one cd or two?

jimmy · 3rd December 2001, 21:04

Is it better to encode a 119 minute movie to one cd at 620kb/sec or make it 2 cd’s with a higher bitrate?

I tried removing the credits and reducing audio to fit on to one cd but the bitrate is still low.

If 2 cd’s are better, how high of a bitrate is acceptable? If I try to make 2 full cd’s the bitrate is over 1400kb/sec.

It is an action movie, 1.85:1 WS 640x352

jimmy

PhAtfiSh · 4th December 2001, 04:57

well its up to you of course how good you want the rip to look...
but if you use 1cd it will look shit

110mins is a good limit for 1cd, and even then if its an action movie 1cd could look bad.

as for bitrate for 2cds, just fill them up if your gunna use 2cds

elgan123 · 5th December 2001, 16:42

Or, you could just make a few sacrifices.

It's true that a 640*352 119 minute encode will look crappy. But if you reduce resolution to say 544*304 (max 576*320) and reduce audio quality you could still have an 'acceptable' rip.

Of course, I wouldn't recommend sharing this rip with your buddies as a testament to your ripping quality.

But it will look ok (perhaps small blocks on walls etc...nothing too noticeable) if you set your monitor resolution to 640*480, 32 bpp.

Audio should be no more than about 110 kbps...maybe try something like -m j -h -b 32 -V 9 -B 256 --lowpass 17.5

Some people prefer abr at this bitrate but I have found this setting to be acceptable for about 110 kbps without losing too much on the high frequencies.

17th December 2001, 22:18

Using Nandub I make great looking 1CD rips. I use 512x384/640x272 resolution and can fit a 1hr 30min movie to 1CD and have it look good. I use 910kbps bitrate and set the minium to 320kbps, set the lowpass to 1500kbps and the highpass to 270 the rest of the settings or my own. I'm working on movies over 1hr 30mins.... gonna show that it can be done! I have the movie "Gone in 60secs" thats 1hr 57min.
I have cut off the end and start credits and have it at 1hr 48min 24sec. Its at 772mb at the moment and the quality is Supra!
I will get it to 700mb

Ceronian · 18th December 2001, 19:52

Which movie are you going to encode? There are some movies which looks great whit only one CD (eg Unbreakable). But it's a question of claim, if one CD is enough or that two CDs are needed. Try, and compare the results. You will see...
In case of one CD, reduce the resolution.

Captain_Nipple · 19th December 2001, 02:20

That's the challange of DivX encoding. Anybody can have a great looking movie if using 2cd. Unbreakable is very compressable. So is Goodfellas but that is 2hrs 17min minus the credits but even that looks good when done right on a one cd rip.

Most of my non-ripping friends prefer to have just one one cd movie than to have two cds for the one movie. All depends on the movie and what the size of the final soundtrack/s.

jimmy · 20th December 2001, 19:54

I ended up making 2 cd's and it all turned out fine.

My main concern was whether slower systems could handle the higher bitrate without appearing choppy.

jimmy

philippas · 23rd December 2001, 04:40

One cd for a 2h movie is not good at all for me but there are some few exceptions. My suggestion is after you do the 1st pass check how big was the first pass(You can check it with the stats analyser or with the debuggview) then you can choose how many cd's you want to use.
Hint if the 1st pass is>1400mb use two cd's. If it's less than 1200 use 1cd.

LotionBoy · 27th December 2001, 08:06

Use the stat analyzer in Gordian Knot. That will tell you how compressible the file is and how many CDs you need.

LotionBoy

AM Tiainen · 27th December 2001, 17:49

1. Use DivX 4
2. Use 90min (790MB) CD-R
90min cd-r works in many CD-R writer and are
playable in most cd-reader.

LotionBoy · 27th December 2001, 20:29

regardless of the size of the CD that you use, be it 90 or 99 or the usual 80, there are still times when your movie is not going to fit on one cd, even if you use Divx4. Use the GKnot stat analyzer, it works, and it makes sure your rips are decent quality.

LotionBoy

philippas · 27th December 2001, 23:36

You can use the stats analyser in Gknot to find the optimum resolution for your movie and the stats Reader, to check the size of the 1st pass. The size of the 1st pass will give you a very accurate indication for the compressibility => the cd's you have to use and other settings that you have to tweak in Nandub.

The method bellow, in my opinion, will give you excellent results and sure better than an automatic encoding in GKnot+Nandub or Gknot+virtualdub for divx4.

First i do the compressibity test in Gknot and check the resolution and the bitRate that i will use.
Then i do the first pass and feed the stats file in stats Reader and i check for the size of the first pass.
If the size is close to 1400mb i use 2cd's and main DRF = 2-2.
If its 1500-1800mb i use main DRF = 2-3 and so on. The same applies if the size is close to 700mb and i use 1cd with DRF = 2-2 e.t.c.

Note main DRF is not the only thing that i change accordingly to the size of the 1st pass but i think it's the most important.

