Optimizing Video Captures to KVCD Templates?

[fneris]

Hello all!

I'd like to encode my videocaptures with KVCD and for that I need some advices from you guys!

First of all: What resolution and framerate should I make captures? 352x480 at 29.97? 352x480 at 23.976? Above 480x480 23.976 I get too much dropped frames...

Capturing at 352x480 I will get a interlaced material, right? My card is cheap phoebe fm/tv. Then I'll have to de-interlace it? Or just say to TMPGENC that my source is an interlaced movie? If I'll had to de-interlace it, can I use tmpgenc? Or there are better ways?

Another question is how to change from 29.97 to 23.976. Whats the best way? AVISYNTH? It seems to be a little complicated that scripting thing! And about tmpgenc's inverse telecine? Is it as good as avisynth?

Now to encode: I've been reading about kvcd 352x480's kvcd and CVD's (SVCD), and I am convinced that kwags templates is a better solution, since tmpgenc mpeg2 encondig sucks! I've made some tests (with tmpg's inverse telecine enabled) and kvcd 352x480 plus, then I demuxed and remuxed with bbmpeg (2324 bytes per sector and a video buffer size of 22). The video freezes for a while (about 1~2 seconds at each 3 mins approx.) in my pioneer dv-353. Is that normal? If I let the file with tmpgenc default mpeg settings (dont demuxing and remuxing with bbmpeg), the movie gets frozen for a long time (about 10~15 secs). I thought that would be due to my capture settings. What do you think?

In another words, how do I get a smoothy play?

Well that's it!

I would appreciate some suggestions from you guys!
Thank you very much!

[markums2k]

Lemme take a stab at this. Here's what they say:

Capture using a lossless codec (like HuffyUV). If your card won't allow that (mine doesn't, I MUST capture to Pinnacle DV codec), you're going to lose some quality. Make sure your connections are top-notch. Can you use S-VIDEO instead of composites with this card? Are you stuck with RF input? If so, may the force be with you... (heavy quality loss).

Anyways, I capture to 720x480 even though they say its best to capture at the res you intend to encode at. This probably has to do with the codec I'm forced to capture to. I can capture lower, but it never looks as good as when I encode from a 720x480 source. If you can capture to a lossless codec at the res you plan to finally encode at, that's probably the best way to go.

Also, they say NOT to inverse telecine if your source is not 24fps... so this may be causing your choppy playback.

Other reasons for choppy playback:
Your player doesn't like the KVCD template as-is.
Your player doesn't like the media you burned your VCD to.
Your player doesn't like IVTCed video, even if your source was 24fps.
Something went wrong during the burn.
Something went wrong during the remux (audio sync, etc.)
Something went wrong during the encode.

That's all I can think of at the moment. You can eliminate some of those choppy playback possiblities if you try playing the final MPEG file on your PC. If it plays okay, you can rule out everything before the burn.

Hope that helps!

[fneris]

hi markums2k!

Thank for the comments!

My capture card is a cheap Phoebe TV Master +FM. I use RCA connectors. Video from VideoCasseteR to Capture Card and Audio from VCR to Live! Sound Card. Never tried that RF input!

The question about the resolution thing is that I have a slow processor (ok, upgrade soon!), a cel 366@550. So under Win XP I can capture without frame loss at 352x480 at 29.97 fps. Above that I have too much dropped frames. I'll try to capture under Win98 with another drivers and see what I get.

About the IVTC thing: I also tried not to do IVTC, and enconded the movie at 29.97. Choppy anyways!

You said: "Your player doesn't like the KVCD template as-is"
--> Well I tried with default TMPG templates and the video got frozen for about 30 secs (at each 3 mins). Remuxing with bbmpeg I got better results, but still choppy!

You said: "Your player doesn't like the media you burned your VCD to"
--> I also tried with Verbatim cd-rw. I'll do more tests with another medias...

You said: "Your player doesn't like IVTCed video, even if your source was 24fps."
--> I made some kvcd's having as source divx files (23.976) and the result was: AMAZING! I know guys here used to say that isn't so good but I really enjoyed! No stops, no glitches, nothing! Totally smoothy!

You said: "Something went wrong during the burn"
--> I just tried it with Nero and VCDEasy. Mode 1 and Mode 2.

You said: "Something went wrong during the remux (audio sync, etc.)"
--> Probably... Some tips with bbmpeg?

You said: "Something went wrong during the encode"
--> what for example? I thought the problem was TMPG, but vcd from divx went ok. So I dont know what to think!

Cheers,
Frank

[fneris]

Hey dudes!

I've discovered what happened!

OVERCLOCK!!

TMPG seems not to work fine with oc'ed cpu's! I did set the cpu to its original clock and got everything working fine!



Cheers!