Star Trek: Next Generation Season dvds

[hoops10]

I've read some posts on this, splitting it to 2 dvd-r's. What I want to do is encode each episode wiht CCE and then put it all back together, so to only use 1 dvd-r. Those who have messed with this dvd, is this possible? I'm not familiar with how season-dvd's are authored. Thanks.

[Derrow]

I guess further re-compression is not possible with this title.
I've tried it, even with TmpgEnc, but each further compression makes the episodes unwatchable.

They are already compressed it at the maximum, to fit 4 episodes on 1 DVD.
But you can give it try anyway. Maybe you can do it.

[hoops10]

Derrow, so you did try it with CCE, even with the 2-pass method? Also, are the vobs interlaced or can you use force film on them?

[Derrow]

No, I didn't try CCE. Just TmpgEnc, but with 2 pass also.

Mine was Interlaced too, yea (R2 version)

[DIggedy]

If you don't mind the drop in resolution you could always reencode to 352x480 or 352x240 (ntsc). This way you can encode at a lower bitrate and still avoid plaguing it with digital artifacts.

[hoops10]

I want to make a dvd-r of it, so I will leave the resolution alone. Derrow, do you know if the R1 is interlaced also? If so, how did you deal with it?

[asifanwar]

I have so far completed all four seasons of the R1 NTSC versions of these discs. Here is how I did it.

1. DVDdecryptor to rip each PGC into it's own folder (PGC1,2...)
2. DVD2AVI to frameserve (keeping the AC3 of course). I found that SwapField ON gave me smoother results but that may be a complete illusion and I am going to try with it OFF next time
3. Use AVIsynth and the latest Decomb.dll (GREAT filter!)
Telecide(guide=1)
Decimate(quality=3)
4. drop into CCE2.50 and use 3 pass VBR (which of course is really 4 pass if one includes the VAF). Min 2000, Max 9000 and Ave 2750. End code is on, but all else is off. Aspect ratio to DAR, I use 0-255, and DC 10. Quality=5, and noise filter is off.
I just "set it and forget it" and dont bother with the 'tweaking' using the grey bits etc. 2750 is what fits.
5. Once you have all four encoded, then pulldown.
6. Drop all 4 into Scenarist and put in chapter points.
7. Drop the PGCs into Title1 in their numberical order
8. Create the VOBs.
9. Rename the VOBs to Title2
10. Rip all the files on the disc EXCEPT the main VOBs
11. Make VIDEO_TS and VTS_02 Regionfree using IFOedit (GREAT app!). Get rid of Cell ID #2 of VIDEO_TS.VOB
12. Use IFOupdate to transpose the chapter points from your authored IFO into the 'real' IFO for Title2.
13 GetVTSSectors.

Woohoo! All four episodes working with the original menus! I freely admit that this is done with the knowledge shared by the 'giants' of this forum and some VERY useful apps without which we would all be nowhere.

Hope this helps.

PS I personally think 2750 is reasonable for what you get (4 TNGs with original menus). I admit that I CAN see a differece to a movie at 4000, but you dont notice once the story gets going.

[auenf]

even in CCE, interlaced material is lucky to compress lower than 4mbit, but running them thru a deinterlace first will let you compress lower, not sure if motion will be spoiled tho, worth a try with RW disc tho.

Enf...

[hoops10]

@asifanwar

So were you able to fit the 4 episodes onto 1 dvd-r? Did the quality suffer alot?

Also, it this step:

"6. Drop all 4 into Scenarist and put in chapter points."

Were you able to use Scenchap and use the original .ifo to get chapter points? If not, how did you get them?

One last thing, if you could post your avisynth script you used to to decomb.dll, that would be great.

[asifanwar]

I easily got all four episodes onto 1 DVD-R with the original menus and all chapter points preserved. The quality is pretty damn good - a real tribute to CCE over TMPGEnc which doesnt do so well at low bitrates (in fact I never use it at all anymore)

I have never found the chapter point thing to work for me like the guides suggest. I am still always 1 frame off which I dont really care about. I just encode in CCE without any fiddling around. I then add chapters in Scenarist manually. I put the original DVD back in and play Ep1 (I scan forward in Scenarist to make sure I have the right PGC) and then I hit pause on PowerDVD. I keep it in paused mode and skip to Chap2, noting the time. I input that time into Scenarist and usually have to bump one more nudge and I do this 8 times per episode x 4 (it takes about 2 mins to do the whole thing)

It really works very well indeed and I so far have done all 4 seasons. I even have nice DVD labels made up matching the originals and nice jewel case summaries of the episodes (these are Pagemaker files but I could show you them as PDFs or send you the actual files)

It really takes very little time after encoding to get it back to a workable DVD and the end result is great.

