Specific project encode advice. Noob with high aspirations.

[NewHomebrew]

I would like to author a DVD. My starting point for the main content is a media file with the following attributes according to G-spot:

452mb, 45:23 length

VIDEO = MPEG-1
352x240 1.47:1
29.97 FPS

AUDIO = MPEG-1 Layer 2
44.1kHz, 224kb/s


I have read the very informative guide at:
http://dvd-hq.info/Compression.html

I would like to use TMPGenc to encode this into an MPEG-2 file to use in a dvd, and my question is about the most useful settings.

VIDEO:
The goal is quality, not speed. I can turn this 452mb file into 4GB worth of DVD if I want to, but should I? I want the higher resolution of MPEG-2 (704x480) but will encoding at 8000kb/s VBR improve the viewing experience or am I just wasting data?

The other question is about the size. Starting with 352x240, that should become 704x480 as the finished product, right? Does that mean that it is best to set the size to 704x480 in TMPGEnc even though it automatically sets it at 720x480? Will the other mpegs on my dvd also need to be at 704x480 for me to put the DVD together in DVD architect?

Thanks so much for any help you can give. This is a pet project that I am hopiong to do a good job on.

[ZippyP.]

It is best not to re-encode your video, you cannot make it any better...in fact you will make it worse by increasing the resolution. Your video already is DVD compatible. The audio needs to be resampled to 48 Hz, TMPGEnc DVD Author will do that for you as well as authoring and burning. I suggest you give it a try or look up some other VCD to DVD guides under format conversion in the green "all guides" section to your left.

[NewHomebrew]

thanks for the quick response. the audio part i have a pretty good handle on, and thanks for the idea on using VCD standard. i have considered that but want to add some other content that will make the total size too large for a single VCD. i though i might as well fill up the dvd with data once i decided the project would be too large to fit on a VCD.

what are your thoughts as far as the size issues?

[ZippyP.]

what are your thoughts as far as the size issues?

I'm not sure what you mean. Your video is a standard VCD spec. mpeg and can be put to DVD as-is because it is completely DVD compatible. No conversion is necessary other than the audio. It will not change size much when authored straight to DVD.

[NewHomebrew]

right, both 352x240 and 360x240 are VCD-compliant, but will they both coexist on the same vcd? if not, what is the recommended way of turning 352x240 into 360x240?

[CaseyComb]

1. Demux the file to elementary streams (you can do this in TMPGENC).
2. Then re-encode the audio portion to .ac3 using besweet or ffmpeggui.
3. Author with DVD authoring software of your own choosing. I know that TMPGenc DVD Author accepts MPEG1 VCD res files.

**NOTE** you could re-encode the video to mpeg2 but keep the res the same.

[jimmalenko]

Your video is a standard VCD spec. mpeg and can be put to DVD as-is because it is completely DVD compatible. No conversion is necessary other than the audio. It will not change size much when authored straight to DVD.

Exactly right.
Drop your file into TMPGEnc DVD Author and let it upsample the audio for you while it is authoring. Leave everything else as is.

Very, very painless procedure, that.

[jimmalenko]

right, both 352x240 and 360x240 are VCD-compliant, but will they both coexist on the same vcd? if not, what is the recommended way of turning 352x240 into 360x240?

I could be wrong but I don't think 360 X 240 is VCD compliant.

[NewHomebrew]

**NOTE** you could re-encode the video to mpeg2 but keep the res the same.

By res do you mean size? Sorry I'm a little confused

[3_2_DVD]

I had a similar decision to make earlier this week. I created the following script to test the principle. My specific project was to convert a low resolution PAL DVD to NTSC. I had the whole 4.7GB available for the one and a quarter hour video so the decision was open. I know that all videos are not checkerboard patterns but I believe that this helped me to make my decision - i.e.go for the higher resolution. Since your project is NTSC to NTSC - the difference may be negligible

#First create a checkerboard clip that is a 1/4 of the final size + 4 pixels wider

topa = BlankClip(length=3000, width=72, height=92,pixel_type="RGB32",fps=25, color=$000000)
bota = BlankClip(length=3000, width=72, height=92,pixel_type="RGB32",fps=25, color=$FFFFFF)
topa = AssumeFieldbased(topa).Separatefields().SelectEven()
bota = AssumeFieldbased(bota).Separatefields().SelectOdd()
Interleave(bota,topa)
lines = Weave()
turnright(lines)
b = SeparateFields()
topb = SelectEven(b)
botb = SelectOdd(b)
botb = AddBorders(botb,1,0,1,0)
botb = Crop(botb,0,0,-2,-0)
Interleave(topb,botb)
check= Weave()

#Clip the additional 4 pixels

Crop(check,4,0,0,0) 

#Up the size by a factor 4

PointResize(352,288)
ConvertToYUY2()

#De-comment only one of the following and feed into Vitualdub to analyze

#BicubicResize(352,240,0,0.75) 
#Lanczos4Resize(352,240)
#LanczosResize(352,240)
#BicubicResize(704,480,0,0.75) 
#Lanczos4Resize(704,480)
#LanczosResize(704,480)

Change the resolutions according to your needs