Bitrates: Multiple Shows on one CDR?

[Max Powers]

Can someone explain how to use cqmatic to encode more than one tv
show...I have a dvd of the family guy and want to put 4 episodes per cdr.
but every time I try to encode them individualy I can only fit at most 2
per cdr after ading audio...also how can i ajust the cq to use the audio
from the source video dirctly in tmpgenc by the way each episode is like
22 minutes long if that helps

thanx in advance

[Max Powers]

22 views come on guys did I post wrong or something, ok how about a
small updated guide on calculating cq manualy, I saw one on here the
other day but dont know if it still aplys...pppplease I need to back up this
dvd before my son trashes it again.

[Abond]

You should make from the vobs of these 4 episodes one d2v file. Than use cqmatic to predict the cq. Encode the separate shows with that CQ. That is.

[dazedconfused]

Hey Max,

Off-topic: Family Guy is sweet. I read somewhere recently that the Fox network is seriously thinking about renewing that show for 2005 due to very strong dvd sales and high ratings for its re-runs currently airing on Cartoon Network! (also undoubtedly due to Fox's general lack of any new quality programming recently...and their uncanny knack for prematurely cancelling good shows ).

Back on-topic: You probably didn't get much help because you need to provide more details, details, details! Be as descriptive as possible about all programs and methods you're currently using and the guides you are following.....also NTSC or PAL source?, what resolution are you using?, min/max video bitrates used?, audio bitrate?, post your avisynth script, etc, etc, etc. Help others help you.

Good luck,
-d&c

[Max Powers]

Quote:

You should make from the vobs of these 4 episodes one d2v file. Than use cqmatic to predict the cq. Encode the separate shows with that CQ. That is.

I wish i could but after ripping the dvd to my hard drive I had a friend
convert it to xvid so I dont loose too much quality and my wife through out
the original dvd because it was all scrached up. Any way to convert back
to vob?

Quote:

Back on-topic: You probably didn't get much help because you need to provide more details, details, details! Be as descriptive as possible about all programs and methods you're currently using and the guides you are following.....also NTSC or PAL source?, what resolution are you using?, min/max video bitrates used?, audio bitrate?, post your avisynth script, etc, etc, etc. Help others help you.

AVI info:
Video-
Compression: XVID
Frames: 32422
Frames Per Second: 23.9760
File Size: 161716224 bytes (154.22 MB)
Microseconds per frame: 41708
Peak Bitrate: 0
Running Time: 1352.2689 seconds
Resolution: 640 x 480

Audio-
Compression: MP3 Audio Layer
Samples Rate: 48000
Channels: 2
Bitrate: 192 kbs 96/chx2

I cant use a script I get this error when I open my avi in AVISynth 252
"Could not decompress frame 0" but TMPGenc Plus 2.521.58.169 opens it
with no problems I even tried to use a script without filters but still no joy
I have no idea what the problem is all my other dvds have no problems at
all to open with scripts...The only program im using is CQMatic 1203 and
Calcumatic and TMPGenc

Steps Performed-

Opened TMPGenc clicked FILE-NEW PROJECT Opened my avi and cleared
the audio, ticked ES (VIDEO ONLY) then I clicked on LOAD and loaded
this template: KVCD-ULBR-352x240-_NTSCFilm_PLUS360 minutes on one
CD-R.mcf then clicked SETTINGS and changed only MOTION ESTIMATE
SEARCH (FAST) and CONSTANT QUALITY(CQ) (SETTINGS) changed the
MAX BITRATE: 2000. Then I opened CQMatic and clicked on the calculator
for Calcumatic then I opened my avi in calcumatic and kept audio at 128
kbs (Default) video and audio as default as well and hit calculate.
MINUTES: 22
AVERAGE BITRATE: 4719.3
0.57 * AVERAGE: 2690.0
VIDEO SIZE: 797568 kb
AUDIO SIZE: 21632 kb
Now I opened CQMatic
MOVIE TIME IN MINUTES: 22
AVERAGE BITRATE: 4719.3

went back to cq settings in TMPGenc and changed:
MIN BITRATE: 2690.0 (0.57 x 4719.3) then I ticked (ENABLE PADDING)
clicked OK and clicked on ADVANCED and double clicked SOURCE RANGE
and cliked the DEFAULT button clicked OK and clicked CUT EDITING just
to make sure RESET CUT EDITING was greyed out clicked OK and then
unticked SOURCE RANGE then I clicked on GOP STRUCTURE tab and
clicked MAX NUMBER OF FRAMES IN A GOP: was 24 but changed it to 12
because I read on another post that 12 is for cartoons and 24 is for movie
then I ticked OUTPUT BITSTREAM FOR EDIT(CLOSED GOP) and DETECT
SEEN CHANGE then I clicked OK and clicked on FILE-SAVE PROJECT and
saved it as a text project then I closed TMPGenc and went back to cqmatic
and clicked SETTINGS and made sure it reflected the path of TMPGenc exe
finnaly I clicked OPPEN PROJECT and navigated to my saved text project
and clicked open chose PREDICTION (X3) and FULL ENCODE and EXECUTE, I used a lot of detail in hopes that if my settings are in fact
correct it will serve as a detailed guide for others to follow.

