MultiPGC - Scenarist says bitrate too high?

[tyee]

I'm just trying the Scenarist method of Trilight's MultiPGC backup and everything goes well until I try importing the ScenChap script back into Scenarist. At this point the import fails because of bitrate too high, something like 9601600 it said. Note this project is using the original .m2v, not a reencoded CCE .m2v so how the bitrate can be too high I don't know? Any thoughts?

tyee

[TRILIGHT]

The guide was written specifically for "FULL" backups. If you're using the original video stream, you're apparently not doing a full backup and your results (and problems) will be inconsistent.

[oddyseus]

have u used any still pictures? Scenarist has the habbit of encding them at 8mbs by default.

Which prog did u use for demuxing?

[tyee]

oddyseus
Yes, I'm doing Reign Of Fire just like in the guide but wanted to try it without reecoding with CCE. Actually I just completed it and it seems OK.

When I demuxed with DVDDecrypter, it looks like the original authorer's either put or caused to be put into the MPEG header the average bitrate of 9801600 bps! This is just for the .m2v only!!Bitrate viewer tells me this and also after getting to the point in the guide of importing the new script with chapters, Scenarist also told me this. The funny thing is that on original import/parsing of the .m2v into Scenarist, this bitrate was not mentioned by Scenarist and it was accepted OK? Strange eh?

I just used DVDPatcher to change the MPEG header info to 8Mbps and all was well.

BTW, Yes, 2 still pictures were used and yes I did notice that the bitrate has a default of 8Mbps. This default value can be changed in the options menu. What should I change it to??

tyee

[oddyseus]

keep lowering until u get an approval. Usually a 5mbs is sufficient regarding quality and acceptance from Scenarist.

[UTec]

tyee,

First of all... thank you VERY much. Your mention of DVDPatcher has answered my question and solved my problem completely. I had the same problem as you. After ripping the Goldmember DVD, I quickly saw from the main VOB titleset that the movie would easily fit on a DVD-5 without having to re-encode in CCE... Whohoo!.. That doesn't happen too often (movie is only 1hr34min long).

A few remarks on your observations:

"When I demuxed with DVDDecrypter, it looks like the original authorer's either put or caused to be put into the MPEG header the average bitrate of 9801600 bps!"

Like you, I demuxed the m2v file with DVD Decrypter (I reauthor all my projects from scratch with Scenarist). The 9801600 bps is not an average bit rate, it is a nominal bit rate. But you are right: it's just a flag embedded into the MPEG header and has nothing to do with the actual bit rate of the stream.

I've seen this once before and I can only surmise the authors of the original MPEG embbeded a 9801600 flag into it on purpose to make our lives harder. Thankfully, DVDPatcher quickly dispatched this problem :) (A big THANK YOU to Frank Weseloh for this wonderful little tool)

"The funny thing is that on original import/parsing of the .m2v into Scenarist, this bitrate was not mentioned by Scenarist and it was accepted OK? Strange eh? "

Very strange indeed. When I tried to import the demuxed m2v into Scenarist (I never use scripts), it rejected it and the error message specifically mentionned it was because the (9801600 bps) bitrate was too high. Which is in fact normal because the DVD specs set the maximum bitrate of MPEG video streams to an even 9800000 bps. If you exceed it by a mere 1 bps, the authoring tool should reject the stream.

So Scenarist is doing its job as it should here. What puzzles me is: how in the world did the author of the original DVD managed to make his authoring tool to accept that "9801600 bps" stream in the first place???

When I first demuxed the stream a few days ago, I didn't know about DVDPatcher. I knew it was due to the MPEG header but I resolved to re-encoding it in CCE because I thought I had no choice. Wasted 4 hours of my time not to mention the loss in quality in the stream. Oh the irony! ;)

I also had a host of bad re-encoding results due to the stream being one of those FILM-NTSC hybrids. Why in the world do some of these authors encode an interlaced or hybrid MPEG stream from a film source originally shot at 24FPS when they could both save disc space and ensure maximum playback quality/flexbility by ALWAYS encoding it as a 23.97FPS progressive stream with RFF flags and let the damm DVD player handle it. ALL DVD players can perform a pulldown (when required) on a 23.97FPS stream with the proper flags right?... so what's the deal here with those FILM-NTSC hybrid's???...

When the source is an interlaced NTSC video (like in TV documentaries on the bonus disc for eg.), I can understand the purpose of encoding an interlaced MPEG stream on the DVD (to save money basically). But for a movie originally shot with a film camera at 24FPS ??? I fail to see the purpose of encoding that as an interlaced/hybrid stream on a DVD. Am I missing something here?

"BTW, Yes, 2 still pictures were used and yes I did notice that the bitrate has a default of 8Mbps. This default value can be changed in the options menu. What should I change it too??"

Personally, I think this has nothing to do with it. The idea is that any/all video or still picture stream imported into a Scenarist project should never exceed 9800000 bps. I also have a one still mpeg imported at 8000000 bps in my project and since I changed the movie MPEG stream's header to 8000000 bps, all is well for me too.

IOW, don't worry about it and thanks again :)

[bingohopper]

I too am working on Goldmember and was having trouble with importing the m2v. I used ReStream to set the bitrate lower. It worked! Next time I'll have to try the DVDPatcher.

[tyee]

UTec
I'm glad it worked for you.

tyee

[oddyseus]

thanx tyee for sharing. That was a wondeful post