DV to DVD help

[hdv]

Great forum, long time lurker first time poster.
I've been doing some testings to encode 40 minutes of DV material at the highest quality possible for DVD creation.
I'm an NTSC world, the consensus is not to interlaced if the material is originally interlaced and is going to be played in a settop player, correct?
Using CCE I noticed using progressive mode the bitrate needed is lower than interlaced and the picture quality is superior but pausing is jittery.

Now I have a few questions:
1- Do I gain something using Avisynth to separate the fields do some filtering and weave back them? or just using CCE is the best I can get.
2- Do you have a good script to do this process and feed it directly to CCE?
3- I'm using XP how do I choose a specific DV encoder?
(I have Mainconcept, Panasonic and Canopus DV encoders installed I cannot find a way to choose the one I want, even if I unistalled all, MS DV still active)

[bira]

I use this script to encode my interlaced DV:


AviSource("file.avi")

FixBrokenChromaUpsampling

separatefields()
vid_e=selecteven()
vid_o=selectodd()
vid_e=convolution3d(vid_e,0,4,4,4,4,2.8,0)
vid_o=convolution3d(vid_o,0,4,4,4,4,2.8,0)
interleave(vid_e,vid_o)

weave()

ResampleAudio(44100)



Regarding the DV decoder, I just change the fourcc of my avi's to CDVC.

[hdv]

Thanks Bira, I found your script buried in other thread after I posted my message.

Regarding the DV decoder, I just change the fourcc of my avi's to CDVC.
Could you expand on this? Are you changing the compression codec in VD? Is it possible to know which codec I'm using when the file is loaded into CCE?

I'm not versed on Avisynth. I guess first you D/L all the plugins and make the .avs file. Open VirtualDub and do a Fastrecompress with the Canopus codec. How do I send it to CCE? Can I do it in one step like frameserving?
Do you want to make a guide? Most of the guides I found are for DVIX,SVCD etc when sizing is done.
Thanks for your time.

[bb]

No, don't recompress. Just use the FourCC changer (available at Doom9's downloads).

Someone posted a link to a DV codec swapper somewhere here in the DV forum. You'll probably find it using the search button (sorry, short of time).

bb

[hdv]

Great BB! Thanks,
For others who are reading this thread the program is called VCSwap at: http://members.ams.chello.nl/p.bekke/
I've also read in other threads Canopus DV seems to be the better codec to use. (Edited: I wrote Mainconcept instead of Canopus.)

Now if someone be kind enough to post an abreviated guide for Avisynth loading Bira's script and frameserving to CCE, I'll be very happy :D

[bira]

I can't help you with the frameserving stuff. I use premiere to encode my DV's, so no frameserving involved.

I believe you just have to install avisynth and then create a text file with the script I mentioned.

[hdv]

I'm posting just to giving you an update;

Bira's script is great, the PQ improved 2 fold.
Canopus is the "decoder"
AVI needs to be file converted to Canopus standard.
Anyone knows an alternative faster method like replacing the file header?
Avisynth does the frameserving for you no in between files, just create the .AVS file and load it right on CCE ver. 2.5 (to use another CCE version you need the AVI wrapper)
Make sure all plugins are loaded.
The encoding processing is painfully slow, the speed drops in half when using deinterlace, convolution filters than using the .AVI straight to CCE.
For a good quality DVD a high bitrate is needed, I did a 2 Multipass Variable at 7000 Avg Min 2000 Max 8000.
At this bitrate I can fit 80 min of material on a DVD, maybe a little more. Check VBR SETTINGS choose Q and look at the bagkground color it should be mostly green with occasional gray color patches, don't fix them it may cause more troubles like skipping or dropping frames.
Deselect Audio in CCE.
Audio was extracted in VD (Save .WAV) and converted to .AC3

Thank you guys for your help :cool: I'll keep tuned in this great forum, I'm always learning something new.

[bira]

Read this thread (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36713)

[atreides93]

I read somewhere that you should include () after every command cause it slows it down otherwise.
your fix broken chroma command is missing ()

Can you tell me what settings you used in CCE ? didyou encode it progressive??

what frame rate does it come out to be?

[bira]

I did not notice the missing (). Let's see if there is any improvement in speed.

The settings that I remember from the top of my head are:

- DVD compliant
- Upper field first
- something alternate
- not progressive
- The bitrate will depend on the lenght of the movie.

It comes out as 29.97 fps.

[bira]

WOW! There is really an improvement with the ()'s.

Thanks atreides93!

[atreides93]

cool :)

[Scoobydeux]

Originally posted by bira

The settings that I remember from the top of my head are:

- DVD compliant
- Upper field first
- something alternate
- not progressive
- The bitrate will depend on the lenght of the movie.

It comes out as 29.97 fps.

I thought DV was lower field first???? I'm just asking, as I'm about to start some DV stuff....

[Faceman101]

When I load your script into VD, I get an error message about YUY2 mode.

I threw in a ConvertToYUY2() and it loaded into VD fine. I really did not notice a difference from just loading the movie file normally. Only tried with 2 clips though. Will do some testing with CCE also.

[atreides93]

Even though DV may be lower field first, just click on the "upper field first" thing in CCE. I'm using CCE 2.62 and it encodes my DV just fine. I watched it on a standard tv set with my set top player and it looked great!!! The quality is outstanding.