[hoops10]

@asifinwar

Could you post the avisynth script here so I can see how decomb.dll should be used? Thanks.

[asifanwar]

I sent you a PM too.

LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\DVD Ripping\AVIsynth\MPEG2DEC2.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\DVD Ripping\AVIsynth\decomb.dll")
mpeg2source("C:\blahblahblah\Desktop\TNG3 Disc6\PGC1\pgc1.d2v")
ReSampleAudio(44100)

Telecide(guide=1)
Decimate(quality=3)

[dvd_maniac]

I was wondering if I am doing this the EASIEST possible way?
1.I rip with smartripper 2.41 using stream processing I only rip the m2v and ac3 files.
2. I rip pgc1(episode1 of 4) into folder ep1, pgc2 into ep2 etc..
3. I put the ac3 and m2v files into maestro and manually create 8 chapters. I then put ep1 into movie1 and ep2 into movie2 and then make movie1 first play and make ep2 play after ep1 finishes.
This is my only problem as I don't know how to create buttons in maestro. Just got it the other day.
I am only looking for the easiest way for episodes only, no extras or menus

[mgd72]

I am having major problems with the R1 DVDs. Probably the same problems as everyone else though..

I either get jerky space scenes, good character scenes, or good space scenes, jerky character scenes when using telecide and decimate. The other option which I would be more than happy with is leaving it all at 30fps, but then the problem is the character scenes have the ghosting effect. It just looks like to me there is no filter capable of getting a perfect rip out of these..

Maybe I am being completely stupid here, but if there were some way for the filters to be able to tell if the frame is progressive or interlaced (like dvd2avi does) and then only perform either telecide or decimate, then it might actually work.. Instead it looks to me like Telecide is still performing on the Interlaced frames. But Im sure something like that would be impossible..

Either way, I still love decomb, it has worked really good on other TV shows.

Anyone with any great settings to use for these? Like I said, I could care less if its 24fps or 30fps as long as there is no jerkiness or ghosting effects.

Darrell

PS - Asifinwar: I tried your settings and they worked good on the character scenes, but the space scenes were still jerky for me. But it was the closest I have come to getting a perfect rip so far..

[auenf]

i think you'll find that the TNG episodes were originally filmed/rendered at 29.97 fps, interlaced at the camera for 60hz, and the renders may have been made as esentially 480p, so pulling it back to FILM isnt going to work automatically, if at all.

Enf...

[hoops10]

auenf:

So are you saying that when backing this dvd up, to NOT put on Force Flim in dvd2avi? Is that what you mean by 'pulling it back to FILM may not help'?

[jdobbs]

I spent a lot of time on the R1 version of these discs (bought the first four seasons so far), and never got really high-quality results. The majority of the video is FILM (probably 70%) but it switches back and forth a lot randomly. Interestingly, the starfield "outdoor" scenes appear to be mostly from an interlaced master, while the interior scenes seem to have a progressive source. It's a ripping nightmare. The best results were with DVD2AVI field operation set to "None" and using DECOMB with this setting:

telecide()
decimate(cycle=5)

But, as is always the case, there is occasional jumpiness in the parts coming from a 29.97 master. It is really, really noticable on the credits of the first episode. If you switch to encoding as 29.97fps interlaced you get the terrible ghosting in the progressive mastered sources and really annoying jumps when a scene is panning.

The only way I can imagine to make a high-quality backup of these discs would be through a true transcoder that does an exact dup including the RFF flags. ReMPEG2 is the only transcoder I know of that does that, but its quality really sucks.

If you really want to back these up properly -- you're pretty much stuck with doubling the disc count and using IFOEDIT to split them into DVD-R's with 2 episodes each. If you just want a watchable set for the kids room, encode them using DECOMB.

[auenf]

hmm, the renders seem to be interlaced, and the actual filmed scenes are progressive?

thats the opposite to waht i would have thought, but oh well.

Enf...

[Arnieduke]

Asifanwar,

could you please post a detailed guide for the complete procedure?