Quote:

Off-topic: Family Guy is sweet. I read somewhere recently that the Fox network is seriously thinking about renewing that show for 2005 due to very strong dvd sales and high ratings for its re-runs currently airing on Cartoon Network! (also undoubtedly due to Fox's general lack of any new quality programming recently...and their uncanny knack for prematurely cancelling good shows ).

Man I hope that they do that show is way too funny! And lets hope they
dont ruin True Calling lol

[Max Powers]

Can anyone confirm these settings for me please?

[Jellygoose]

Please stop posting stuff like "Why is nobody answering..."

The problem seems to be within your script, if you can't open it with TMPGEnc... Please post your AVS Script too!

Edit: Sorry about that, didn't read carefully... If you can use AVS scripts with D2Vs, but not with that particular AVI, you might try to open it with DirectShowSource("YourAVI.avi"). Other than that, please post your script!

[Max Powers]

Ok this is the script:

Quote:

DirectShowSource("C:\Episode 101 - Death has a Shadow.avi")

This one has a differant error (Evaluate: Unrecognized exception!) line 1

The other one I have been trying is:

Quote:

Avisource("C:\Episode 101 - Death has a Shadow.avi")

when I use this one this is the error I get:

Avisource("Avisource: Could not decompress frame 0") line 1

[Dialhot]

What are these avi ? Do you have the correct codec on your PC ?
(codec, not directshow filter).

Try with "Avisource("filename.avi",false).

[Max Powers]

I can wach them on windows media player and the playa by divx with no
problems and tmpg opens it just fine so I think I have all the codecs I
need the codec is Xvid any ideas?

Quote:

Try with "Avisource("filename.avi",false).

Yes I tried that too and got "Cold not decompress frame 0" error

[Dialhot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Max Powers

I can wach them on windows media player and the playa by divx with no
problems and tmpg opens it just fine

That can mean that you have a DIRECT SHOW FILTER taht handle them, not a codec.

Use the tool Gspot on them and see if he reports "valid" codecs for this video or not.

[Max Powers]

I think you are right about the codec do you know were I can find the
xvid codec? I installed the xvid decoder but I dont know were to find the
actual codec from.

Edit: You were right thanks...its working with the script

However my original question about finding a cq for multiple episodes or
an updated method for manualy caculating cq, im thinking at 22min long
I should be able to fit more than 2 episodes per cdr...How can I do that in
cqmatic/calcumatic?

[Dialhot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Max Powers

However my original question about finding a cq for multiple episodes or
an updated method for manualy caculating cq, im thinking at 22min long
I should be able to fit more than 2 episodes per cdr...How can I do that in
cqmatic/calcumatic?

Do a script that loads ALL the sources together and do a prediction on that script. It will give you an average CQ that you will have to use on each movie to obtain a final total size of exactly 800 Mb.

[Max Powers]

Thank you Dialhot for your help im going to give this a shot and let you
know how it went when I get done...One last thing can you confirm my
settings above so I know if I have been doing this right from the start I
often found that some movies come out to be around 800 mb and thats
before adding the audio...Thanks again!

[Dialhot]

If you have problem in the prediction, set "160" as audio bitrate in calcumatic and let cqmatic do its job. Then you will encode the audio at 128 and you will have a file length right in the target.

[Max Powers]

Quote:

If you have problem in the prediction, set "160" as audio bitrate in calcumatic and let cqmatic do its job. Then you will encode the audio at 128 and you will have a file length right in the target.

Ok I asume you mean if I want my audio at 128 kbs I should set the audio
in cqmatic 160kbs and if I want audio at 112 kbs set the audio to 128 kbs
at least this is how I understand it but the end result is sometimes still way
to much and end up having to do it all over again. Or do you mean I
should always set audio bitrate to 160 kbs?

Quote:

Do a script that loads ALL the sources together and do a prediction on that script. It will give you an average CQ that you will have to use on each movie to obtain a final total size of exactly 800 Mb.

How do I do a prediction on a script I tried to open a avs in cqmatic but I
can only open d2v or avi and since my avi's are separate how can I open
all the ones im going to use in one avi?

[Dialhot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Max Powers

Or do you mean I
should always set audio bitrate to 160 kbs?

No, you understood exactly what I wanted to say but this hint just reduce the probability to have CQMatic to fail. Unfortunaly it doesn't prevent it for all failures .
If you do always a prediction at 160, you will probably have a lot of encoding that will be too far under the target.

Quote:

How do I do a prediction on a script I tried to open a avs in cqmatic but I
can only open d2v or avi and since my avi's are separate how can I open
all the ones im going to use in one avi?

