Best settings for VCD and SVCD using TmpgEnc

[bartjuh]

Well the topic says it all...

But I've got a couple of things I want to have too...

-I want to add a widescreen SVCD into TmpgEnc and want to get it also widescreen out, so with the black borders above and beneath the movie
-I want that the picture fits exactly on the TV-screen, and not that a part falls out of the TV...
(-I want that it plays perfectly at a stand-alone DVD-player (Philips...))

I thought that I should use full screen mode, but than it is impossible to keep the widescreen, so how

Please help me with this, the most wonderfull thing would be if you would tell me the best overall, so also audio, and stuff like that. (I lose too much quality, because I've got splendid Divx movies, and I do not want to lose quality (at least as less as possible).

So perhaps somebody could send me screenshots of it to my e-mailbox, and than I will find a way to put it on the internet to help others with it too...

So in short, please give me the best settings for VCD and SVCD and I would be very pleased if it where screenshots of all the settings... Mail me (veiliger@hotmail.com)...or write below

[sean madison]

Email me and i'll send u something nice

Im at school right now

[vitualis]

bartjuh,

Follow the guides here or at doom9.net precisely...

With TMPGEnc, you can set both the source and destination aspect ratio. Your source display aspect ratio should be 16:9 (625 line PAL / 525 line NTSC) and your destination should be 4:3 (625 line PAL / 525 line NTSC).

Regards.

[bartjuh]

bartjuh,

Follow the guides here or at doom9.net precisely...

With TMPGEnc, you can set both the source and destination aspect ratio. Your source display aspect ratio should be 16:9 (625 line PAL / 525 line NTSC) and your destination should be 4:3 (625 line PAL / 525 line NTSC).

Regards.

You are absolutely right there but there is a problem.
This all goes up when the video is REALLY 16:9 but the problem is most are not, but they are widescreen...
So what should I do when I've got movies with the screen sizes of:
-720x480movie already contains black borders... (problably first getting rid of them in order to play correct at a widescren television..?)
-640x304
-560x244
-730x336
-720x320

So that is not something to be happy about

So what should be the average setting than???

[Truman]

This topic is about PAL, but maybe it helps:
https://www.videohelp.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=74226

[wcb4]

I may be wrong on this one, but............

I don't think you are not going to get 16:9 aspect ratio out of a vcd or svcd, you are only gonig to get 4:3, that is the spec. If the source is 16:9, and you do a full screen keep aspect ratio, then its going to pad the top and bottom with black, and then if you watch this on a wide screen tv, unless the dvd player is smart enough to remove the black borders and enlarge to fit the screen, then its going to pad the left and right with black to fit the 4:3 picture on the 16:9 television.

as far as the best settings for audio or whatever, the template is the best specs because it plays on all vcd/dvd players. For someone to tell you any optimal specs for YOUR particular machine, you would have to provide a lot of specs about your machine such as max bitrate and what resolutions it can play etc (and then you are producing an xVCD or xSVCD, not a true VCD or SVCD)[/u]

[bartjuh]

If you have the best settings there are possible mail the screenshot to me: veiger@hotmail.com
Bye the way, I faced another thing, the audio quality is not so good, there is a possibility to add a 'program' to the program. I already added a layer 2 program, but still the quality is not as good as the source...

So go ahead, make my day!!!

bomb my e-mail box with screenshots and programs...

[bartjuh]

Sorry, it is veiliger@hotmail.com so not veiger@...

[vitualis]

You are absolutely right there but there is a problem.
This all goes up when the video is REALLY 16:9 but the problem is most are not, but they are widescreen...

"Widescreen" is a generic name given to any movie where the theatrical "DAR" (display aspect ratio) is > 4:3.

16:9 is widescreen too. If the 16:9 movie completely fills up the 720x480 source screen, then it is anamorphic and you should follow the instructions I gave before...

If your movies are letterboxed 16:9 in the source 720x480, then the source aspect ratio is simply 4:3 (625 line PAL / 525 line NTSC).

If your movies are 2.35:1, usually the source aspect ratio is still 16:9 (i.e., follow the instructions I gave initially) but you will see letterboxing because it is wider than 16:9.

I think that you probably have a 16:9 DVD movie that is encoded in the letterboxed format rather than anamorphic. If this is the case, the source aspect ratio, as stated before, is 4:3 (625line / 525line).

Regards.

[bartjuh]

How do I know when it is letterbox, and what is it...
Isn't there an average setup for movies with the sizes:
720x>480?
640x>480?
I will post a view screendumps tonight...

