Toshiba SD 2500 Doesn't Seem to Play Any KVCD Templates

[MT1001]

Hello KVCD gurus, I've been trawling through the forums for the last couple of days but I just can't find an answer to my problem.

I'm encoding ST TNG Season 1 PAL to PAL (my wife won't let me buy them ;)) using Smartripper->DVD2AVI->FitCD->AviSynth->TMPGEnc(KVCD*)->VCDEasy

I've tried several different Plus and x3 templates with very strange results. Audio in all cases, some just have no video at all, some bring up the last screen from the last DVD played (which seems to be undocumented functionality of my DVD player!!!), some bring up the player's default screen, and when there is an image, whatever is displayed jerks left to right. I've downloaded and tried a KVCD Plus and a KVCDx3 sample, to no avail.

As a side note, FitCD says it is interlaced source, can this be trusted? I've noticed that there is a little bit of motion blur when people are moving fast and I suspect that this is because I am deinterlacing non-interlaced source. Is this possible? I have read other guides that say I should use the DVD2AVI preview screen to determine if it's interlaced or not, is this better than FitCD? Also, sometimes TMPGEnc works out the correct settings for the source when it loads the AviSynth script, but often it gets it wrong, is this normal?

Is there some simple test that I can perform to check if my player can play non-standard VCDs without going to the full extent of KVCD? Would creating a non-standard VCD with VBR or a different CBR as the only change to the standard be the safest and easiest check?

Also, if I eventually do get this working, is there a space saving to be had if I create my own I-frames using "Force Picture Type Settings" at scene changes only? I have read that this is labour intensive but excellent for creating smaller high quality standard VCDs, does it apply for KVCDs too and will it help much?

All play fine under WMP, albeit not at full screen. (BTW, is there any player that will get a KVCD MPEG to play in the correct aspect ratio on a PC?)

Any ideas much appreciated, I really don't want to go back to standard VCDs as I'm trying to get 2 episodes per 74min CD, one episode per CD is just too expensive (and painful), I might as well tape them! :D

[MT1001]

Got it to work with the Toshiba SD 2500 by using the PAL PLUS 352x288 template, this seems to be the only PLUS template that will work, so I'm guessing that my player doesn't like non-standard resolutions. Even half-D1 doesn't work.

Deinterlacing using Decomb.dll via avisynth seems to be the best way to deinterlace. It works well. Looks really good, especially when you force the I-frames. This also reduces the size of the file considerably (by 29M for 43 min ep). When manually setting the I-frames, set the sensitivity to 150 (the max) and then do an auto search. If you are processing via Avisynth, it might take a long time (particularly if deinterlacing). Then just go through the I-frames and check to make sure they are correct. It takes about 15 mins of person-time to check 45mins of video, but this might vary a lot depending on the video.

There is still some jerk to some scenes, but this seems to be when something is coming from the background towards the foreground, and only in a few cases. Don't know which step is introducing it. Minor annoyance given the awesome quality everywhere else. Changing the motion search from normal to highest quality doesn't seem to make much difference anywhere except coding time.

I'm using the ConvertToRGB function in avisynth, but I think I'm going to try setting the output to RGB from DVD2AVI to see if it will make it even better or faster to process.

[kwag]

Hi MT1001,

Have you tried encoding as MPEG-2 instead of MPEG-1 with the PLUS templates?
For viewing with the correct aspect, use WinDVD. But don't trust the audio. It will play out of sync in WinDVD, but correctly in WMP.

-kwag

[MT1001]

I tried the LBR template last night, it's incredible! Very slight pixellation around slow moving people that is hardly noticeable if you sit the recommended distance from the TV. With my TV's noise reduction on, it disappears. But with a 30% reduction in size! Kwag, you are a genius!

I never thought that the MPEG standard could look this good. I was going to build a home theater PC to play DivX directly, but there is almost no point now, except for playing downloaded stuff which I hardly ever do. I might do it anyway for MAME.

I'll try encoding as an MPEG 2, and let you know what happens. I've read on the forums that I can try demuxing and remuxing as SVCD. I'll try that as well.

[kwag]

Glad you like it MT1001
I like it too
I'm having more fun with the LBR than with any other template. Maybe because it's a real challenge to compress so much, while still maintaining the best possible quality.

Ah!, and MAME, my favorite emulator!.
I have more fun playing Space Invaders and stuff like that, than the new Quake or Half Life style games. My all time favorite is "Star Raiders" from Atari.
I still have a working Atari 400 computer with that cartridge, so I turn it on every once in a while
Great memories :P

-kwag

[MT1001]

I have a 2600 "woody". I have Star Raiders, with the additional number keypad that you plug into the second controller port that you use to select galaxies. I could never finish that game. My fave is Hero. There are some good Atari emulators out there, VCS is one, but it's just not the same!

I have been playing with LBR too, the small size appeals to me. Fighting with Headac3he at the moment, just downloaded the MMX DLLs as I have instant crashes. Going to try that tonight. Also going to compare an encode with manual I frames to no preset I frames. I just did an encode with no manually set I frames and I don't believe it was as good as my previous encode, but that was a different episode so it might not be fair. If that works I might put together a little guide. Going to play with TSCV to get a nice menu too.

Tried the template on a Viewmaster player at a friend's today, it worked fine in both PLUS PAL and PLUS PAL LBR, but I think it's a Chinese player so you expect that. However, it made a black strip on the bottom of about an inch or two on a 43" TV.