You will possibly get higher quality if you do multiple passes and tweak Nandub depending the film, but that takes a lot of time.

twistee · 6th January 2002, 01:30

I used to only do 1 cd rips (as i was a cheap bastard and couldnt be bothered to buy more cds). But after doing a few 2 cd rips im not going back to 1 cd. The quality is soooo much better, and even if it is a short movie i will just raise the quality of the audio, or have a second audio track (like directors commentary).

8th January 2002, 06:13

Quote:

Originally posted by twistee
I used to only do 1 cd rips (as i was a cheap bastard and couldnt be bothered to buy more cds). But after doing a few 2 cd rips im not going back to 1 cd. The quality is soooo much better, and even if it is a short movie i will just raise the quality of the audio, or have a second audio track (like directors commentary).

What resolution do you use since your doing 2CD rip?

twistee · 8th January 2002, 09:53

I let gordian knot figure that out (im pretty lazy...so i just use all the automated programs now). I pretty much go for the highest resolution it will let me (as most of the time it just reaches .27). But for long movies i just get it close to .27.

smelly · 8th January 2002, 14:05

Well as I say, to each his own. I myself prefer 1 CD rips because it is much more professional if you can get a great looking 1 CD rip.

What it all comes down to is personal taste of course, but I say any rip where the movie duration is over 1 Hr, and 50 minutes, I'd have to choose 2 CD rip.

However, if the movie you are ripping is a fairly dark movie (for example, pitch black, which is roughly a 2 Hr movie), making it a 1 CD rip will look very good.

There are 800mb cd's on the market these days, which gives a tad more space for your not so average rip (ie, a movie over 90 minutes).

This of course, is all based on the assumption that you have a competent understanding of the way DivX codec works.

Take care pplz.

LotionBoy · 8th January 2002, 16:49

Reolution is completely movie dependant. There is no one magic resolution that will work for all movies, just like there is no magic Nandub setting for all movies. The nice thing about Gordian Knot is that it takes pretty much all the guess work out of finding the resolution.

LotionBoy

twistee · 9th January 2002, 00:52

Before i started using gordain knot, pretty much i always used 640x352 for my movies. It seemed to always work...although looking back on my old movies using that, and looking at my movies now, there is a huge difference. But i found that res to be pretty 'magic' and the only time it stuffed up was on movies like saving private ryan and other long or complex movies.

jimmy · 10th January 2002, 20:33

Thanks everyone, you were all a great help

jimmy

3rd December 2001, 21:04	#1 \| Link
jimmy Registered User Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 8	one cd or two? Is it better to encode a 119 minute movie to one cd at 620kb/sec or make it 2 cd’s with a higher bitrate? I tried removing the credits and reducing audio to fit on to one cd but the bitrate is still low. If 2 cd’s are better, how high of a bitrate is acceptable? If I try to make 2 full cd’s the bitrate is over 1400kb/sec. It is an action movie, 1.85:1 WS 640x352 jimmy

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

4th December 2001, 04:57	#2 \| Link
PhAtfiSh part-time Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: England Posts: 52	well its up to you of course how good you want the rip to look... but if you use 1cd it will look shit 110mins is a good limit for 1cd, and even then if its an action movie 1cd could look bad. as for bitrate for 2cds, just fill them up if your gunna use 2cds

5th December 2001, 16:42	#3 \| Link
elgan123 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: CANADA Posts: 55	Or, you could just make a few sacrifices. It's true that a 640352 119 minute encode will look crappy. But if you reduce resolution to say 544304 (max 576320) and reduce audio quality you could still have an 'acceptable' rip. Of course, I wouldn't recommend sharing this rip with your buddies as a testament to your ripping quality. But it will look ok (perhaps small blocks on walls etc...nothing too noticeable) if you set your monitor resolution to 640480, 32 bpp. Audio should be no more than about 110 kbps...maybe try something like -m j -h -b 32 -V 9 -B 256 --lowpass 17.5 Some people prefer abr at this bitrate but I have found this setting to be acceptable for about 110 kbps without losing too much on the high frequencies.

17th December 2001, 22:18	#4 \| Link
NeVeRLiFt Guest Posts: n/a	Using Nandub I make great looking 1CD rips. I use 512x384/640x272 resolution and can fit a 1hr 30min movie to 1CD and have it look good. I use 910kbps bitrate and set the minium to 320kbps, set the lowpass to 1500kbps and the highpass to 270 the rest of the settings or my own. I'm working on movies over 1hr 30mins.... gonna show that it can be done! I have the movie "Gone in 60secs" thats 1hr 57min. I have cut off the end and start credits and have it at 1hr 48min 24sec. Its at 772mb at the moment and the quality is Supra! I will get it to 700mb

18th December 2001, 19:52	#5 \| Link
Ceronian Registered User Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: cologne.de Posts: 46	Which movie are you going to encode? There are some movies which looks great whit only one CD (eg Unbreakable). But it's a question of claim, if one CD is enough or that two CDs are needed. Try, and compare the results. You will see... In case of one CD, reduce the resolution.

