burn it.
Works very good so far for me.

[telemike]

You can use Motion Search Estimate(fast) for more speed

[jsl272003]

true, but what kind of pic quality will i lose?

[Ejoc]

I make my target size 800MB for a 700MB CD-R, but I'm glad it worked.

[telemike]

Run some small samples using the different speed settings in TMPGenc and see what the diffrence is. I can't afford to take 40 hours to do a conversion!

[jsl272003]

oh i cant either. i am now using "high quality (slow)" and it looks awesome. it only takes about an hour to analyze and an hour to encode each half of a movie. so it is not too bad. i turn it on at nite when i go to bed and wake up with an mpeg file ready to burn.

[obeck]

First of all, I would like to say that using SVCD, CVD, or DVDR will give you much better results. If you really want to make the best backup possible get a DVD burner. Dual format burners are well under $200 online. In addition, DVD discs can be purchased online for as little as about a dollar a piece. .

All he said an more. The NEC 1300A or Optorite dual format burners are both below $120 online now.

I screwed around with VCD and SVCD for a long time waiting for DVD burners to come down in price. The best results I ever had were SVCD, and half the standalone players out there didnt support it. Further, the bitrates that made VCD/SVCD look best were too high and not supported by the typical standalone player. I pretty much gave up two years ago and decided to wait till DVD burning became affordable. I have 10 years of home video saved up for editing! Well, now DVD is affordable.

Consider this: right now standalone players play SVCD/VCD formats, but why support them in the future? The only reason to support them in the first place was because 1) people were pirating DVD to the CD formats and 2) people could not author and burn their home movies to DVD. As DVD burner and media prices plummet, these reasons for VCD and SVCD evaporate.

Your best results and greatest compatability are going to be going straight to DVD. Its (relatively) cheap and there are tons of good free (or nearly free) tools available. I know that this is not what the original poster wanted to hear, but VCD just plain sucks! SVCD just plain sucks! If you love VHS then maybe it is good enough. Go DVD and dont look back!