I´m sure a lot of other guys here would be pleased, too. :-)

Thx a lot,

Arnieduke

[daxab]

For this kind of material I'd try TMPG with the "Inverse 3:2 Pulldown" option. This is NOT an inverse telecine. The docs on it are sparse, but looking at the output, it seems to selectively encode some frames as progressive, and some as pure interlaced. It works pretty well on the few cases I've tried.

[hoops10]

@daxab

So for these Star Trek: The Next Generation Season dvds, you recommend using TMPG with the Inverse 3:2 pulldown over using CCE?

[mgd72]

daxab: genious, pure genious :) who would have thought it could be so easy..

I just tested the inverse 3:2 pulldown and I have to say from the initial encodes I just tested it looks good. The trouble scene I spoke of in my last post on the space scene in episode 2x04 is now smooth as well as the character scenes before it. I'll do more testing overnight tonight and let a whole episode encode.

another test I just done was the credits for Stargate SG-1. It is mixed the same way and it turned out really good.

Thanks for help :)

[hoops10]

So by using TMPG with the Inverse 3:2 pulldown, are you sacrificing quality? I know there is a huge difference between movies encoded with TMPG and those encoded with CCE. So is there a quality loss by using this method?

[mgd72]

There is some quality loss that I notice between tmpeg and CCE. I think there is a way to load up a Tmpeg template into CCE by using VFAPI or AVISynth, but I dont remember the specifics.. I know some people used to use it to do the resizing and IVTC work in tmpeg.. If it will take the inverse 3:2 pulldown settings from tmpeg when it reads it into CCE, then hopefully it will encode it using CCE instead.. But I havent tried that method. I only heard it mentioned somewhere either in the forum or in Doom's guides. Im pretty sure its in Doom's guides on how to do use vfapi for something like that.

[daxab]

I've been pretty impressed by TMPG since I found this "hidden" feature. In general I prefer CCE output, but as others have mentioned, TMPG seems to produce cleaner output for interlaced source, and the "Inverse 3:2 Pulldown" setting almost works magic. Again, though, this is different from doing IVTC in TMPG:

Video tab > Encode mode > Inverse 3:2 Pulldown

"Encodes 29.97 or 30 fps interlaced movie at the same time doing inverse 3:2 pulldown if possible." When I look at the output from this setting, it's encoded with a mixture of progressive and interlaced frames. TMPG appears to be quite conservative, and if it can't do a "clean" IVTC, it just encodes it as interlaced. This is great for TV shows with intermixed CG (Next Generation, etc.) and for anime -- anything with a messy, irregular, or partial telecining pattern. For me, this is a very good "set it and forget it" mode for encoding anything I can't do a DVD2AVI Force Film on.

Advanced > Inverse telecine

"Converts movie to 24 fps." This is the usual approach as taken by Decomb, GreedyHMA, etc. It tries to make the whole stream into 24 fps. Great if your source is actually telecined 24 fps material, but most of the time in that situation I do a DVD2AVI Force Film, if the DVD was encoded that way. Of course if you're working with a capture then you don't have that option.

[asifanwar]

A full guide was requested, so, OK, here is what I do, although I am quite intrigued to read about the TMPGEnc option listed here...

1. rip using DVDdecryptor in IFO mode, so each PGC goes into its own folder.

2. DVD2AVI. I had been using SwapField ON cos I thought it looked smoother but I may be crazy and hallucinating! Next season will get a test encode with it OFF.

3. AVIsynth with the following script-
LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\DVD Ripping\AVIsynth\MPEG2DEC2.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\DVD Ripping\AVIsynth\decomb.dll")
mpeg2source("C:\blah blah blah\TNG3 Disc6\PGC1\pgc1.d2v")
ReSampleAudio(44100)
Telecide(guide=1)
Decimate(quality=3)

4. drop the avs into CCE2.50 and encode as follows-
3-pass VBR @ 2750 (min2000,max9000). In the video tab I use ENDCODE ON, but all else OFF. Aspect ratio is DAR4:3, Timecode=0, DC=10, Luminance=0-255. In the GOP tab, I use 3,4,1 with the two option below to OFF. Quality settings are set to Priority=5, filter OFF.

5. I then let it do it's thing, and do a PULLDOWN on the file afterwards.

6. Drop each of these files into Scenarist with their audios and create the 8 chapter points. I do it manually but there are guides out there to help you do it automatically if you can get it right.

