KDVD: best Anime compression?
 

Kwag

First of all great job on the templates! However I am a large anime fan and plan on backing up my anime videos on dvd, but the templates don't compress anime video that well. I've tried all the different filters, everything. Is there som way I can get the maximum quality, with minimal file size and least artifacts? I want to get my 3 tenchi movies backuped to one dvd and the same with my other anime movies. Can you point me onto the right direction?

Hi TooTall,

You may want to reduce the size of the GOP to 12 frames, or you might want to look at this: http://shelob.mordor.net/dgraft/msmooth/msmooth.html and use that filter with our templates :wink:

-kwag

I did try to use those and it improved it a little bit but, not to a great amount, could you maybe post the avs script you use for your anime videos?

I don't so animes 8O :) Sorry :cry:. But I would try this:


LoadPlugin("C:\encoding\mpeg2dec.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\encoding\GripFit_preview.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\encoding\legalclip.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\encoding\sampler.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\encoding\dustv5.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\encoding\temporalcleanerold.dll")

Mpeg2Source("The_Movie.d2v")
LegalClip()
GripCrop( width=528, height=480, overscan=2 )
GripSize()
SpaceDust()
TemporalCleaner()
GripBorders()
LegalClip()
#Sampler(length=24)
## MPEG size = ((Total frames/MovieTimeInMinutes)/24) * MPEG sample file size ##

Just change the GripCrop to your wanted resolution, and load the template you want to try. The settings above would be for KVCDx3.

-kwag

While I've got great results with KVCD for live action movies, and even with bad camcorder shooting, animation is a whole different story.

New computer generated animation like Shrek, Ice Age, Monster Inc do really good in a 1-cd KVCDx3 encode - after all they're too much like the real thing, only cleaner :) The complex rendered textures and smooth edges work extremely well with KVCD.

Old style cartoons, like Snow White, are much harder to get good results, even if they are short (usually <90 min). All edges are sharp and thin, with high contrast. All surfaces are plain, or really simple textures that doesn't mask the encoding distortions. And they're usually 4:3 full screen.

Most smoothing filters are designed to kill noise+low details, and keep moderate detail (that doesn't exist in old cartoons) and high details (that should be smoothed to prevent mosquitoes), so while they can make the source look "cleaner" they don't make it any easier to compress.

I've seen some amazing DivX encodings of animation like the ogm with "Ghost in the Shell", high resolution, really clean, dual audio (english and japanese), subs, and fits in one CD. So I guess it's possible to do a nice encode of animation... perhaps you could try encoding to DivX as a "preprocessing" for kvcd encoding ???

What about a KVCD challenge? Fit Snow White in one CD without a cloud of Aedes Aegypt following each dwarf's moements? ;)

OK, I've used "KDVD" to do mine... I used the Half D1 Template at a resolution of 352 by 480... Everthing comes out great, and for for an example ALL The Episodes of HellSing Fit on ONE DVD with Ease... I can get right at 8 hours per disc with menus and all every time... I've never had a low quality problem on my compressions... If you are really concerned about the quality try using a multipass encode, also VBR is a key factor to getting Amine to shrink in size and keep your images intact...

oops, I didn't notice in which forum this thread was :oops:

I was talking about my experience with animes and kvcd's, not kdvds.

thanks trunksgt72,

With low motion the compression is great, but when there is high motion (example figting sequences), artifacts start to show. I will try a test clip and see how that works, I would like to keep a 720x480 resolution even though it doesn't matter on anime if it's 1/2 D1. Depending on how it works I will report my results.

Figured it out!
 

It's been a month from when I first posted this topic and finally I found a way that works real well.

Here is the script that I used with the KDVD Template. I hope that it works for others and feel free to make changes to the script or put in input.

---------------------------- BEGIN SCRIPT ------------------------------
#GOP matrix of 1,12,3,1,18

LoadPlugin("C:\filters\mpeg2dec.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\filters\decomb.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\filters\_2DCleanYUY2.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\filters\fluxsmooth.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\filters\DctFilter_YUY2.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\filters\blockbuster.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\filters\legalclip.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\filters\sampler.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\filters\dustv5.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\filters\temporalcleaner.dll")

Mpeg2Source("C:\Temp\video.d2v")

LegalClip()

telecide()
decimate(5)

mergechroma(blur(1.58))
mergeluma(blur(0.2))

#BilinearResize(720, 480)

SpaceDust()

#NoMoSmooth(30,2,6,2,6)
# or
FluxSmooth(15,10)

_2DCleanYUY2(0,7,2,2,0,4,4)
TemporalCleaner()
Blockbuster(method="noise", detail_min=1, detail_max=10, variance=0.3, seed=1)
DctFilter(1,1,1,1,1,.5,.5,0)
LegalClip()

---------------------------- END SCRIPT -----------------------------------

Finally I have come up with a combination of filters that work (for me anyway). I hope that this helps others that want to encode anime.

I used the script below:

Feel free to make any comments.

Hey tootall thanks for the info. I also have a ton of ... anime I want to back up onto dvd. I was wondering since almost all of my anime are in divx or xvid format will there there be a significant loss in quality? Does this work good with high-action anime? sorry for the noobish question.. well cause i am a n00b at all this :P Thanks in advance.

Update to my Anime Script
 

Here is a script I'm trying out. It works great on anime videos but takes way to long. I plan on watching them a few times so I thinks it's work it.

Note: The file listed uses virtual dub filters and contains the optimization for the AMD Athlon processors. Sorry for the P4/Celeron users.

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