Bitrate settings for 2-pass VBR

[headless chicken]

I'm trying to convert an avi to SVCD by using all the disc space on an 80 min CD-R but instead of using CBR which I usually do, I want to use 2-pass VBR to get the highest quality with the best allocation of space. I've tried CQ and the quality is pretty good, but the file sizes end up too small or too large. However, the same goes for 2-pass VBR, I find.

How do people determine the max/min/avg bitrate settings to encode an avi to MPEG2 in TMPEGEnc? I've tried using the Bitrate calculator and FitCD but my files are either too small or too large. Are there any recommended settings based on length or an accurate formula or tool I can use?

[flaninacupboard]

6512640 / S -224=ABR

so if your vid is 48 mins and 35 seconds we do 48*60=2880+35=2915 seconds. so 6512640/2915=2234. take away 224 for the audio is 2010. that's your average bitrate. set minimum to 0 and maximum to 2524 (or higher if your player support xSVCD.)

6512640 is 795megs*8 to make megabits then multiplied by 1024 to make kilobits.