DVD to SVCD ripping : what to encode with DVDX or TMPGENC

[Puneet]

I want to rip a dvd to svcd with DVDX...Shall I use the inbuilt DVDX encoder or use DVDX and TMPGENC as a combination...

Also which one is better in respect of speed and quality..

[SiCN]

If we are talking about ease of use then I would say: Just use DVDx (quality is acceptable). But if you are concerned of quality you should use TMPGEnc Plus or Cinema Craft SP.

[Puneet]

I tried using just DVDX and the movie was 200mins (bloody long). My machine is getting old now as well (PIII 450Mz)..gosh when I bouhjt it in August 1999 it was one of the best...It took bloody 42 hours to encode it...

And furthermore the quality was not too good. There were jerks in the video (it wasn't smooth)...I tried a small chapter first and that seemed to be fine but the whole movied was just NOT smooth.
So I might try it again with TMPGenc this time.

Does running other applications at the same time as DVDX affect the quality somehow?

[SiCN]

No, the quality is not affected of other running applications. But depending on what applications you are running (i.e. games or other processor intensive apps) you will increase your conversion time a lot.

Nevertheless, if you dislike the quality you perhaps should try CInema Craft SP and especially try with a higher bitrate (you didnt say what Bitrate you are using). The limit of a SVCD is 2788kbit (audio + video + overhead), deduct about 80kbit for all the overhead and surrounding stuff the DVD player is reading. Then we come to 2708kbit/sec. From this number we deduct 192kbit for audio, which then leaves us with 2516kbit left for video. So theoretically you could use full 2516kbit for your movie. Of course this will need a lot of discs for a movie of that length. Depending on the complexity of the movie (fast scenes etc.) you will require quite a lot of bitrate to get good quality. Therefore use a encoding method called multipass VBR in Cinema Craft or 2-pass in TMPGenc. There are a good number of Tools for calculating bitrates, also equally many conversion guides. Read them and you will see the output will be by far better.

[Puneet]

I tried encoding at 1850kbps.

I tried the Bit Rate caluclator on http://www.vcdhelp.com/calc.htm

For 224kbps audio, I put in 200 mins in that calc and I wanted max 4 80min CDs, so it gave me a bit rate of 1941kbps...So to be safer (coz I wanted 3 still menus) i tried 1850kbps and then in DVDX in "volume don't exceed" i selected 80 min VCD....But amazingly afterwards I got 5 mpegs instead of 4 ...the 5th was only 6MB but I was expecting the 4th one to be less than the full limit as I had encoded at 1850kbps...hence that bitrate calc was not quite accurate

and then it took 42 hrs. to encode the whole thing and I was disappointed that it was not good...I had tried a 2 min clip from the same dvd before but then it was fine...

Also I did not check the Multipass option in the Output settings..
I believe we need to do so for a SVCD. Please verify...

Also where can I get the trial version of Cinema Craft encoder...Their website www.cinemacraft.com does not seem to have a link anymore

[SiCN]

You can get Cinema Craft SP 2.64 on visiblelight.com.

In regards to speed there is nothing better right now. 2-pass VBR is equally good in CCE and TMPGenc, but in CCE you can do up to 9 passes. Which eventually would take ages on your P3. Nevertheless, you can possibly do 4 passes in CCE in the same time as 2 passes in TMPGEnc.

You don't HAVE to do multipass for SVCD but you should use several passes to get higher qualitaaa..

[Puneet]

Thanks I got CC encoder now...I am trying with the guide on www.videotools.net

I am having a problem though. After I get the .vaf file, I get the .mpa file but don't get the .mpv file and hence bbmpeg gives me error that ".mpv file not found"...and then CCE crashes and shuts down

I am using Win XP?

I tried 2 pass with TMPGenc...Ah mate it takes ages 15min for a 1min video.....would end up with 50hrs for a 200min video

Any help...