general newbie encoding questions

[HAVOK]

hi all im kinda new to this but dvd2svcd is easy to use so im getting better;)
im am making svcds from divx 5 avi files made using easydivx and i split them onto 2 discs using dvd2svcd build 2. i have a couple of questions so here goes.......

1.On the audio tab it says "Audio 1 Bitrate" and this is set at 192 i was wondering if this is what it encodes the audio at for the svcd. if it is and i dropped this to 128(or around there) will this encode it at 128 im asking because im wondering if it will make more space for the video part of the svcd hopefully resulting in a bit better quality.


2. In the high action scenes or fast moving scenes there tends to be a lot of blocky parts i used tmpgenc and set it at 2pass vbr and motion search precision set at highest quality (very slow) but they still remained
i then used cce 2.5 and even tried 7 pass vbr but still they were there is there any way of getting rid of this, i have watched a few other svcds and they dont seem to have them

3. what is "padding"

4. Can i have both tmpgenc and cce 2.5 installed at once

5. i have looked at image quality priority and read a few things but im still a LOT confused on how to use that right

6. can i have one dvd 2svcd running and another one set up but not running (ready to run when the first one finishes the missus cant set it up and im at work so all she has 2 do is click go)

ok its more than a couple of questions but they just kept coming :rolleyes:
anyhelp would be greatly appreciated because i wanna do lotr 2 for the kids (nah me really);) and there is a lot of fighting and im dreading the results

thanx

[secret_goldfish]

Ok, I can answer two of your questions.

Nr.2: Using encoders like TMPG or CCE wont erase any block artefacts that have been there BEFORE. Once a movie is encoded, it´s impossible to reverse the process to get a better video quality. That means if you´re using crappy material, it will stay crappy, no matter how good your encoder is. Make sure you are using high quality material for encoding. If you have a full working copy of CCE I would recommend using that one, 3-4 passes are enough, picture quality and encoding speed are amazing!

Nr.4: Yes, you can have TMPG and CCE installed at the same time. I use both of them frequently for, ehm, backup matters ;-)
CCE will definitely give you better quality while TMPG allows you to do a lot of editing to your material (like deinterlace, noise reduction, sharpen image, etc.)

Hope I could help you out.

[Kedirekin]

6. can i have one dvd 2svcd running and another one set up but not running (ready to run when the first one finishes the missus cant set it up and im at work so all she has 2 do is click go)

Yes, in my experience you can have multiple copies of DVD2SVCD open at one time. I've opened as many as 12 at once. Explaining why would take too long, but suffice to say it does work - you can change the settings in each window, and that window uses it's settings.

[HAVOK]

in reply to secret goldfish the blocky parts arent there before hand i kave ripped these films myself and the fight scenes\high action scenes are perfect its just when i encode them to svcd the blocks are there (truth be told before i got my pc dvd rom drive I don't think anyone is interested in this truth, but Maulder (oddyseus), but after spending my cash on a dvdrom drive i thought id see if i could rid my videos of the problem) :)

thanx

[oddyseus]

Now that we know, I suggest to take a closer reading at the forum rules (http://forum.doom9.org/forum-rules.htm) one more time, otherwise I am afraid that u will find yourself 2/3d closer to your suspension :angry:

[HAVOK]

i believe/hope u was refering to rule six but i wasnt asking for help on that

i tried not to break the rules but i was using it as an example just to show it happend not only when i rip my dvds (which is all i do)
i couldnt think of a better way.




soz anyway will watch my posts from now on :)

[killingspree]

in addition i think oddyseus was talking about your thread title... :)

it would be appreciated if you could change it to something more descriptive!

thanks
steVe

[HAVOK]

better ?
anything else:) :sly: :)


dont suppose any1 knows anything on question num 1 + 2 i would like to know on that 1 or a link 2 somewhere????


ta

[Kedirekin]

1.On the audio tab it says "Audio 1 Bitrate" and this is set at 192 i was wondering if this is what it encodes the audio at for the svcd. if it is and i dropped this to 128(or around there) will this encode it at 128 im asking because im wondering if it will make more space for the video part of the svcd hopefully resulting in a bit better quality.
Yes, the Audio 1 Bitrate is the bitrate used for the audio on the SVCD. Lowering it to 128 will increase the bitrate available for the video, but this really only applies to the average bitrate. Changing the audio bitrate will not change the video bitrate maximum, because maximum means maximum. Consequently, changing the audio bitrate probably won't reduce the amount of blockiness you see unless your average bitrate is really low (under 1800 kbps for example).

Also, be aware that SVCD uses MP2, not MP3. A 128 kbps MP2 will not sound as good as a 128 kbps MP3. I would recommend that you keep SVCD audio bitrate at 160 kbps or better unless you really don't care much about the sound quality.

2. In the high action scenes or fast moving scenes there tends to be a lot of blocky parts i used tmpgenc and set it at 2pass vbr and motion search precision set at highest quality (very slow) but they still remained
In my experience CCE produces less blockiness in high action scenes than TMPGEnc. However, even CCE isn't immune to macroblock noise. Sometimes SVCD bitrate (~2500 kbps) simply isn't enough for the footage. You might try a higher maximum bitrate, but be aware that your SVCD (now called XVCD or XSVCD) will be out of spec and may not play on many stand-alone players.

If increasing the max bitrate doesn't work for you, there are still some things you can try. Discussion is beyond the scope of this thread, but I suggest you familiarize yourself with
- inverse telecine
- temporal and spatial filters
- cropping overscan

5. i have looked at image quality priority and read a few things but im still a LOT confused on how to use that right
Image quality priority is hard to understand and even harder to explain. If I understand it correctly, it controls how bits are allocated between the simple and complex parts of a single frame.

If you set it too low, then the parts of the frame with lots of fine detail will look good, but parts that are relatively flat (like a blue sky or a monochrome wall in the background) will have banding. When you watch the moving video, the color banding starts moving in a process that I like to call color crawl. I find it worse than macroblock noise, because it can impact long stretches of the movie, while macroblock noise is usually only apparent in relatively short high action sequences.

On the other hand, if you set it too high, I think you end up with excessive amounts of mosquito noise around high contrast edges in the video (like around a persons hair). Again, excessive mosquito noise is worse than macroblock noise because it can last for long stretches.

The point is that you need to choose a balanced setting. Everyone has their own opinion, but for myself - I like 20 or 25 for natural footage, and 40 for animation (which usually has less fine detail and more large areas of monochrome).

FYI: In my experience, changing the image quality priority has little if any effect on macroblock noise.

[HAVOK]

thanx for all the answers
Kedirekin you have answered what i really needed so thanx for taking the time to do that
i will look into inverse telecine, temporal and spatial filters
and cropping overscan and see what thats all about once again cheers :)