SVCD Calc

[EpheMeroN]

Does anyone know of a good SVCD Calc? Please don't post the one that's on dvdrhelp.com either. It never gives me proper settings.

Every time it gives me the bitrates and I encode, mux, cut, etc, the cd's are 99% oversized and I'm left guessing the bitrate. I encode in CCE, mux and cut in TMPGEnc. I always try to do 2-3 CD Rips to SVCD but I usually end up encoding each movie 4-5 times to get the bitrate right so both cd's get maxed.

[Trahald]

I like FitCD, it is good at calculating muxing overhead. Do a quick google for it. There are other options in doom9 full software page as well.

[jshumate]

If you buy the Teco Bit Rate Viewer from http://www.tecoltd.com, it has a nice bit rate calculator that works pretty well. I would always advise that you use a bit rate slightly less than any result a bit
rate calculator gives you. For example, if a calculator recommends a
bit rate of 2200 and you actually use 2200, it's not going to take very
much for you have files too big. Nothing, not even CCE, will encode at exactly the value you set it for. I would recommend you set the encoder at a value between 20-50 Kbps less than what the calculator tells you.
Finally, if you are doing VBR encodes for SVCD, all bets are off. It's impossible to correctly predict the size of a VBR SVCD encode. All you
can do is make reasonable guesses and if your files are too big, you have to try again with a smaller value. The Teco product I mentioned above has some nice features in the commercial version such as the ability to change the value of the bit rate in the header. The free version of the Teco product does not have a bit rate calculator.

[EpheMeroN]

All of my encodes to SVCD are VBR so it truly is a guessing game!

I've had to encode a movie sometimes 4-5 times just to get the cd's maxed and perfect sized. I use 300 low, 2450 max, but the average is always a guess!

I will start taking the bitrate given from a calc and lowering it 100 though just to be safe.

[absinthe]

Well, here's what I do for encoding in CCE.

I set up the encode in TMPGEnc with the wizard, complete with audio (*make sure the audio is included in your calculation here*). I then select 80-minute VCD/SVCD as the media. If you want to do a 2-disc encode, then just set the filesize to be 200%; for a 3-disc encode, ... well, you get the picture.

Then go back into 'Expert' settings and note the bitrates. Then you can just close TMPGEnc.

Go to CCE and set up your encode using the bitrates you jotted down from TMPGEnc. I always round the average bitrate down to the nearest 5. I.e., if your bitrate from TMPGEnc was 1491, I make it 1490. If it was 2389, I make it 2385.

My filesizes come out nearly perfect every time :-). You shouldn't have any problem with this method especially if, as you say, you are muxing with TMPGEnc. I sometimes mux with bbMPEG, but I find that for some reason that program adds a whole heck of a lot more overhead. Don't know why.

-abs

[EpheMeroN]

Great tip! I'll be sure to test that out.

You said bbMPEG adds more overhead than TMPGEnc? I always thought it was just the opposite. I used to use bbMPEG all the time and all of a sudden it just stopped working. The program would crash each time I'd try to open up the audio and video streams for muxing. Well, I remembered the simple fix for it. When you open bbMPEG, click Load at the top left, then hit Cancel. THEN you go on ahead with your muxing and it prevents it from crashing. I wish someone would've just patched the last bbMPEG to fix this.

[absinthe]

If I recall correctly, there is a bug if you use bbMPEG with WinXP. You have to either download a special version or a patch. Mine always works just fine in XP, but I've been using it so long I don't remember where I got it.

I think you'd be safe if you grabbed the one that comes packaged with DVD2SVCD here at doom9 downloads.

-abs

[Abond]

@EpheMeroN
You can try this (http://www.kvcd.net/mplex.exe) for muxing. It is based on bbMPEG code work flawlessly for me under XP.
And maybe to try this (http://www.kvcd.org/downloads/CalcuMatic.exe ) for average bitrate calculating. Choose the correct mux overhead.