cce 480x480 input --> 352x480 output

[fredisdead]

I have some direct tivo extracted mpeg streams which are 480x480 (svcd) resolution and i want to re-encode to 352x480 and use multipass vbr.

I frameserve via dvd2avi -> vfapi -> cce (2.5)

Video settings I have used and results:

regular dvd compliant -> vertically squashed 720x480
1/2 horizontal not checked dvd compliant -> same as above

Tried to pass through virtualdub to resize

virtual dub -> 640x480 -> cce

regular dvd compliant results fine
1/2 horizontal resolution not dvd compliant -> green vertical bar on right side of video also stream is not 320x480 not dvd compliant
1/2 horizontal dvd compliant -> same result

tied default codec and huffy with cce bug fix and still get green bar.

So: My questions are:

1) What input formats (h x v) does cce want to produce dvd compliant full frame and 1/2 d1 video?

2) Can I do this from 480x480 input without intermediate resizing?

thx

[jdobbs]

You have to resize it no matter what. You must set h x v to either 720x480 (D1) or 352x480 (half d1). If you want half D1 for output it makes no sense to go to 720 and then half the horizontal -- it will add a step, slow you down, and add distortion to the picture. Also make sure the aspect ration is set to 4:3 in CCE.

You don't want to resize to 640x480 for DVD playback.

There are ways to trick some aithoring packages into accepting a 480x480 --> but it will only work on certain players.

[fredisdead]

so... if i want cce to output 352x480 should i feed as follows:

480x480 -> dvd2avi -> vdub -> 352x480 -> cce WITHOUT SPECIFYING 1/2 HORIZONTAL ?

[jdobbs]

Yes. You also want to click off "DVD Compliant" It isn't really necessary and according to the CCE Manual "...the frame size is changed to 720x480..." and "...the original image is not enlarged but is matted." 352x480 is DVD compliant also.

When I do Half D1 I use Robshot's method, with "DVD Compliant" off, minimum bitrate to 0 and the maximum to 9000. That helps protect you from instantaneous bitrate jumps above the DVD max of 9.8Mbs in GOP sequences.

It sounds a lot more complicated than it is. Once you get it right create a template in CCE, call it "Half D1" and save it.

As a suggestion you may also want to try using AVISynth instead of VirtualDub to frameserve it. I've used both and find AVISynth with the MPEG2DEC plugin to be the fastest, most reliable method of frame serving and resizing.

The TIVO input is MPEG-2 isn't it? I'm going to have to get me one of those, I have a friend who tells me they are highly hackable (Linux underneath I believe).

[fredisdead]

The DirecTV Tivo produces 480x480 mpeg2 video streams with 48khz LII audio tracks. I have successfully used the SVCD -> DVD trick method described in this board to successfully burn DirecTivo streams to DVD and have them successfully play on my sony 860 and kenwood 5700 changers. You have to use DVD Maestro as the authoring tools, as although one can fool the authoring tools to accept the 480x480 video with dvd patcher, the tivo streams use very long gop structures (over 40 frames) which other authoring tools kick out as not dvd compliant.

getting back to my cce issues, i am still uncertain what you are telling me... If i feed 352x480 to cce will it matte the source on a 720x480 frame? I know it does this with the 480x480, matting is not what i want. If i feed 720x480 and check 1/2 res I get 360x480 which is not compliant! So.. specifically, what source resolution should i feed for true unmatted 1/2d1 output?

thx

[jdobbs]

fredisdead,

CCE will only matte to 720x480 when "DVD Compliant" is checked.

To make 480x480 into Half D1 you have to:

1. Resize to 352x480 before feeding into CCE (in the frame server).
2. Turn "DVD Compliant" off in CCE (that gets rid of the matte)
3. Set the DAR to 4:3, bitrates, etc... in CCE
4. Encode.

In your notation:
480x480 -> dvd2avi -> vdub -> 352x480 -> cce

I can see the source of your confusion on Half D1 using CCE's "Half Horizontal Resolution" option:

If you use the "Half Horizontal Resolution" option it is a little misleading. Compliant MPEG horizontal resolution has to be a multiple of 16, so CCE has to round to the nearest 16 -- that means that when you tell it to "half" a 720x480 input it rounds to 352x480 rather than 360x480 (360 is not evenly divisible by 16).

Now with all that said... You asked about how to turn it into 352x480. My advice would be to not resize to Half D1 at all, but rather that you use bicubic resize and make the source larger when encoding. That way you will keep the quality of the original rather than losing 27% of your source's resolution.

Your notation:
480x480 -> dvd2avi -> vdub -> 720x480 -> cce

jdobbs

[fredisdead]

thx...