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View Full Version : using dvd2avi in front of dvd2svcd


Belgarad
21st March 2002, 15:49
hello,

i am using dvd2avi in front of dvd2svcd to avoid cutting th final file, because i do not rip dvd's but convert dvb recordings.

the way i work.
1.) rename my mpeg2 dvdb file into *.vob
2.) open that *.vob in dvd2avi and define the start and end point
3.) create the *.d2v project file and the extracted *.mpa audiofile
4.) open dvd2svcd and copy a perpared generic *.d2s procectfile into the working directory.
5.) select crash recovery ->encode audio
6.) and from there it works.

But...
because of some reason dvd2svcd creates always an *.ecl file for cce with an average bitrate that seems to be calculated on the entire input file, not on the *.d2v file.
(well i tried to define this setting in both the *.ecl and the *.d2s, but when it comes to the videoencoding, dvd2svcd overwrites the setting)
in other words, if the total recording time was ~3hours, but i cut out about 1,5hour then it seems that the bitrate calculation is still based on 3~hours. so the effective avarage bitrate goes down to ~1300 instead of 1800~1900 as it could be.

i am well aware of that this is an "abuse" of dvd2svcd but if it would work, i could get rid of the pain of cutting before or after.

so is there a way i can cheat dvd2scvd to accept a prepared *.dv2 and that the bitrate adjustment reflects *.dv2 file?

also, i use a sample *.d2s project file with "Project Position=15" to doo this. are those Project Position's documented somewhere?

Labersack
21st March 2002, 21:36
Just a quick idea:
Did you ever tried to convert the .d2v with VFAPI and try to give the pseudo-avi to DVD2SVCD?
It will cost encoding time, but if it works it could be your way...

Belgarad
22nd March 2002, 12:32
Thx for your reply :-)
Yes, I worked with vfapi before i used avisynth (which i really enjoy!)
But i have not tried using vfapi with dvd2svcd though.
I am not sure wether that would really help me because i have no problem with the conversation/encoding process itself. As said before, my problem is the bitrate adjustment/calculation.

One could say, why don't you cut before giving the file to dvd2svcd? well here the reason why:
in most cases i encounter problems when cutting the stream.
sometimes i can cut using tempgenc, sometimes tempgenc denies saying "invalid mpeg stream".
the same happens to mpegtool (which is great and fast but does not support a preview)- i only in same cases i can open the dvb-source.
From time to time, when cutting the final svcd-compliant mpeg with mpegtool, the cutted pieces are not accepted by nero (invalid mpeg, no audio, no video).
In all cases, i believe that the headers are somehow broken, but i was unable to find a "header-fixer". i tried pvainstrument, but that did not help in those cases.
So to make a long story short:
Setting cutpoints with dvd2avi is fast, easy and RELIABLE.
Also the following encoding process is of cause shorter because i encode what i need.