bitrate and SVCD

[rbruner2]

I want to create completely standard SVCDs. I'm curious about bitrates. On VCD, it says that SVCD are variable up to 2.6. Does that mean that ANY bitrate up to that is considered standard?

The reason I'm asking is that I have a 30 minute movie that I created using Studio DV. I have the AVI files, and tried converting them using TMPGenc to SVCD. I had the setting to Highest quality and 2pass VBR. After 22 hours of encoding, I ended up with a completely worthless SVCD. The quality is horrendous. However, I noticed that the size of the resulting MPEG is only about 350 MB. This tells me that TMPGenc used a low bitrate for most of this for some reason, despite the fact that it is set to go up to 2520 (or something like that).

So, can I force the bitrate higher somehow and still end up with a completely standard SVCD? For that matter, would I get just as good of output if I set the bitrate to say, 2400, and then did constant bit rate? (All I care is that I fit this one movie plus, perhaps, a couple menus on the 80 min. disc.) In other words, does having 2pass VBR give better quality than constant bit rate if the constant bit rate is set high?

Thanks!

[adam]

Yes 2.6 variable bitrate means you can use any bitrate lower than that, either constant or variable.

If your vbr encoded file didnt look good make sure your average is high enough. Thats what determines overall quality. The bitrate only occasionally goes as high as your max setting, the encoder tries to keep the bitrate as close to the average as possible at all times.

Theoretically if you encode in anything less than 2.6mbits cbr then vbr encoding can achieve better quality and in a smaller filesize. But in practive encoding in high cbr settings like 2.4mbits and up usually gives maximum noticable quality. If you can use cbr settings this high and still fit all of your video onto your media than go for it. It wont take as long to encode and will generally make things easier.

But also dont forget that 2.6mbits is just the max setting for the svcd standard. Most dvd players can actually play bitrates higher than that. You may want to use vbr and try bitrate settings in the 3.0mbits range since the clip is so short.

[rbruner2]

Thanks for the info...that clears up some confusion on my part.

But, I don't want to go outside of the standard. So, I'll limit myself to 2.6 max.

Thanks!