Bitrate question compiling a DVD

[dvdnewb2]

I'm currently using Ulead DVD Workshop 2 to create my home DVDs. I started by capturing my video, then (and here is where I started to go wrong I think) converted all my AVIs to MPEG-2 using TMPgenc. When encoding I chose a bitrate of 9000, as I had done some tests and lower bitrates seemed pixilated when viewed using DVD Workshop 2 preview option. The reason I wanted to convert the AVIS first was the 'burn time' of DVDWS2, which took about 6 hours, so I figured I could do the hardwork before hand leaving DVDWS2 to mainly comile menus rather than decode all the videos.

My problem is, when burning the project, I had to choose a low bitrate to fit 2 DV tapes onto one DVD, which was fine, and they looked good on the DVD player even though they were 3000 bitrate. But when I tried to do this manual with TMPGenc, and view the same video, the quality was much worse, even though I had tried to match the settings as close as I could.

Am I missing something obvious here. It seems that encoding with DVDWS2 at 3000 bit rate is far better than encoding with TMPGenc at the same rate.

I would win a gold medal in the 'missing the obvious' so any advice woudl be great.

Thanks in advance.

[Baldrick]

You should be able to get good quality using tmpgenc also.
What tmpgenc version? tmpgenc xpress, tmpgenc plus, tmpgenc dvd author 3?
What audio settings are you using tmpgenc? Be sure to use compressed audio.
Are you leaving it as interlaced? don't do any deinterlacing.

[dvdnewb2]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm using TMPGenc Xpress.
Tried with both Dolby and MPEG-2 audio. Using default Interlacing setting. Also using 2-pass and VBR to try to maximize the quality, regardless of time. I think I used the Motion Precision option. So I'm confused here

I guess all I am trying to achieve is the output of the DVDWS2, with a bitrate of 3000, using TMPGenc Xpress, and for some reason, the same video, encoded with what I can guess identical settings, produces different quality.

Confused.com.

[Baldrick]

It sounds correct.

What resolution/frame size? 720x480?

And are you sure that the bitrate is 3000kbits with ulead? What is the dvd output file size and runtime.

[dvdnewb2]

are you sure that the bitrate is 3000kbits with ulead? What is the dvd output file size and runtime.

Yeah, opened the file DVDWS2 had created when burning/encoding with TMPGenc and chekced the bitrate, said it was 3000. Size sounds about right, was straight from DV to AVI and encoded to 16:9, same as the source. I'll have a play tonight. Just wondering what DVDWS2 does that TMPGenc isn't doing, or rather what I'm not doing correclty when encoding

[jman98]

TMPGenc will show pixelation even at high bit rates when you see some scenes change. 3000 is pretty low for TMPGenc and you're expecting miracles at that bit rate. Ulead's encoding is generally considered poor, so I'm surprised that you're pleased with the results you're getting.

The best encoders I have ever used are CCE and HCEnc. I don't think you're doing anything wrong with TMPGenc, you're just asking it to do more than it can (provide good quality at a bit rate barely above SVCD).

[dvdnewb2]

TMPGenc will show pixelation even at high bit rates when you see some scenes change. 3000 is pretty low for TMPGenc and you're expecting miracles at that bit rate. Ulead's encoding is generally considered poor, so I'm surprised that you're pleased with the results you're getting.

The best encoders I have ever used are CCE and HCEnc. I don't think you're doing anything wrong with TMPGenc, you're just asking it to do more than it can (provide good quality at a bit rate barely above SVCD).

This is the whole issue really. I wanted to have pre-encoded video that I wouldn't have to re-encode when burning the final project from within DVDWS2, as that takes 6+ hours. So even if you want to make a small change, you have to keep waiting 6 hours, so wanted to have media that had been encoded before.

So when checking the video that DVDWS2 had encoded, I noticed it was bitrate 3000, which is what I had to choose from the templates available, I knew it would be lower quality, but when played on my DVD, it looked great, so assumed 3000 bitrate would scale up fine on the TV. Just unsure why they seem to be encoded at similar rates, but look noticably different.

Will have a deeper look tonight and try some tests on small files.

Thanks for the help sofar