SVCD or VOB??

[daehkcid]

Hi,

My DVD machine has the ability to play SVCD and .vob files. I have two options:

1. Encode SVCD
2. Lower vob bits/sec

My player can play SVCD flawesly. It also play vobs file, recorded onto CDR. However, since it's reading off a CD, and not DVD, because of the DVDROM speed limitation, it can't read higher than 5mbits/s vobs.

So I wonder, is it better to encode SVCD or to lower vobs birates? Well, im considering a standard 3 CD/movie. And 4CD for long movies (over 2h).

Are they supposed to give the same result, since they are both mpeg2? Which of the two method do you think will give better quality? I don't mind about encoding speed.

[vwo]

you are asking for an orange and apples comparison... at the same bit rate, the image quality should be fairly close. However, most SVCD's that I have seen are encoded with bitrates as low as 2,000, while most DVD's are encoded at twice that (sometimes as high as 8,000 to 9,000) - which clearly gives a better image quality (look closely at the "dark" parts of the movies - you will see a lot less "ghosts" in the higher bitrates)... in your case, I guess it comes down to the number of CD's that you are willing to use for each movie (700Mb/CD - 2 hour movie would give you 2-3 discs at 2,000, around 6-8 discs at 6,000) - it's your call. Most people on this forum are using DVD-R's, so we are trying to get as close to the original quality as possible and still try to fit the movie into one DVD-R (4.5GB)

[daehkcid]

But let's say, at the same bitrates (~2000), vobs or SVCD will look better? Because I can use either two, and i will chose the better quality (image/sound).

The only drawback for vobs is, it'll be burned in Mode 1, (700/cd) while SVCD would be mode 2 (850/cd).


thnx for ur reply.

[vwo]

don't quote on me this...but I think at the same bitrate,both SVCD and DVD should have similar video quality. One thing that might be different (I am not quite sure on this) is that the SVCD does not support 5.1ch sound, while DVD's do (at a cost of increase overall bitrate...) - and sound is a very important part of the movie experience.

[jdobbs]

At the same bitrate (especially a low one) you will generally get a better picture on SVCD because the resolution is 480x480 while DVD is normally 720x480. It's kinda like trying to fit 10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound bag. It can get messy. But when the bitrate rises to a level at which it adequately supports the higher resolution, your picture will look better using DVD/VOBs.

[daehkcid]

Hmm.. i see. that's an important point.

[Pedro Gouveia]

About low bitrate vob quality


I have used the half horizontal resolution (352*572) in CCE to reencode some of the SWEP1 Extras with bitrates ranging from 1500-2000 Kbps and the quality was very good.

I used the "Robshot method" with the quantize matrices set to verylow bitrate.

IMHO this aproach has the advantage of keeping the original AC3 sound, and can be used to reauthor some (the least important ones) streams of a DVD, to save bits for the most important ones.

;-)

[jdobbs]

I've been known to shrink extras down to 352x480 (I'm NTSC) myself. It's a good way to keep them without wasting space. There are a few DVDs that use as much as 2GB just for the extras, and that only leaves a little over 2GB for the movie itself!