7. Drop each PGC onto Title1 in the correct order and author your disc to make your new VOBs.

8. Rename the new VOBs to VTS_02_x cos thats what the TNG discs have them as.

9. Rip all the other files from the DVD that are NOT the VOBs. You WILL need to rip the VTS_02_0.IFO file.

10. Take your NEW VOBs and put them in the same folder as the files you just ripped.

11. Now use IFOupdate to copy your NEW chapter point data into the ORIGINAL RIPPED VTS_02_0.IFO file so the whole deal works OK.

12. I also use IFOedit to remove ID number 2 from VIDEO_TS so the disc boots up right into the menu.

13. Make sure you do a 'Get VTS sector' clean up afterwards!

14. Optional - I have some Pagemaker7.0 templates of nice DVD covers and jewel case covers. I make them apply to this disc I am doing (I have nice episode summaries and I scan the big graphic disc number from the DVD, and match the color of that season. It all looks great). I put THOSE files into a folder called 'FILES' on the root of the DVD-R so I always have them should I need them later.

15. Burn the whole shebang using Nero and it works every time!

Two points to mention: the use of Decomb is a controversial point. There is no 'perfect' method and it boils down to personal preference. I have so far had the best results with Decomb and the results get better with every new version. The ships DO stutter ever so slightly but within acceptable limits as the crew are perfect. I am keen to try the TMPGEnc method listed above but I dont like TMPGEc quality especially at lower bitrates.
Secondly, it should me noted that the quality IS lower than say your movie rips and you CAN see slight MPEG artifacts in solid areas such as stationary crew members chests, but it is not too bad at all, and the effect of 4 eps per disc with full menus makes it worth it TO ME. Again, a personal choice. I must add, that I would only use CCE due it's noticeable quality.

Hope this helps a bit. Sorry it is so long. I am very open to new ideas or improvements and dont pretend that this is the only way to get good results, so no flames please.

[hoops10]

@asifanwar

One quick question. In this step:

"7. Drop each PGC onto Title1 in the correct order and author your disc to make your new VOBs."

In Scenarist, you don't make a Title for each pgc? (i.e. Title 1 = PGC 1, Title 2 = PGC 2, Title 3 = PGC 3 and Title 4 = PGC 4) You drag and drop each track onto Title 1? I am a little confused on this step.

[asifanwar]

No, that's the key. If you were to make a separate title for EACH episode, then you would find that the VOBs would be labelled VTS_01, VTS_02, VTS_03 and VTS_04 which is quite different from the original, and hence the original menus would have no idea how to find the episodes.

By dragging all FOUR episodes onto the SAME Title, Scenarist will create only ONE title (called VTS_01 which you will rename to VTS_02 to match the disc), but this single title contains four 'program groups' which are kind of like 'titles within a title' and each one of THOSE is an episode.

The original menu VOBs will be looking for THIS structure when attempting to play the episodes, and THATS how the whole thing works together! Woo hoo!

[Arnieduke]

to asifanwar:

Since I´m quite a newbie to all of this, here some questions about the script: :rolleyes:

#1: DVD Decrypter: Do you use Stream Processing to leave out audio and subs you don´t need?
#2: DVD2AVI: Load the vobs of each PGC and then? Save avi? I used to save the project and then use VFAPI Reader to create an avi using the project file.
#5: What means pulldown?? :confused:

General question: Can I use DVD Maestro instead of Scenarist as well?

Thx,

Arnieduke

[jdobbs]

@daxab,

When you use TMPGEnc to fix this, do you feed the video through DVD2AVI or is it demultiplexed and fed straight as an MPEG-2 file?

As a matter of fact, could you give a little information your settings as well (is the output set to 29.97, is it set to 3:2 pulldown on playback?)

I tried it with a couple of settings and it still seems to have the jumpiness and ghosting in the parts that were originally FILM.

Thanks,
jdobbs

[asifanwar]

@arnieduke

To answer your questions as numbered:

1. I do not do any form of stream processing. I just rip the VOBs as PGCs (IFO mode) and then use DVD2AVI to demux the correct audio track (#1)

2. from DVD2AVI I also save the project just as you are used to doing. I then use the AVIsynth script to access that d2v file in my encoder.

