KVCD: Encoding Questions, aspect ratios and resolution?
 

Hi, Lots of questions comin up...

I'm on an O/C Celeron @825Mhz 256MB

I normally encode a 100min movie in about 18 hours, but a few days ago I finally downloaded the latest TMPGenc 2.53.35.130 (I used to have Beta 12(f)) and suddenly I managed to encode a straight VCD 90min in 4 hours! I'm not sure what I did differently so I checked the VCDHelp Forum. Read about your template and now I want it. But I've run into a snag. I can't figure out what the hell I did to manage to encode in 4 hours.

I ripped Spy Game and ran DVD2AVI with Forced Film. The film is 120min widescreen, 99% Film, 23.9fps and 16:9. I downloaded your template and ran the wizard in TMPGenc, however I've still got a few settings I'm unclear about. On Page 2/5 in the Wizard in Expert Setting for source, what should I set the video type to? (Interlace with A or B first or Non), Aspect ratio: 16:9 525line or 16:9 Display(what is the difference? and If I want to keep it widescreen what should I do? 4:3 525Line or Display, etc.)

On Page 3/5 in the Wizard, since I want to see if I can fit it to one VCD (80min/700MB CD-R) I've left Source range unticked. Under Other Settings, what should the video stream settings be? MPeg1-Video, 352x480 (why 480?), again what aspect ratio for Video Stream setting, frame rates, rate control mode is set as CQ from your template, do I need to adjust anything? VBV buffer size (what is this?) and finally the biggest question: Motion search presicion, I normally used to set this to High Quality. Under the advanced menu what should the Video Arrange Method be?(Full screen etc) In Audio, why use Joint Stereo instead of Stereo, and what is the difference? Can I use 192bit instead of 128?

Finally when I get to page 4/5 where the disc type is, everything is greyed out. I can't select anything at all, don't know what I'm doing wrong. I know I've asked alot of questions, but after reading all these guides and forums, I still can't figure some good answers to these questions, especially the why's.

I'd still like to figure out how I managed to encode in 5 hours, because now when I do a straight VCD on 2 discs, it estimates once again 9hours per disc, that's 18hours total. It's something to do with the aspect ratios and resoultion, but I can't figure out what.

I know its a long post, but any help whatsoever would be great.
Thanks.

Spyglass

Re: Encoding Questions
 

Hi Spyglass:

Don't use the wizard. If you are going to encode with KVCD template, just open your source .d2v file directly with TMPEG and also the wave file.

I suppose you did set "Forced Film" when you ran DVD2AVI, because if it did show 99% FILM, you had to set that.

The best procedure and quality is like this:

Download the program FitCD from the net.
With this program, you open your .d2v file, and select "1/2 DVD" as destination size. You'll see that in the bottom part of the program.
Also besides Crop, select "Accurate".
This settings are for a 352x480 target, because 1/2 DVD is indeed 352x480.

Then you save your file. Usually the default name is "film". So it will make a file called film.avs where you have your VOB's. This is the file you will open with TMPEG. Not the .d2v, because TMPEG will be processing your .d2v file via AviSynth.

Still with me :lol: . Take a coffe break if you need one now!.

Here's a sample of the film.avs produced by FitCD:

LoadPlugin("C:\encoding\MPEG2DEC.dll")
mpeg2source("C:\TEMP\T05P00.d2v")
BilinearResize(352,352,0,0,720,480)
TemporalSmoother(2,2)
AddBorders(0,64,0,64)

Now in this case, this is a wide screen film, so you do this:
First open the film.avs with TMPEG.
Second, open the audio WAV file, also with TMPEG.

And LAST STEP you open the KVCD template.
You do this last, because if you load your material after loading the template, some parameters will change and overwrite some template settings. Like audio, etc.

Now just go to Settings/Advanced and change the source aspect ratio to 16:9 and the video arrangement to full screen.

All other parameters have already been set correctly by the template.
So just start your encode.

This example was for a 16:9 aspect ratio. If you were doing a 4:3, you would select 4:3 under the Settings/Advanced tab.

This works correctly every time because the correct resize is being done by the FitCD program.


kwag

I know I'm missing something.....

How do I open film.avs in TMPEG?

SpyGLass.

Just press the "Browse" button in "Video source" in TMPEG and select your film.avs or the name you saved it from FitCD, with the .avs extension.

kwag

Heh n/m I found AVISynth and MPEG2DEC. Just started encoding, I'll let you know how long it takes on my clunky Cel 825, and how it looks.

SpyGLass

Cool! :lol: If it's encoding, it means it's working!
Did you do a small 1 minute clip or so and view it in PowerDVD or WinDVD before commiting to a full encode?.
Just to check the output aspect ratio.

Let me know your results!

kwag

hey!

I'm not using the Tmpgenc wizard anymore and the encoded filesize is much smaller now. I'm still going a little over the 700 mb limit though. I'd like to select the cd size and correct the bitrate a little. Can this be done using KVCD template?

thanks
ren

You mean 800MB limit. You can fit 800MB of in a 80 minute CD-R.

As for correct bit rate, no you can't, because using constant quantization in the template, you can never tell the final file size.

kwag

hi Kwag,

my final file size is 848,499 kb. Is there a way to maybe demux it lower the quality of the audio stream or do something (without encoding again) to shrink the file so it'll fit? I just assumed the 700 mb limit because the cd says 80 min 700 mb on it :D <p.s. when I clicked on this smiley face my message disappeared- that was weird

thanks for the advice
ren

Read this:
http://www.kvcd.net/forum/viewtopic....28d6ebc4678657

You're going to have to cut a little at the end of that mpeg file!
If what you have at the end is not too important ( credits, etc. ) use TMPEG's built in tools to cut the file.

kwag