encoding MPEG-1 with CCE

[brett]

I'm going to assume I'm a complete idiot because I can't find any posts about this problem... any help would be appreciated...

I use DVD2SVCD to make MPEG files which I drop into TMPGEnc DVD Author when I want to put multiple movies on a single DVD. This works really well.

It is my understanding that the legitimate official DVD spec for NTSC is:

MPEG-1 at 352x240 (4:3)
MPEG-2 at 352x480 (4:3)
MPEG-2 at 704x480 (4:3)
MPEG-2 at 720x480 (4:3)
MPEG-2 at 704x480 (16:9) -- not sure
MPEG-2 at 720x480 (16:9)

I don't know of any DVD players that won't play MPEG-2 at 352x240, but I've still seen several things which lead me to believe this is outside the official spec. It is also my understanding that MPEG-1 streams have less overhead than MPEG-2, so it is definitely preferable to use MPEG-1 for very low bitrate encoding, even if you are allowed to use MPEG-2 at 352x240.

So, I have some special features stuff that I want to compress highly. I want to encode at MPEG-1 352x240. When I do this in DVD2SVCD, though, it always comes out as MPEG-2.

I'm very familiar with DVD2SVCD. The way I am going about trying to encode MPEG-1 is using my regular settings except for:

- under Misc, change Output to VCD
- under DVD2AVI, change field operation to Off
- under Frameserver, select Resize to VCD
- under Encoder Advanced Settings, M = 3, N/M = 5, and everything else is set for 29.97 FPS

I also created a new CCE template settings Mode: MPEG-1 (ES)

After I encode and drop the MPV into TMPGEnc DVD Author, it says MPEG-2. If I look at the CCE_Project_file.ecl, it has the line:

mpeg1=1

But it's still encoding as MPEG-2. I think it's the line:

video_type=2

Which is forcing it to MPEG-2 (ES, One-pass VBR) mode.

If I manually open the ECL file in CCE and change the mode to "MPEG-1 (ES)", then I don't even have the option of selecting a Q factor. When I pick an average bitrate and encode, it crashes -- even with AudioDub(BlankClip()).

So, what's the mpeg1=1 setting do?

So, what gives? Is DVD2SVCD unable to make MPEG-1 with CCE? If that's the case, it should force you to use TMPG for VCD mode.

[brett]

If I encode using TMPGEnc Plus 2.5, everything works fine and it actually makes MPEG-1 like it's supposed to. I took a KVCD template and changed it to a compliant GOP structure and used the Bach1 matrix, and it came out looking good at only 570 kbps.

I'd still like to know if it's possible to use CCE for MPEG-1.

[Nick]

CCE 2.5 seems to work OK for MPEG1. However, its only advantage over TMPGEnc is speed. Most users find TMPGEnc provides preferable results to CCE for MPEG1, especially at low bitrate.

[DDogg]

brett, you are aware that CCE only does the simplest form cbr for MPEG1? I ask because your post above mentions Q factor. None of that stuff is available in CCE MPEG1. In fact, I am surprised they even have MPEG1 in CCE. It is not very good to say the least.

Hey, it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on QuEnc MPEG1 when the new build comes out that supports it.