3. Pulldown is a process whereby you reapply the flag to tell the DVD player that this 23.97stream should actually be played back at 29.97 on the NTSC TV. Most, if not all, of this discussion (certainly my portion) has applied to the NTSC versions of these discs and for NTSC TVs. If you are in Europe and are dealing with PAL versions then things would be a bit different. I do not make PAL discs and am not too familiar with the variables involved. Perhaps somebody else here can chime in?

I have never used Maestro, but it is my understanding that it will also work just as well for this type of project. There are excellent guides on this site (where else?!)

[Commander XJL]

If I just wanted to rip the m2v and ac3 files, would 2 episodes fit on one DVDR? I haven't rented any of these yet so I don't know. I would rather not encode, just rip and burn with two episodes per disk. Will it fit?

[mgd72]

Yes from the ones I have seen, 2 should fit on one DVD-R. They average about 1.9GB or so per episode for the ones I have seen. This would be an option for me, but I don't have a burner.

Now for my results using Tmpeg with Inverse 3:2 pulldown:

I havent gotten around to encoding ST TNG yet, but I did try an episode of Andromeda (same layout -> Hybrid)using the Inverse 3:2 pulldown. It turned out PERFECT! I did notice some minor jerkiness on the computer, but when I burned it and put it in my DVD player, it was flawless. No jerkiness and no ghosting.

Daxab, I just wanted to thank you again for bringing this technique to our attention. Maybe now all my hair will grow back that I have been pulling out while running all my tests :)

Mgd72

[Arnieduke]

Thx, asifanwar for the explanations.

I am in fact from Europe and I have to deal with PAL :(

That´s why I never heard of the pulldown-thing. :cool:

But I think I´ll get along with all the tips given here.

Greets,

Arnieduke

[hoops10]

@asifanwar

I don't understand this:

"No, that's the key. If you were to make a separate title for EACH episode, then you would find that the VOBs would be labelled VTS_01, VTS_02, VTS_03 and VTS_04 which is quite different from the original, and hence the original menus would have no idea how to find the episodes. "

Whenever I've done multiple pgc movies before, you are always supposed to make a Title for each pgc. For example, if a movie has 2 pgcs, then you must make 2 Titles in Scenarist. The two titles still generate only 1 vts set (i.e. Title 1 and Title 2 will still equal 1 vts set).

So am I supposed to treat the Star Trek: The Next Generation Seasons dvd just like a multiple pgc movie or is it something totally different?


@daxab or @mgd72

When doing the encoding using Tmpg and the Inverse 3:2 pulldown, what other settings should I be using in Tmpg? I set it up for 2-pass vbr with min=0, max=9000 and avg 2700. I have 3 episodes on this dvd, one is 1:31:00 and the other 2 are about 00:32:00. Will 2700 avg bitrate look ok or do I have room to increase it? BTW, how can I calculate the avg bitrate for this, knowing that I want to stay under the 4.3 gig mark?

[mgd72]

well I am encoding SVCDs so Im not sure on the DVD thing. I think one difference is the GOP settings or something.. As for the bitrate, Im sure your settings will look good. I am doing mine at 2250kbs for SVCD and it is turning out ok. Not as good quality as I would like, but it allows me to fit one episode per CD.

EDIT: Just wanted to say the 2700 bitrate MIGHT look ok. I forgot you will probably be encoding back at 720x480 which will eat up more of the bitrate. If you could change the resolution to 352x480 then it should look good and still be in DVD specs.

To figure out the bitrate you will need, I would suggest using one of the calculator programs in Doom's download section.

There is also a guide on the site about how to use Tmpeg and ifoedit to encode DVD content. Im not sure how this guide would work for using the Inverse 3:2 pulldown though.

My suggestion would be to open up Tmpeg, then load up the DVD(NTSC) template. Go into settings and write down all the settings it uses for DVD. Then go back and load up the UNLOCK template so that you have control over changing ALL settings again. Go and change the settings manually to what you wrote down previously with the only changes being:
Video Tab: Encode Mode - Inverse 3:2 pulldown
Bitrate: Change to what you desire, or use the settings provided by teh calculators.

Then you should hopefully be ready to encode.

I hope this helps you out some..

