Merging in TMPGEnc

[Sakuya]

Hi. I downloaded this movie which was divided into 3 separate AVI files. The files are high quality and each part is about 600MB. Here are the video's specs:

Resolution: 712x400
Video: Xvid (~2500kbit/s)
Audio: AC3 (~438kbit/s)

The entire movie is 89 minutes. Since it is separate AVI files, I have to convert them one by one. So after converting, I will have 3 MPEG files. If I merge them together, would it fit on a CD-R with overburning? My CD-R is 700MB and 80 minutes though. Would it fit if I converted with 80% quality or should I go lower?

I am making an XVCD. The settings might be weird but it works excellent on my TV setup. Here are the specs:

Size: 480x480
Stream Type: MPEG-1
Rate Control Mode: Constant Quality (80%)
Maximum Bitrate: 2520 kbits/sec
Motion Search: Normal
Video Arrange Method: Center Custom 420x420

The 80% is set at default. Sometimes, I use 70% just in case. And the center custom size is for the overscan. So what should I change in this case?

Some people on another forum said to use the 'open sequence files as movie' in the 'enviromental settings' under the 'general' tab. But I can't find it in my version.

[teegee420]

Please specify the length of your AVI's.

Edit: Whoops, nevermind.

[DRP]

I am making an XVCD. The settings might be weird but it works excellent on my TV setup. Here are the specs:

Size: 480x480
Stream Type: MPEG-1
Rate Control Mode: Constant Quality (80%)
Maximum Bitrate: 2520 kbits/sec
Motion Search: Normal
Video Arrange Method: Center Custom 420x420

That's not a very sensible size to set the image at since 420 is not divisible by 16. Use either 416 or 432 but not 420.

[indolikaa]

I am making an XVCD. The settings might be weird

480x480 @ MPEG-1? Or shall I say, SVCD Standard @ MPEG-1?

I'll have to try that one. If for no other reason just to see what happens. Very interesting...

DRP's comments duly noted, of course.

[johns0]

Having 420 in video arrange size will work ok,just will have 30 pixel borders on all sides.I tried 352x480 mpg 1 on dvd and it worked.

[DRP]

Having 420 in video arrange size will work ok,just will have 30 pixel borders on all sides.

There'll just be noise at the edges of the image that's all. You probably won't see that on the TV though because no doubt even though you've allowed for most of the overscan with the reduced size, it still will be overscanning a little bit.

I tried 352x480 mpg 1 on dvd and it worked.

Of course it will. 352x480 is half D1 NTSC size for DVD.

[johns0]

That will be black borders on the image and 352x480 mpg1 is what i tried,a liitle different from 352x480 mpg2 1/2 dvd compliant.

[DRP]

That will be black borders on the image and 352x480 mpg1 is what i tried,a liitle different from 352x480 mpg2 1/2 dvd compliant.

As far as the black borders are concerned it makes no difference whatsoever. The DVD player doesn't care what is in the image it's displaying. It wouldn't matter if the whole screen was a never changing black background , it would still display it just as well as a full colour one.

As far as having a 1/2 D1 sized MPEG using MPEG-1 instead of MPEG-2, that's not really much of an ask either. Every DVD player I've ever seen can play at least VCD in addition to DVD and my experience of them has been that you can mix'n'match compliant sizes and compression codecs as much as you want and it'll play it no trouble. As long as what you choose is acceptable in one of the formats that the DVD player supports, it'll play it.

I once tested this with my DVD player by making a 720x240 NTSC XSVCD with MPEG-1 compression using a CBR bitrate of 2500kbps (the maximum I know my DVD player can play). It played fine even though that spec doesn't line up with any recognised video format being a hybrid of DVD/SVCD & VCD

[johns0]

Mpg1 can be 4800x4800 if you want,it just depends what the dvd player can handle and play right,the image edge will proly show because of the black borders.Sakuya,you might want to drop the cq to 65% cause it might not fit on one cd.

[Sakuya]

So I should convert all 3 files to MPEG using that template only with the quality at 65% for all 3? The problem is, all 3 AVI files are 600MB+ EACH. Would the MPEGs be bigger than that? And If I join all 3 MPEGs even though I set each of them at 65%, won't they still be too big for one CD-R?

[johns0]

It depends on on how much bitrates are used at 65%,go any lower and the picture will look really crappy,cq is hard to guess for the file size so you will have to experiment with the cq value.

[Sakuya]

Then I guess I will just convert the first file at 65% to see how it goes. Thanks!