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View Full Version : TMPG gurus! Help me out here!


JF Sebastian
3rd November 2002, 22:02
HELP!
I am getting bogged down reading opinions on what settings to use in TMPG Plus for best possible picture reproduction.
What I am trying to find a simple solution for is how to 1) calculate best possible bitrate to create a finished dvd fileset of about 4.0GB, and 2) what settings in TMPG to use and where to enter the figures created in 1)
So far on the 2 projects I have created, I have only used the Automatic VBR (CQ_VBR) setting but I have realised now that clicking on the Settings button to the right produced figures set way too low: Max was on 3000, Min was on 0, and Quality was on 50%. As a result the files I created, whilst perfectly framed, formatted and in all other respects OK, have visible pixellated blocking on fast motion scenes.
I have read elsewhere that using the Automatic VBR is OK, but Quality should be at least 75%, with Max at 6000, Min at 2000. This sounds OK but obviously I don't want to spend the hours doing the encode only to find out it's too big (or indeed too small, indicating poor quality). I don't mind tying the machine up for hours, it's the maximum quality I am looking for. I always strip everything out except English video and 6 chan audio; I usually don't even bother with chapters!!

How can I determine Min, Max and Quality settings that will create a larger (and therefore higher quality) fileset? And what mode in TMPG should I implement them into?

Sorry if this is basic stuff to you guys but this is the only part of my process that I'm screwing up.

JF

roach76
4th November 2002, 01:22
Use VCDHelp's Bitrate calculator:

http://www.vcdhelp.com/calc.htm

Click "Advanced mode".
Change Disc Type to "DVD".
Enter movie length in minutes and seconds.
Enter 0 for number of Audio Tracks.
Enter 1 for number of Discs.
Enter 4 in "CustomDVD".
Enter 0 in other ISO Files.

Your left with a "Calculated Average Bitrate" and a "DVD Max Bitrate".

Enter Minimum Bitrate as 2000.
Enter Average Bitrate of AT LEAST 50 less than what the "Calculated Average Bitrate" value is.
Enter Maximum Bitrate as 8000.

Also by the way, use "2-Pass VBR". It may take twice as long but damn... it looks alot better than "Automatic VBR".

JF Sebastian
4th November 2002, 23:17
roach76
Thanks man, appreciate that. Using Terminator SE as my reference project, I entered 103 mins 0 secs. Audio Bitrate says 224 but since Tracks is at 0 I guess that's irrelevant.
Calculated average comes out at 5537, so I'll round that down to 5450, yeah?.
In TMPG, do I need to enter anything in the P or B picture spoilage? And should Enable padding be checked? I've only begun to play around with TMPG so really clueless about the other modes (have left it automatic so far).
Thanks is advance for your info.

JF

roach76
6th November 2002, 08:57
Padding adds padding into the stream so the bitrate NEVER goes below the minumum amount, it's just padding and the extra minimal bitrate that's inserted doesn't get put to quality, it's only used for keeping the stream at the definite minimum for compatabilty. The spoilage changes bitrate allocation for the different frames P and B relative to I. I usually leave this at the default.

JF Sebastian
6th November 2002, 19:52
roach76
AAAAARGH!!
After waiting 18 long hours (you weren't kidding about 2 pass being slower were you - yes I know I need a much faster PC) the new .m2v has come out at 3.91GB. That's the good news.
BUT once I import it into DVD Maestro the size indicator jumps to 4.3GB. Huh? Adding the AC3 file takes the project beyond 4.7GB.

What has happened? Any ideas why Maestro reads the .m2v 400mb bigger than Windows says it is?

I am in hell.....

JF

auenf
7th November 2002, 13:12
the DVDMaestro indicator measures in Billion Bytes (base 10), windows Measures in in proper GigaBytes (base 2).

a 3.91GB file is 4198330531.84 bytes, which is 4.2BillionBytes. there is a 100mb overhead when authoring any disc (in maestro at least, and scen iirc).

unfortunately you are either going to have to recompress the video (again), or chop the credits off it, or re-encode just the credits only at a lower bitrate, or transcode the audio to a lower bitrate.

Enf...

JF Sebastian
7th November 2002, 21:24
OK, thanks for confirming the worst (at least I know now).

Guess I should knock off about 150 from the calculated average bitrate next time!! Learn from your mistakes I suppose!

Off now to research chopping off the end of my files.

JF