Mgd72

[asifanwar]

@hoops10

I drop all four PGCs into the basic screen that Scenarist gives me, which is VTS1--->Title1. All four PGCs are dropped onto Title1. I do NOT make more Titles under VTS1. Maybe it would work just fine that way, but it certainly works fine my way so why do more work to make more titles?
Have you tried the TMPGEnc way that was mentioned? I have never liked TMPGEnc output compared to CCE and this is especially notable at low bitrates. I wonder if I could get TMPGenc to do it's thing and feed that into CCE? I am keen to get Season 5 and try this out now!

[mgd72]

I tested that way by saving the Tmpgenc project file and importing it into VFAPI to make the virtual AVI to open into CCE. It just completely skipped the Inverse 3:2 pulldown settings and encoded it the same way CCE would have done it originally. I wish there were a way to get it to work in CCE, but nothing I have found so far. I even tried the new trial version of CCE (2.66) using its built in 3:2 pulldown detection and the results were terrible. Could just be I didnt know what I was doing. If you figure out how to get it to work in CCE, I would LOVE to hear about it :)

Mgd72

[hoops10]

@daxab and/or @mgd72

I was wondering if one of you guys would please list the settings you used in tmpg to encode with. I just did an encode and the picture stutters constantly. I used these settings:

720x480
4:3 Display
29.97 fps
2-pass vbr (min 0, max 9000, avg 2700)
Main Profile & Main Level (MP@ML)
NTSC
Inverse 3:2 pulldown
4:2:0
8 bits
High quality (slow)

Theses are these settings I used in the VIDEO tab. I didn't mess with any other settings and I didn't use pulldown. Do I need to use pulldown if Im encoding at 29.97 fps? Any other help would be great. Thanks.

EDIT: I found out that I do indeed need to do pulldown and it did stop the stuttering. The audio is way off and I still feel like I dont have the settings right in tmpg. One other thing, I looked at the vts_02_0.ifo (main movie ifo) and noticed that there were only 18 chapters listed in it. In ep1, there are 18 chapters but in ep2 and ep3, there are 8 chapters in each. How does this work or do I have to set the chapers manually?

[mgd72]

hoops10,

I replied to your PM, but I want to post in here also to keep all this info going in the forum :)

Check the field order and Aspect Ratio on the advanced tab. Make sure they are set to Top Field First, and the aspect to 4:3 525 Line (NTSC). When the field was Bottom first, I got a lot of stuttering and ghosting effects.

As for the sync problems, Im not sure what is the cause. I ran into some sync problems if I demuxed the mpg in TmpgEnc and then tried to remux it in BBMpeg for the SVCD. Remuxing in Tmpeg didnt give me any sync problems. Hopefully the DVD authoring programs wont give that problem.


@Daxab:

Do you try demuxing, then remuxing in BBMpeg? I was wondering if you might have run into any sync problems also.

Mgd72

[daxab]

@jdobbs

I'm feeding it through DVD2AVI. [EDIT: with Force Film OFF] I've never tried feeding MPEG-2 directly into TMPG. The settings on the Video tab are: Frame Rate=29.97, Encode Mode=Inverse 3:2 Pulldown.

@mgd72

I usually use bbMPEG to remux for SVCDs and Scenarist for DVDs. I've never had a problem with these two. I used to have bad sync problems with SVCDs and after experimenting with various tools I settled on bbMPEG + vcdimager. I had bad luck with Nero and WinOnCD (this was awhile ago).

@hoops10

I'm a little confused about what you're doing. You should only pulldown if you feed 23.976fps material into CCE. Then you need to pulldown the output. If you feed 23.976fps stuff into TMPG you should be able to use '3:2 pulldown when playback'. Then TMPG does the pulldown for you. If you have 29.97fps or PAL stuff then pulldown is unnecessary. But you probably know all this.

Field order is critical. Make sure you do the usual tests to determine it correctly.

[hoops10]

@daxab

I used a method that gave me very good results. I scraped tmpg and went with CCE. I used the new decomb 4.0 and the settings for Inverse 3:2 Telecine with Pattern Guidance (it's from the help file). Anyway, it gave me good results on ST: TNG Season 1, Disc 1.

I used dvd2avi but with NO force film. I created an .avs with decomb used and fed it into CCE. In the video tab in CCE, I only selected Endcode on, Lumience 16 to 255, Auto was checked and timecode to all 0's. GOP ws 3,4,1 and under the quality tab, I used 5 and unchecked noise button.

[asifanwar]

can you post the avs script you used?

