What Bit Rate to use ??

[Nuke2000]

ok i have a 180min pal svcd going to reencode it to 352X480 ntsc dvd format becasue my dvd play does not like pal. going to use tmpeg to rencode that file and use layer-2 48000hz 256kbps for sound. i want to do a 2-pass VBR or a Automatci VBR (CQ_VBR) what is best and what maxs ans min should i use ? This needs to fit on a dvd+rw 4.7gb and have room for meauns and stuff.

[SiC]

Use the same bitrate as the SVCD. If you don't know what the bitrate is check with Bitrate Viewer. Raising the bitrate above the original will not do you any good (will not look any better).
Now the other thing is converting PAL to NTSC, it's not only the resolution, it's also the frame rate.... I don't know if you will get good results changing from 25fps (PAL) to 29.97 (NTSC) or 23.97 (NTSC).

[Nuke2000]

i have to my dvd played on the tv just will not play pal. and there is no way to change it on the dvd play so it will take pal. i guess that way it didnt coust much :) but it does play ntsc dvd+rw i make

[SiC]

Oh and for audio I do not recommend you use Layer-2 for audio since it is not within the DVD standards. Although most DVD players will play DVD video with Layer-2 audio, the standard is either AC3 (Dolby Digital), DTS, or PCM. I suggest you use AC3, just re-encode the audio with Sonic Foundry Soft Encode.

[Nuke2000]

ok but what about the other settings

[SiC]

Run your SVCD file thru Bitrate Viewer and it will tell you what the settings are such as ScanType, Quantscale, Field Order, Max Bitrate, Average Bitrate, Minimum Bitrate, etc.. Just set your encoder settings to match this. Bitrate Viewer is really good, you should try it out.

[auenf]

Originally posted by SiC
Oh and for audio I do not recommend you use Layer-2 for audio since it is not within the DVD standards. Although most DVD players will play DVD video with Layer-2 audio, the standard is either AC3 (Dolby Digital), DTS, or PCM. I suggest you use AC3, just re-encode the audio with Sonic Foundry Soft Encode.

there are three audio formats, one of which must be present on the disc: Mpeg-2 audio, AC3 or PCM.

you'll find that most discs come with AC3 cause:

- PCM takes up way too much room
- people usually only use the digital connection to connect to their amp, and not many amps can decode mpeg 2 audio, which means they get no sound.

all dvd players are required to be able to decode mpeg-2 audio, ac3 and PCM (altho PCM is already decoded), and about 0.1% of dvd players support decoding of DTS, most of them have the DTS Digital Out logo, which actually means SFA.

SVCD on the other hand works best with MPEG-2 audio.

Enf...

[SiC]

Like I said, most players will accept MPEG Layer-2 audio, but it is not within the DVD standards. MPEG Layer-2 was never accepted as a standard audio format for DVD-Video. That is why you will never see a retail DVD with Layer-2 audio.

[Nuke2000]

if i change sound to ac3 will it be in sysc this the video ?

[SiC]

Yes, you should not have any probs with sync.

[easy2Bcheesy]

Originally posted by SiC
Like I said, most players will accept MPEG Layer-2 audio, but it is not within the DVD standards. MPEG Layer-2 was never accepted as a standard audio format for DVD-Video. That is why you will never see a retail DVD with Layer-2 audio.

More accurately, you won't see a NTSC disk using MPEG Layer-2. My PAL copy of Fargo uses MPEG Layer-2 audio and I'm sure there are a few others too.

[Nuke2000]

well iam going to use MPEG Layer-2 for the sound and it need to be ntsc

[Antonio S.]

This is not true!!!

Every DVD player that can play (S)VCD can decode MPEG-1 layer2 audio. In fact, I had seen a lot of DVD's (especially from Europe) that use mp2 audio.

Antonio S.
http://www.antonio.owns.it

[jeffnoone]

Likely digital out on a NTSC DVD player won't work with MPEG Layer-2 for the sound - but the analog outs will still work, if MPEG Layer-2 is the only soundtrack on the DVD-R

[auenf]

Originally posted by SiC
Like I said, most players will accept MPEG Layer-2 audio, but it is not within the DVD standards. MPEG Layer-2 was never accepted as a standard audio format for DVD-Video. That is why you will never see a retail DVD with Layer-2 audio.

maybe you missed the line i typed that started with "All dvd players...".

PCM, AC3 and M2A are the three audio formats that are in the dvd spec, one of the three must be on the disc for it to be within the DVD spec. ALL DVD PLAYERS CAN DECODE THE THREE FORMATS. ie, connect some speakers (with or without an amp) to the dvd player using the analogue 2 speaker out, and either of those three formats will work perfectly.

DTS on the other hand, isnt part of the dvd spec, so dvd players arent required to decode it, instead its passed thru the coax/optical to an amp that can.

most amps only decode AC3 and maybe even DTS, not many decode M2A, which is why i mentioned the problem in my first post.

when dvd was first released, there was a bit of a split between europe and USA over ac3 and m2a, which is why americans are led to believe that m2a isnt part of the dvd spec.

as for no retail dvd having m2a audio, i have a few american market dvds here that have m2a, please be careful what you post next time.

Enf...