DVD2SVCD - Latest Version 1.2.3 Build 1 released 20/10/05 [Archive]

Nick

21st September 2005, 17:54

Apart from the DVD2SVCD bundle, you will need a supported MPEG2 encoder.

DVD2SVCD supports quite a lot of MPEG2 encoders, some of them right "out of the box", some others with a little tweaking. All encoders have their specific strengths and weaknesses - the way to find the right one for you is to do a bit of testing.

Thanks to Manolito who provided most of the text for this list. The order of appearance has nothing to do with a preference for a certain encoder.

CinemaCraft Encoders:
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These encoders are the only ones supported with the D2SRoBa plugin, so if you wish to use this, you will need a supported CCE version.

CCE SP 2.50

Supported right out of the box. D2S does not show the Matrix tab. Custom matrices are not supported. There is a tip in Q44 of the FAQ (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=21859)

CCE SP 2.66 and 2.67

Supported, but only with a little work. The trial versions require the use of EclCCE by RB. See the Plugins sticky (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=100330) for more details. The full versions should work without EclCCE.

Both the trial and full versions require the creation of CCE templates. D2S only supports a limited number of CCE settings. If no CCE template is selected under D2S (encoder advanced settings), some CCE options are not initialized which leads to unpredictable results. At least one template for progressive content and another template for interlaced content are required. There is a sticky here (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=64800) about template creation by DDogg, and RB also has templates for download.

CCE SP 2.70

Not supported. However, since the advent of CCE SP2, the CCE SP demo versions (2.70.02.10 and later) do not have the logo encoded into the video stream and support .ecl files without EclCCE.exe. Unfortunately, due to slight changes in the ecl file format, DVD2SVCD does not get on well with these versions. However, D2SRoBa does and the quality is, in my opinion, slightly better than 2.50 or 2.6x. So if you use D2SRoBa for most/all encodes, you might like to give it a try. It is not without problems for XviD sources so have a look at this thread (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=118772) first.

CCE Basic and CCE SP2 are not supported.

TMPGEnc Encoder:
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Supported right out of the box. This includes the older freeware betas if you still have one knocking aroung on your hard drive. It is only the TMPGEnc encoder (Basic or Plus versions) you can use. Other software in the TMPGEnc range (TMPGEnc DVD Source Creator, TMPGEnc DVD Author etc) have no use with DVD2SVCD.

Canopus Procoder:
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Supported up to and including versions 1.5x. Versions 2.0 and upwards are not supported.

QuEnc:
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Full support for version 0.61. Even custom matrices can be selected via D2S. The only QuEnc parameter that cannot be set through D2S is the TFF / BFF parameter for interlaced encodings. This parameter must be set in the QuEnc GUI under "Advanced". Later versions should work but if the commandline paramaters change at any point, this will cause problems.

Older versions (like 0.54) do not work because the matrix parameter is different ("-cmatrix" and "-nocmatrix" for the latest versions, "-qlb" and "-noqlb" for older versions). There is a workaround: Rename "Quenc.exe" to "FreeEnc.exe". D2S will then issue the old parameters "-qlb" and "-noqlb".

FreeEnc:
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Full support for versions 0.44 and 0.31. The preferred version is 0.31, version 0.44 has a couple of issues. FreeEnc is written and hosted by VMesquita at http://www.vmesquita.com . Version 0.31 can be downloaded under http://www.i-svcd.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/vmesquita/FreeEnc031.zip
The FreeEnc forum can be found here: http://www.vmesquita.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=2058eca3d53f0314045cf13109ad281a&board=7.0

The FreeEnc command line interface only supports those parameters that are absolutely essential. All advanced parameters must be set through a template file.

HC:
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HC works very well but is not officially supported. Since the commandline interface is at least partially compatible with QuEnc, if you set the path in DVD2SVCD for the QuEnc executable as shown below, it should work.

The HC package contains two executables, one GUI version (HCGUI_xxxx.exe) and one batch version (HCBatch_xxxx.exe). The batch version is the one we use in DVD2SVCD.

Like FreeEnc HCBatch uses a limited command line interface. Advanced settings must be specified via a file "HC.INI".