Log in

View Full Version : GOOD QUALITY -- 157min movie on 2svcds- my settings


vortex72
1st July 2002, 02:41
I have been playing with DVD2SVCD for a month now.

I've ripped approximately 8 dvd's so far. I'm the type of person who thinks 3 discs for a movie is excessive unless its a 160min plus movie so I try to fit all mine on 2svcds. I've ripped several longer movies such as Aliens(Directors cut), Goodfellas, Braveheart, Ali, The Majestic, and Gladiator. I've used both the latest Tmpeg and cinemacraft 2.5 when encoding. I've also played with the sharpening filter, image quality, and noise control settings.

I've read on this forum that cinecraft encoder is supposed to be the best but I've ripped 3 very long movies now on 2 svcds- The Majestic, Ali, and Goodfellas. (i did braveheart and gladiator on 3)

I did Goodfellas with cinecraft encoder on 3 pass VBR with image quality at 25 and noise control and sharpening on medium settings(sorry dont remember exact numbers but they were equal to or slightly less that those recommended here) These movies are all in 145-157min range. Goodfellas looked ok but not as smoothe and clear as Ali and The Majestic (Ali with ALOT of motion intense sequences too) For Goodfellas I used cinecraft settings as stated above (3pass vbr, sharpening, 25image quality, noise filter) For Ali and The Majestic I used Tmpeg Constant Quality with mainly default settings EXCEPT I used the very low bitrate matrix. I'm surprised that these would look better than goodfellas with these settings according to what I've read here but they do. The lower bitrate scenes are smoother and there seems to be less "noise" around the borders of characters. Also the CQ on tmpeg seems to intelligently allocate the bitrate as good or better than 3 pass VBR from cinecraft. I tested this by watching the scenes with power dvd with a running bitrate displayed.

Of course these results are amateurish at best, since i didnt do the same movie with different encoders but I was just interested in any feedback you guys might have here or suggestions for other settings like temporal smoothing etc. So far what I've found is that if I need to fit a 140min or longer movie on 2cd's, TMPG with the low bitrate matrix enabled is by far the best choice. Of course, on my TV, these rips all look good to me, but on my monitor I can tell the difference.

Thanks in advance for any input

dvd2svcd
1st July 2002, 13:04
This thread aspires to a flamewar (imho only) (another cce vs. tmpg war), so any replies stick to facts only or it'll be closed.

Daagar
1st July 2002, 18:06
You mentioned using TMPGEnc with the low bitrate matrix. You may wish to try another test and just leave the matrix as the default. In CQ mode, this may save you a little bit of space. To get even better compression, change the GOP structure (in TMPGEnc) to 1-18-3-1 with a max of 48 frames per GOP. This sets you up with a 'Kwag template' (http://www.kvcd.net) which allows great quality in a minimum of disc space. Since you appear happy with the quality you've gotten thus far, I urge you to check out Kwag's site. It is focused on (X)VCD's, but I don't believe there is any reason you can't use his settings with mpeg2 if so desired (ie., your player doesn't like XVCDs).

If you are willing to spend the time, try out Kwag's template for 704x480 resolution. You'll gain some sharpness that isn't possible at normal vcd/svcd resolutions, without exploding the filesize. You can usually use a CQ of 50-60 and fit a good amount of video per CD.

Most of the above applies to TMPGEnc only, not CCE.

PS - You can use Kwag's template in conjunction with DVD2SVCD without a problem! The only limitation currently is that DVD2SVCD doesn't support the XVCD resolution of 704x480 by default, so you must enable 'Edit file during video encoding' to hand-massage the AVISynth script.

vortex72
2nd July 2002, 01:46
thanks for input! I had no intention to start flamewar, i was just posting my reults. I'm still new at this and learning. I think cinemacraft is a great encoder and I'm still playing with both of them at various settings. Anyone else have any input about good settings for low bitrate rips?

How do i change the GOP structure? Is this an option in dvd2svcd or strictly in tmpeg? Would it be ok to change the GOP to the settings u suggested and still use low bitrate matrix. Also, the higher resolution sound good, but I'm fairly happy with 480x480, but I would like to try the higher res for a shorter movie (under 120min)

kwag
2nd July 2002, 02:23
Originally posted by vortex72

How do i change the GOP structure?


You use the long GOP in TMPEG, but not in CCE. CCE doesn't allow long GOP's. Just go to advanced settings in TMPEG, and in the GOP tab, make the changes to 1-18-3-1-48 for NTSC or 1-18-3-1-50 for PAL.

kwag

dvd2svcd
2nd July 2002, 08:23
Kwag:

Just wondering, they say in normal circumstances use a GOP length of 12 for PAL and 15 for NTSC. 12/15 because that'll mean about 2 I pictures per second. You're using long GOPs (and I don't have a problem with that) but just wondering if your NTSC GOP structure shouldn't be 1-18-3-1-60 (because pulldown is applied to go from 23.976 (1-18-3-1-48) -> 29.970 (1-18-3-1-60) ?

kwag
2nd July 2002, 09:11
Originally posted by dvd2svcd
Kwag:

Just wondering, they say in normal circumstances use a GOP length of 12 for PAL and 15 for NTSC. 12/15 because that'll mean about 2 I pictures per second. You're using long GOPs (and I don't have a problem with that) but just wondering if your NTSC GOP structure shouldn't be 1-18-3-1-60 (because pulldown is applied to go from 23.976 (1-18-3-1-48) -> 29.970 (1-18-3-1-60) ?

The problem with a value 60 is that it's just too many P frames and to far distance between I frames. If you set a value of 60, on very long static or low action scenes where there's no activity, you can actually see a degradation of quality and a "flashing" effect on the video, just before a new I frame is inserted. I chose 48 ( 50 for PAL ) to ensure that at least every 2 seconds there will be the new I frame inserted with the new GOP ( or new GOP, period, which of course has a starting I frame ;) ) . A user at kvcd.net pointed out the "flashing" effect, and indeed, I saw what he meant after looking at the mpeg sample with bit rate viewer. The GOP was way too long between I frames. Sort of a "decaying" effect on quality and brightness.

kwag