The easiest and best way to encode TV epis. compilations.....help!

[Macros746]

Hello all,
I've been mostly into SVCDs and VCDs until VERY recently. But, havning discovered the joys of Divx and my tv-out card I'm hooked. My problem is this: I want to encode my Buffy season 3 dvds to divx (I'm shooting for 3 episodes per disc....I'll settle for two if I have to). My question is: What is the best way to do this? I loaded up the vobs for one episode in gordian knot...set up everything like I wanted it to be a one disc encode and then I opened the .avs in nandub and did two pass encoding with the target filesize. The resulting file was a perfect 235 mb...but was terrible. And the whole process was time consuming. Is there a better way to do all of this? batch encoding? Help!!!

Thanks in advance.
Macros

p.s. I've done a search of the forums and haven't found anyone talking about their TV DVD ep. methods....surely you are out there?

[manono]

Hi-

You should have run a compress test first. The results would have told you not to try and put 3 50 minute episodes on a CD. Even 2 eps/CD is kind of iffy. No wonder it looked crummy. Your resolution would also play a role, but you didn't say what that was.

You can use job control to encode multiple episodes at a time. And if you truly used Nandub for this, then it's DivX3.11 you're using and you shouldn't be posting in the DivX5 Forum.

[Macros746]

Thanks for the response. I did run the compress test. But basically it only let me look at one episode at a time. And the compression test showed that I couldn't go LOW enough in terms of bitrate (I was well over 100% with the slider all the way to the right). I ticked the other option (other than divx 3.11) and I wasn't aware that I couldn't use 5 with Nandub. I guess what I'm asking is what the best way to do this is. Clearly I can't use gordion knot because it wants to make every episode fit on one disk. At the very least I want two per disk. Is there some override so that you can manually input file size into Gordian Knot? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Macros

[manono]

Hi-

Let's see-where to begin. Lets try here:

...it wants to make every episode fit on one disk

No it doesn't. It'll make then whatever size you want, and you can run the compress test for whatever size you want. So the reason I would guess that your compress test came out over 100% was because you had the file size set for 1 CD=700MB. So go to the right side of the Bitrate Tab, under where it says Total File Size, and change it to 235MB or whatever you want. If you're going to actually encode directly in VDub yourself, make sure you do the audio in advance and fill in the audio file size and the overhead so that's taken into account in the compress test (unless you're letting GKnot do it). And I forgot about the B-Frames in DivX5.02. You should be able to get 2 nice looking episodes on a CD if the resolution's not too high.

And yes, Nandub is for DivX3.11 and VDub is for DivX5.02. I wouldn't suggest you start with DivX5.03 as GKnot doesn't totally support it. So you'd better get the hang of DivX5.02 before investigating the DivX5.03 workarounds. You can do the whole thing in GKnot if you like, multiple episodes and all. Here's a Guide:

http://www.doom9.org/gknot-main3.htm

And one more thing about encoding multiple episodes at once. This is from the Guide I just linked to (which I guess you didn't track down yet):

Pressing the Add Job to Encoding Queue button will add the job you just set up to the queue. You'll then be asked whether to start encoding or not. This allows you to add multiple jobs to the queue and then encode them all without any further manual interaction.

[Acaila]

I've got Buffy Seasons 1 & 2 lying around here, and have been meaning to back them up to CD's for quite some time now. So far I haven't gotten acceptable quality though.

It's really not that hard to get 2 episodes on a single CD. My average quant got as low as 2.49 and that's with the original AC3 audio (and without B-frames). The real problem is getting it block-free. Maybe that's not a problem for you since you're watching them with your TV-out, but I'm stuck with my monitor, so every block is very clearly visible, and there are lot of 'em. So far I've tried TemporalSoften, TemporalSmoother, Convolution3D, FaeryDust, PixieDust, UnDot and STMedianFilter. Only the latter seems to produce acceptable results. The quest for a good filter continues...

As for the ripping process, what I do is use SmartRipper in chapter mode, so I get all 15 chapters as seperate files. Then I load 2 episodes worth of vobs into DVD2AVI, delete the 2nd vob (intro) on both, put it up front once, delete chapter 15 on the first episode (credits) and leave the 15th vob of the 2nd episode in place.
So I end up with a single .d2v file containing the intro, followed by the 1st episode without intro and credits, followed by the 2nd episode without intro. Seems to work great so far.
This way you can encode 2 episodes as one file, and only have to run a single compressibility test each time you try out a new filter.

I'm still struggling with the audio though.

[manono]

Hi Acaila-

Glad to see you around more often recently. My experience with 50 minute TV episodes is quite different, but I'm working with old noisy BBC TV series and also trying to squeeze in 2 episodes per CD. But also without B-Frames, at 512x384, using low bitrate matrices in XviD or various filters, and mono MP3 audio, I come up with average quants over 4.