In CQMatic you load only TMPGenc project, so I guess you meant "Calcumatic". You do not need to load anything in calcumatic. You can set the length of the source manually and press "calculate"
(you can have the length of the total avs by loading it in media player).

[Max Powers]

Dialhot I just wanted to say thanks, I just finished my encode and it could
not have been more on target if it had a bullseye. The only problem I had
was using the MA Script for some reason the cartoon would move with a
blur on any quick movements so I removed the part in red below Im dooing prediction x3 as I write this...Hope it works
Thanks again man!

## DLL Section ##
#
LoadPlugin("C:\Filters25\2.5Filters\MPEG2Dec3.dll" )
LoadPlugin("C:\Filters25\2.5Filters\GripFit_YV12.d ll")
LoadPlugin("C:\Filters25\2.5Filters\STMedianFilter .dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\Filters25\2.5Filters\asharp.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\Filters25\2.5Filters\unfilter.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\Filters25\2.5Filters\undot.dll")
#
####

## Defined Variables and Constants ##
#
MaxTreshold = 1.50
nf = 0 # Current frame.
#
####

## Main section and static filters ###
#
aviSource("D:\Family Guy Season 1 Episode 105 - A Hero Sits Next Door.avi")+aviSource("D:\Family Guy Season 1 Episode 106 - The Son Also Draws.avi")+aviSource("D:\Family Guy Season 1 Episode 107 - Brian - Portrait of a Dog.avi")
undot()
Limiter()
asharp(1, 4)
GripCrop(352,240)
GripSize(resizer="BicubicResize")
STMedianFilter(3, 3, 1, 1 )
MergeChroma(blur(MaxTreshold))
MergeLuma(blur(0.1))
#
#

## Linear Motion Adaptive Filtering ##
#
# ( Portions from AviSynth's manual ) - This will apply temporalsoften to
# very static scenes, and apply variable blur on moving scenes.
# We also assign a variable - and this is why a line break is inserted:
SwitchThreshold = (Width<=352) ? 4 : (Width<=480) ? 3 : 2
ScriptClip("nf = YDifferenceToNext()"+chr(13)+ "nf >= SwitchThreshold ? \
unfilter( -(fmin(round(nf)*2, 100)), -(fmin(round(nf)*2, 100)) ) : \
TemporalSoften( fmin( round(2/nf), 6), round(1/nf) , round(3/nf) , 1, 1) ")

#
#
#

GripBorders()
#LetterBox( 352,240 ) # Depends on situation. Use MovieStacker!
Limiter()

#
#
## Functions ###

function fmin( int f1, int f2) {
return ( f1<f2 ) ? f1 : f2
}

#
####

[incredible]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Max Powers

The only problem I had
was using the MA Script for some reason the cartoon would move with a
blur on any quick movements so I removed the part in red below


MergeLuma(blur(0.1))
#
#

## Linear Motion Adaptive Filtering ##
#
# ( Portions from AviSynth's manual ) - This will apply temporalsoften to
# very static scenes, and apply variable blur on moving scenes.
# We also assign a variable - and this is why a line break is inserted:

By doing this you just get rid of the remarks! and this will cause nothing in effective! The little MergeLuma(blur...) should be applied in THIS version of MA so you'll obtain a bit more CQ

THIS IS THE MA PART!:

Quote:

SwitchThreshold = (Width<=352) ? 4 : (Width<=480) ? 3 : 2
ScriptClip("nf = YDifferenceToNext()"+chr(13)+ "nf >= SwitchThreshold ? \
unfilter( -(fmin(round(nf)*2, 100)), -(fmin(round(nf)*2, 100)) ) : \
TemporalSoften( fmin( round(2/nf), 6), round(1/nf) , round(3/nf) , 1, 1) ")

.... followed by the needed fmin-function lines at the end


But! In case of AVI if you don't want to use MA just switch to one of DialHots scripts ... their purpose is exactly what you need ... well as it seems to me in your case.

Inc.
[/quote]

[dazedconfused]

Hey Max,

Glad to see that you're on your way now.

But is there any particular reason why you chose to use such a low resolution of 352x240? (ick! :P ). Considering that your source files have a resolution of 640x480, and you are only putting three of these ~22-minute episodes per disc (according to your script), you should definetly be able to use a higher, better looking resolution. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if you could fit 4 episodes per disc at a decent quality level while using a 480/528/544x480 resolution (that is, depending on what works in your player and your minimum CQ level preferences). If you only want 3 episodes per disc, you could even use 704x480, but IMO for a cartoon like Family Guy, anything above 544x is probably overkill. ( On second thought, since your source has already suffered a quality-loss during the conversion to xvid, you might actually want to consider using 704x480 so that you maintain every extra bit of detail that you can from that 640x file of yours). If higher resolution KVCDs do work on your player, then I'd recommend doing a small visual comparison between 480/528/544x and 704x samples and using one of those. If higher resolution KVCDs don't work on your player, then I'd recommend looking for a new player this holiday season!

Cheers,
-d&c