[bartjuh]

Here they are it was made for movies with sizes
720x>480
and
640x>480







Is this all wrong or...
Bye the way, I also downloaded another program to increase the
quality of the audio called lame-3. It's an MP3 encoder and I want to
use it at the external audio encoder and than layer 3...
Will that work good, or... And should I use other settings for my
audio...

[Truman]

I don't understand the aspect ratio problem. You said, you want to load a SVCD source into TMPG. SVCD resolution is 480x480/576.
However, open the source in TMPG, go to setting > advanced > clip frame, crop the borders and write down the resolution of the frame without borders.
Use FitCD to calculate resizing. Load the source into FitCD and type in the field "coded pixel" the framesize without borders. Select destination file type. I recommend to set 2 macroblocks TV overscan.
In TMPG > setting > advanced use video arrange method "center[custom size]" and type the resized frame size, that FitCD told you (448 x xxx).
At the video tab set target resolution 480x480/576, aspect ratio 4:3 or simply load a SVCD template.
Motion search precision "high quality" should be enough if the source is not too bad.
DC component precision: 8 bit is enough if you plan to play it on TV.(saves some bits)
Also you may try VBR 2 pass. min=0, avg=1900, max=2450 should give you a similar quality @ smaller filesize
If you use VBR, use a higher VBV buffer (set 224 KB in TMPG=112 buffer segments, some encoders confuse these settings)
Finally you can not use MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3 (MP3) for SVCD, only MPEG-1 Layer-2(MP2) or MPEG-2 audio.
.mp2 @ 224 kbps is OK.
SVCD total bitrate (incl. video, audio, .bmp subs, menus) is limited to 2748 kbps.
Hope it helps.

[bartjuh]

1 I don't understand the aspect ratio problem. You said, you want to load a SVCD source into TMPG. SVCD resolution is 480x480/576.

2 However, open the source in TMPG, go to setting > advanced > clip frame, crop the borders and write down the resolution of the frame without borders.

3 Use FitCD to calculate resizing. Load the source into FitCD and type in the field "coded pixel" the framesize without borders. Select destination file type. I recommend to set 2 macroblocks TV overscan.

4 In TMPG > setting > advanced use video arrange method "center[custom size]" and type the resized frame size, that FitCD told you (448 x xxx).
At the video tab set target resolution 480x480/576, aspect ratio 4:3 or simply load a SVCD template.

5 Motion search precision "high quality" should be enough if the source is not too bad.

6 DC component precision: 8 bit is enough if you plan to play it on TV.(saves some bits)

7 Also you may try VBR 2 pass. min=0, avg=1900, max=2450 should give you a similar quality @ smaller filesize
If you use VBR, use a higher VBV buffer (set 224 KB in TMPG=112 buffer segments, some encoders confuse these settings)

8 Finally you can not use MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3 (MP3) for SVCD, only MPEG-1 Layer-2(MP2) or MPEG-2 audio.
.mp2 @ 224 kbps is OK.

9 SVCD total bitrate (incl. video, audio, .bmp subs, menus) is limited to 2748 kbps.

Hope it helps.

1 The source is a video of 720x480 / 720x336
So I think I should use 4:3 Display
Because I want to keep it at widescreen!

2 & 3 What are you doing???

4 I want that the film fits on my TV-screen (using my standalone)
If you change it into 'your' format, a part of the movie will
be played little outside the screen, I want it just at widescreen and
everything has to fit on the TV-screen (I don't want to miss anything )

5 Time is not an issue...so if it gets better I will do it at highest quality

6 Probably it also saves space..?

7 VBR? I only see VBV... VBV is ok I guess with 112

8 ok, I will use the Toolame. Is there not another thing I can do to
increase the quality?

9 ok, isn't it???

[Truman]

1 The source is a video of 720x480 / 720x336
So I think I should use 4:3 Display
Because I want to keep it at widescreen!

It may be correct or not, it depends on the DAR of the source.

2 & 3 What are you doing???

Have a look at my reply above once again.

4 I want that the film fits on my TV-screen (using my standalone)
If you change it into 'your' format, a part of the movie will
be played little outside the screen, I want it just at widescreen and
everything has to fit on the TV-screen (I don't want to miss anything )

wrong, vice versa.

7 VBR? I only see VBV... VBV is ok I guess with 112

hint: rate control mode

8 ok, I will use the Toolame. Is there not another thing I can do to
increase the quality?

Depends on the source. Sometimes you need a good decoder and a good downsampler as well.[/quote]