Aren't the Buffy episodes also full screen (I wouldn't know-I won't even watch them on TV, much less waste time making XviD copies)? I guess the source material is pretty good, so why, with average quants under 3, are they blocky? Maybe limit the quants drastically so they don't climb during action sequences.

[Acaila]

Hi Manono,

The source is in fact not really great (how is yours, Macros746?). You'd think that for the DVD release they'd have some good masters lying around, but I guess they didn't. The problem seems to be mostly TV transmission noise (or something), the frames appear clean enough on static scenes, but during motion it becomes ugly.
I'm encoding them at 576x432 and even with quants restricted to 2-3 (which isn't to strict in case anyone is wondering) the noise/blocks stay visible.

Maybe these are "clean" sources compared to other TV series, I wouldn't know coz this is the only TV series I own on DVD myself. But they're aweful compared to the (clean) theatrical movies I'm accustomed to.

Right now I'm running a 1st pass with the Wavelet Noise Reduction filter which I stumbled on earlier today. Can't believe I missed that one. I must say that while tweaking the settings I was amazed at how well it performed. I may have found a new favorite filter :). Albeit it a slow one.

[DJ Bobo]

@ Acaila
Wasn't buffy 16:9?! (I don't have it anymore, but I remember having done a 16:9 rip for a friend a couple of months ago :D)
And I've done 2 episodes per CD and I remember achieving saturation by 544x304 with some DivX 5 version while keeping the original dolby soundtrack.
And I thought the source was great?! all I needed was a light temporalsmoother I guess

[Macros746]

Thanks for all of your input folks. So I reencoded an ep last night having wrestled with Nandub file size (for some reason I can't just type in a number that I want....like 325...I have to type in a forth number and then delete a number and keep doing that until I have the number I want...weird) As for the source quality...I think it's fairly clean....but it was obviously NOT a big budget show until around the 4th season. The film quality wasn't that great. With a final file size of 345 including sound I didn't see any obvious blocks....I did however have VERY obvious 'combing'. I'm going to try again and see if I can't get rid of that (it's fine for watching on TV but NOT for watching on my laptop). Anyhow, thanks for all the help.....I think I get the gist now. I wish there was an easier way...since I plan to do this with Angel, Six Feet Under and the Sopranos.....sigh.

Macros

[Macros746]

by the way...Buffy is 4:3 (but another one of my small quibbles is when I encoded it didn't take up my whole TV screen....maybe I'll try to encode to 1:1 instead of 4:3. Also I had seen that guide and have no problem using Gordian Knot to make movies...just not series ...until now.

Macros

[DJ Bobo]

buffy is 24fps, not 30fps. If you see combing, you forgot to do IVTC.
About that 4:3 or 16:9 issue, I could swear it was even 16:9 anamorphic :confused:

May be there is a fullscreen and a widescreen DVD version?!

[EDIT]
I think, I should add that it was season4 of buffy I ripped.

[Acaila]

Mine is PAL widescreen 4:3 (1.33:1), 25fps, interlaced.

My blocks/noise are clearing up nicely with this Wavelet Noise Reduction filter btw. Three episodes on 1 CD now give me a compressibility test of about 65% (@576x432). Should be enough I think. The only downside is that it encodes at around 6fps.

[manono]

Macros746-

for some reason I can't just type in a number that I want

Once you have the audio file size in there, it won't let you go below that size. So you have to do that typing of 1 or 2 numbers, deleting some and typing again. If you set the video file size before the audio file size is in there it's easier. No big deal, though.

I did however have VERY obvious 'combing'.

Most likely you kept them at 29.97fps or just Force Filmed in DVD2AVI. DJ Bobo is right in saying you have to IVTC.

when I encoded it didn't take up my whole TV screen

Try this-go to the Options Tab of GKnot and check that "Follow ITU-R BT.601 Standard" Box. Then it will be resized for televisions. Also make sure that your Aspect Error is low after cropping and resizing. Don't keep them 1:1.

Acaila-

...and even with quants restricted to 2-3 (which isn't to strict in case anyone is wondering)

I chuckled when I saw that one, like you were expecting some flack for saying it. But I agree 100%, and always do the same thing, making the highest quant the next whole number above what the average quant is going to be (although if the average quant is going to be around 3.5, I might make the max quant=5). People always say that you'll lose file size predictability, or that the codec won't be able to do it's thing, but I just haven't found that to be true. And if you do set them at 2-16 or 2-8 or something like that, sure as heck there will be a bunch of high numbered quants, and I hate that.

[Macros746]

Thanks for all of your input everyone. Season 3 disc 1 is finished and, if I do say so myself, looks pretty great. The combing WAS caused by not forcing film (for some reason DVD2AVI isn't retaining settings these days....I just assumed it was selected) The great results ended with a 340 file size for each episode. I'm going to shoot for 3 per disc for the second DVD and see what happens...I'll let you know. THanks again for the help guys!

Macros