19th December 2001, 02:20	#6 \| Link
Captain_Nipple Registered User Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ireland Posts: 74	That's the challange of DivX encoding. Anybody can have a great looking movie if using 2cd. Unbreakable is very compressable. So is Goodfellas but that is 2hrs 17min minus the credits but even that looks good when done right on a one cd rip. Most of my non-ripping friends prefer to have just one one cd movie than to have two cds for the one movie. All depends on the movie and what the size of the final soundtrack/s.

20th December 2001, 19:54	#7 \| Link
jimmy Registered User Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 8	I ended up making 2 cd's and it all turned out fine. My main concern was whether slower systems could handle the higher bitrate without appearing choppy. jimmy

23rd December 2001, 04:40	#8 \| Link
philippas ∏→+∞ Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 240	One cd for a 2h movie is not good at all for me but there are some few exceptions. My suggestion is after you do the 1st pass check how big was the first pass(You can check it with the stats analyser or with the debuggview) then you can choose how many cd's you want to use. Hint if the 1st pass is>1400mb use two cd's. If it's less than 1200 use 1cd.

27th December 2001, 08:06	#9 \| Link
LotionBoy Registered User Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: NYC Posts: 224	Use the stat analyzer in Gordian Knot. That will tell you how compressible the file is and how many CDs you need. LotionBoy

27th December 2001, 17:49	#10 \| Link
AM Tiainen Registered User Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Finland Posts: 35	1. Use DivX 4 2. Use 90min (790MB) CD-R 90min cd-r works in many CD-R writer and are playable in most cd-reader.

27th December 2001, 20:29	#11 \| Link
LotionBoy Registered User Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: NYC Posts: 224	regardless of the size of the CD that you use, be it 90 or 99 or the usual 80, there are still times when your movie is not going to fit on one cd, even if you use Divx4. Use the GKnot stat analyzer, it works, and it makes sure your rips are decent quality. LotionBoy

27th December 2001, 23:36	#12 \| Link
philippas ∏→+∞ Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 240	You can use the stats analyser in Gknot to find the optimum resolution for your movie and the stats Reader, to check the size of the 1st pass. The size of the 1st pass will give you a very accurate indication for the compressibility => the cd's you have to use and other settings that you have to tweak in Nandub. The method bellow, in my opinion, will give you excellent results and sure better than an automatic encoding in GKnot+Nandub or Gknot+virtualdub for divx4. First i do the compressibity test in Gknot and check the resolution and the bitRate that i will use. Then i do the first pass and feed the stats file in stats Reader and i check for the size of the first pass. If the size is close to 1400mb i use 2cd's and main DRF = 2-2. If its 1500-1800mb i use main DRF = 2-3 and so on. The same applies if the size is close to 700mb and i use 1cd with DRF = 2-2 e.t.c. Note main DRF is not the only thing that i change accordingly to the size of the 1st pass but i think it's the most important. You will possibly get higher quality if you do multiple passes and tweak Nandub depending the film, but that takes a lot of time.

6th January 2002, 01:30	#13 \| Link
twistee idiot Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 181	I used to only do 1 cd rips (as i was a cheap bastard and couldnt be bothered to buy more cds). But after doing a few 2 cd rips im not going back to 1 cd. The quality is soooo much better, and even if it is a short movie i will just raise the quality of the audio, or have a second audio track (like directors commentary).

8th January 2002, 09:53	#15 \| Link
twistee idiot Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 181	I let gordian knot figure that out (im pretty lazy...so i just use all the automated programs now). I pretty much go for the highest resolution it will let me (as most of the time it just reaches .27). But for long movies i just get it close to .27.

8th January 2002, 14:05	#16 \| Link
smelly Registered User Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 4	Well as I say, to each his own. I myself prefer 1 CD rips because it is much more professional if you can get a great looking 1 CD rip. What it all comes down to is personal taste of course, but I say any rip where the movie duration is over 1 Hr, and 50 minutes, I'd have to choose 2 CD rip. However, if the movie you are ripping is a fairly dark movie (for example, pitch black, which is roughly a 2 Hr movie), making it a 1 CD rip will look very good. There are 800mb cd's on the market these days, which gives a tad more space for your not so average rip (ie, a movie over 90 minutes). This of course, is all based on the assumption that you have a competent understanding of the way DivX codec works. Take care pplz.

8th January 2002, 16:49	#17 \| Link
LotionBoy Registered User Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: NYC Posts: 224	Reolution is completely movie dependant. There is no one magic resolution that will work for all movies, just like there is no magic Nandub setting for all movies. The nice thing about Gordian Knot is that it takes pretty much all the guess work out of finding the resolution. LotionBoy

9th January 2002, 00:52	#18 \| Link
twistee idiot Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 181	Before i started using gordain knot, pretty much i always used 640x352 for my movies. It seemed to always work...although looking back on my old movies using that, and looking at my movies now, there is a huge difference. But i found that res to be pretty 'magic' and the only time it stuffed up was on movies like saving private ryan and other long or complex movies.

10th January 2002, 20:33	#19 \| Link
jimmy Registered User Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 8	Thanks everyone, you were all a great help jimmy