I have just been reading this thread and I was wondering kwag, how about having a section where people could submit there templates and have a sample of what the quality was like??

Sure!. Anyone can e-mail me the templates, and I'll post them on a separate section, just like the user contributed introduction logos.

-kwag

hi kwag!

we've heard so many different tweaks on your templates to convert them to a skvcd... that kinda confuses one.

why not making an ORIGINAL skvcd tmeplate in the download section, as you already made kdvd templates... ?

__________________
j3llyG0053

Good question!. The answer is that if you want to use a template for SVCD, you're better off using the KDVD half D-1 template, instead of SVCD! The reason is that 352x480 MPEG-2 is a DVD compliant resolution, but 480x480 is not. So what people are doing is using the KDVD 352x480 template and burning as SVCD. Most DVD players that support SVCD will hapilly play 352x480. Also, if you ever want to move the mpegs created with the KDVD template to a DVD-R, you don't need to re-encode. You just take your mpeg and burn it with a DVD authoring program on to a DVD-R. If you make SVCD's, with the regular 480x480, you won't be able to burn them to a DVD-R without re-encoding.

-kwag

Kwag,
I can see the Max video bitrate of current setting in KDVD (half D1) is set to 2500. What would be the maximum video bitrate if I burn it as SVCD because the current value (2500) is not acceptable to me. My article says that the maximum for SVCD is 2520, is it correct?

By the way, when I say the maximum video bitrate for SVCD, I mean the maximum value which will be accepted by most DVD player. Thanks!

Hi syk2c11:

Yes, the MAX bit rate for a standard SVCD is 2520 to 2525. But that doesn't mean that you can't go higher!. If your DVD player supports it, go ahead and jank it up
I did set 2,500 so that it was exactly half the bit rate that is set on the Full D-1 KDVD template, and a quality equivalent to an SVCD. Also at 2,500Kbps MAX, you can fit around 8 hours of video on a DVD.

-kwag

kwag...

yes, but isn't the KDVD half d1 template somehow restricted and optimized for DVD Compatibility?

I mean the thing that you don't need to re-encode when you wanna burn them as fully compliant DVD-Rs is a good point, but what about using a longer GOP than the KDVD Half D1 templates for KSVCDs?

wouldn't that make sense, since there's no need to make the files DVD compliant?
would i get a higher compression than?
and is the Q.Matrix already optimized for MPEG-2 compression?

sorry for asking that many questions...

__________________
j3llyG0053

Hi Jellygoose:

If you want a little more compression, and you don't want to worry about DVD compatibility, go ahead and increase the MAX number of frames per GOP to 48 in the NTSC template, or 50 on the PAL template. Just like in the KVCD templates.
That will give you a little more compression. The Q. matrix works fine with TMPEG in MPEG-2. You may want to change the audio from 48Khz down to 44.1Khz, if your player doesn't support 48Khz in SVCD mode. Most DVD players playing a SVCD will play correctly audio at 48Khz.

-kwag

I encoded some clips by using KDVD (half D1) template in exactly the same way as I encode KVCD Plus (704x480) template, but I found that the clips generated by KDVD half D1 (burnt as SVCD) were darker than those of KVCD plus (704x480). Is there a way to increase the brightness in KDVD half D1 template or it is caused by the lower resolution in KDVD half D1 template. (352x480 < 704x480)

Un-check "Output YUV data as Basic YCbCr not CCIR601" in TMPEG.

-kwag

Hi Jellygoose,

Well, after you, and many people E-mailing me about SKVCD, it's finally out ( Pressure works :P )
So don't worry about modifying the KDVD half D-1. Go to the download area and try the SKVCD 352x480. It will give you 60 minutes+ per CD with SVCD quality. I did a SVCD and a KSVCD and played them both on my JVC player, and there's no visual difference
You burn the MPEG as a SVCD with whatever. I used VCDEasy.

Enjoy!,
-kwag

Kwag,
no offense, but I think that only 60 minutes on a CD with that resolution is unacceptable by the standards that you have set. Actually, I know that you can surpass those standards becuase I have done it with a modification to your KVCDx2 BETA (whih is now plus but I havent upgraded yet) by just changing to MPEG-2 and selecting 3:2 pulldown when playback. This has given me 60 minutes a disc on the Two whole movies that I have tried with it, John Q and the Mothman Prophecies. I also happened to be using 320kbps audio. IT is amazing I just wish that I could get surround sound!!!! That should be your next task! Just kidding I dont think that it is possible. The template I have created gives dvd quality video. it is amazing. try it out kwag. I dont know if you used 3532x480 for compatibility reasons and I dont know why you used a quality setting fo 27 either. I use 15 on the 704x480 but I do understand that the other templates need higher CQ_VBR levels. Give the 704x480 mpeg-2 a shot anf I think you will be amazed.

A-Star

Hi A-Star:

The reason for the resolution of 352x480 is for compatibility with DVD/SVCD players. Almost every DVD/SVCD player will play 352x480 MPEG-2 burned as SVCD, but not many will play 704x480 MPEG-2 as SVCD mode. There is barely any difference in quality from 480x480 to 352x480, because the 480 horizontal lines is what gives the most visual sharpness. I already tried a SVCD 480x480 @2,500 CBR and it looks the same as the SKVCD with it's default settings. The quality value of 27 had to be set, because that template is also using the KVCD Q. Matrix and CQ_VBR. The quality value has to be set completely different if you use the standard TMPEG Q. Matrix and GOP. It would have to be up in the 65 value to give an equivalent quality. I'll be posting some samples tomorrow.

-kwag

Hi kwag,

What is the VBV setting for?
I noticed that with the kvcd-plus it's set to 40, and with the skvcd it's set to 112...

Yes. It's set to 112, just like a standard SVCD template.
Here's a description of what the VBV is: http://www.bretl.com/mpeghtml/VBV.HTM


-kwag

@All:

After a couple of tests with different movies, I switched the encoding on the SKVCD from CQ_VBR to CQ. I got very mixed results, some looked great, some looked like crap!.
So MPEG-2 with CQ_VBR and KVCD's Q . Matrix + KVCD's GOP behaves very unpredictable. Now it's back to CQ mode with a quality value of 75, which is very close to the actual KDVD half D-1 template.
File sizes are still good for an average 60 minutes per CD.
Here are two samples so that you can compare the files.
The samples are from "Kate and Leopold" which, by the way it's a great movie, but it's a crappy quality DVD. The mastering done for that DVD was garbage. I can see artifacts on many scenes of the movie on my HDTV.
Standard 480x480 SVCD @2520CBR:
http://ns1.shidima.com/kwag/film-svcd.mpg
SKVCD 352x480:
http://ns1.shidima.com/kwag/film-skvcd.mpg

The posted template reflects the latest changes. If you downloaded the SKVCD template before this post, please re-download it.
http://www.kvcd.net/dvd-models.html

-kwag

I'd like to burn one of these ksvcds because of the two audio tracks and switchable subs but my player can't handle 480x480 svcds unless it has a vcd header. Will it maybe play the 352x480 ksvcd? Also how does the quality compare to the 704x480plus temp?

Hi ren,

Maybe you should try and burn the SKVCD sample and see if it plays in your DVD. But like any SVCD, it's far behind from the quality produced by the 704x480 plus template

-kwag