[hoops10]

Sure, but I didn't do anything special. Here is what I used from the help file:

Inverse 3:2 Telecine with Pattern Guidance If your telecined source material is NTSC 3:2 pulldown, you can enable pattern guidance, which can make the field matching more accurate for some clips. Proceed as follows:

LoadPlugin("decomb.dll")
AVISource("mixed.avi")
Telecide(guide=1)
Decimate(cycle=5)

So here is my avs file:

LoadPlugin("mpeg2dec.dll")
LoadPlugin("decomb.dll")
ResampleAudio(44100)

Telecide(guide=1)
Decimate(cycle=5)

Thats it. Then for the rest of it I used dvd2avi but with NO force film. In the video tab in CCE, I only selected Endcode on, Lumience 16 to 255, Auto was checked, DAR 4:3 and timecode to all 0's. GOP ws 3,4,1 and under the quality tab, I used 5 and unchecked noise button.

[asifanwar]

I've tried that script. It is known to give pretty good results. These damn TNG discs are variable though. Some episodes come out looking great, while others are kind of jumpy. I guess it all depends on the way each one came out on the mastering process...

[daxab]

I think it all depends on whether the source material is mostly film (then inverse telecining is useful) or has quite a bit of actual 30fps video mixed in (then inverse telecining can produce jumpiness).

I believe most TNG episodes have some amount of pure video in them--typically the computer-generated space scenes. The other factor is how much movement there is in the CG scenes. If there is low movement, you can run them through an inverse telecine and get away with it.

[asifanwar]

I have come across a breakthrough(?) that I thought you might be interested in.

1. rip each PGC as before using DVDdecryptor
2. DVD2AVI with video set to NONE (Film OFF)
3. create an AVIsynth script like this one:

LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\DVD Ripping\AVIsynth\MPEG2DEC2.dll")
mpeg2source("<blah blah blah>\pgc1\pgc1.d2v")
ReSampleAudio(44100)

In other words, simply frameserve through AVIsynth with no modifications at this point (ie NO decomb.dll stuff)

4. drop this into Cinema Craft Encoder 2.66 (it has to be this version). Set things as follows:

timecode is all 00.00.00.00 (ie not 01.00.00.00)
set your output files to whatever/wherever you want
Mode: MPEG-2 ONE PASS VBR
Q=60
Min=2800
Max=9000
Check the box marked "3:2 pulldown detection" but dont press the settings button, just let it do things by itself)

Press the VIDEO button
M=3
N/M=4
SEQ=1
Add sequence end code in ON
Luminance = 0-255 (your choice though)
Packet size=2048
all else OFF
Press OK

Press the QUALITY button
Natural picture is ON
DC=10
Scanning=Alternate
Progressive=OFF
Filter Off is ON (ie checked)
Press OK

Now encode!

This runs at 2.22x realtime on my machine ( a normal DVD film rip goes at 2.8x). This does a Inverse 3:2 pulldown detection like the TMPGenc method that was mentioned, but that only ran at about 0.5x on my machine. When I played the TMPGEnc file on my LCD monitor at full screen, it looked kind of pixelly, but I honestly cant tell the difference between CCE one-pass VBR and the original! If you run your encode through DVD2AVI it will still be a hybrid clip!
I have found this to be very very close to perfect and it only takes me about 20 mins per episode!
My whole disc is ready in about 90 mins from start to finish!

Unfortunately I cannot test this on my TV as I sold my 61" TV today and my new TV wont arrive for another week. It is a 65" widescreen HDTV and I am keen to see how this looks!

Hope this helps a bit.

BTW, I would love to do 3-4 pass VBR but stupid CCE cant seem to do more than one pass with 3:2 pulldown detection turned on. Do anyone know how to get it to do it?

[jdobbs]

asinfanwar,

I tried this, and it seems to work really well!

I have a problem with v2.66, however. It seems to randomly sometimes make a blocky picture (lot of macroblocks) when I encode. I can then stop the encode and start over and it goes way...

Have you had this problem?

Thanks,
jdobbs

[asifanwar]

I cant say I have noticed this, but then I havent actually sat down and watched a whole episode yet, cos I have no TV!

My big issue is that CCE wont do VBR with 3:2 pulldown.....

[jdobbs]

Yeah, I tried to do it also -- it keeps giving me errors saying it detected RFF at a different point on the second pass...