KVCD: Playback Stutters at Beginning of Movie?

[gretagun]

Hello,

I have made a few kvcds for when I buy DVD player, that will play them. Well I bought one today, and am having some minor playback issues. I got the CyberHome DVD 300, on recommendation from this forum. When I play back kvcd at 352x240 res., playback is perfect. When I play anything with 528x480 resolution, I have several problems. The video and audio stutters or has severe problems playing at the beginning of the disc. This occurs only during the studio intro up to actual movie itself. Everything plays flawlessly after that, including the credits. I also am having the same issues with a documentary I encoded. The documentary is divided into chronological "sections". During the transition between "sections" the title of the next section is displayed on a black background. I have the same stuttering issues, but only during these transtitions. Once the black screen goes away, the movie plays perfectly again. I was wondering if anyone has experienced these problems, or have any suggestions.

Everything I have played so far have been NTSC progressive film sources. I am using the optimal script, and the KVCDx3-MPEG-1-NTSCFilm.mcf template and Tmpgenc as my encoder. I multiplex w/Tmpgenc, create image with VCD easy, and burn with Alcohol 120%. I have read that some people have issues multiplexing with Tmpgenc, but the kvcds I have encoded at 352x240 play flawlessly.

[kwag]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gretagun

Once the black screen goes away, the movie plays perfectly again.

You have to encode with a higher MINimum bitrate
What MIN did you use
I always use 300Kbps as MIN bitrate on all my encodes, and I also have a Cyberhome 300, which plays all my KVCDs fine.

-kwag

[gretagun]

Well, my encodes have certainly been below 300kbps. I have been using Black Prince's kvcd guide, and when using calcumatic, almost every time I get a minimum bitrate below 300. I still have much to learn about making kvcd's, and will go back and read up on bitrate calculations and file size prediciton. The only thing is I have some kvcds that play fine, that I am pretty sure had minimum bitrates less than 300. The weird thing is for the documentary I am having problems with, calcumatic gave me a minimum bitrate of 366.966.

Edit: CQmatic content should probably be asked in appropriate thread. Will post questions if I have any problems. I must be crazy, because when I calculated my min bitrate the second time, I got avg. bitrate of 1193.6 *(.57)=680.352. I will try that bitrate, and a max set to 2000kbps, and see if that doesn't stop the stuttered video during these transitions.

[gretagun]

okay, i am stupid I was previously using an old version of calcumatic that already gave the minimum bitrate (the one that shows .57*average bitrate=xxx.xx) I had been taking the minimum bitrate calculated by Calcumatic, and then multiplying that by .57! No wonder my minimum bitrates have been below 300.

[kwag]

Don't worry
That happens

-kwag

[gretagun]

Okay, I give up. I just encoded the whole movie again, and it still stutters at the beginning and during those transitions. I used a min bitrate of 680.352 and a max of 2000, and still same problems. I muxed with BBmpg, still same problems.

Kwag, when you insert a disc in your player, does it say VCD or SVCD in the top right corner of your TV screen? My friend has the same player, and his displays this information when the disc is inserted. He has had his player for over a year, and even though they are both the same model, CH DVD 300, my doesn't display this information. It just tells me the PBC is on. Also, with some of the other discs I have made, they play fine in his player. No stuttering during the little studio intros or beginning of the movie. I haven't tried this documentary on his player yet.

I am wondering if mabye the newer DVD 300 models have changed since he got his. Like I said, I just bought mine yesterday, and his is over a year old. I also noticed the remote is slightly different. I guess I could compare the software versions between his and mine, but he lives over 3 hrs away. I don't think I got a bad unit, because it plays DVDs, SVCDS and VCD's perfectly.

On a lighter note, I used the the current versions of Calcumatic and CQMatic with TMPGEnc-2.524.63.181 for this encode, and my file size was right on, with a CQ 70.0876312255859

[kwag]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gretagun

Kwag, when you insert a disc in your player, does it say VCD or SVCD in the top right corner of your TV screen?

Yes, mine does display VCD or SVCD.

Quote:

I am wondering if mabye the newer DVD 300 models have changed since he got his.

Probably they have change the firmware.

Quote:

and his is over a year old.

Mine too!

Quote:

I also noticed the remote is slightly different. I guess I could compare the software versions between his and mine, but he lives over 3 hrs away. I don't think I got a bad unit, because it plays DVDs, SVCDS and VCD's perfectly.

I haven't even checked if the Cyberhome's firmware can be upgraded
Have you checked that

Quote:

On a lighter note, I used the the current versions of Calcumatic and CQMatic with TMPGEnc-2.524.63.181 for this encode, and my file size was right on, with a CQ 70.0876312255859

That's cool

-kwag

[bigggt]

HI

I had one of the players and i couldn't get anything other then 352x240 to play normal

I bought one because of everyone here liking them so much but when i played 528x480 it would have a slight shaking motion ,no matter what i tried it wouldn't go away

Doesn't really matter much after about 3 months of hardly using it ,it refused to power on any more.

I have a norcent 300 that i bought a few years ago at walmart and it plays everything so when i wanted another one a little while ago i found some at walmart again but now they only play 352x240(the same model) so firmware changes on the cyberhome 300 are likely

I know this doesn't help you but i htought i would share my story with my Cyberhome 300

[gretagun]

Hey, thanks for the input Kwag and Bigggt.

I couldn't find anything regarding firmware upgrades for this particular model. Judging from the thread in the Standalone Player forum, most people who can play the 528X480 res. got their player over a year ago, including my friend's. Looks like I missed out

I think I will take this back and try the Philips DVP 642. I asked over in another forum a while back, and someone said it will play kvcd's and skvcd, but I am not sure at what resolutions.

[kwag]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gretagun

I think I will take this back and try the Philips DVP 642.

That's a very good player, and it also plays ALL KVCDs and also all that DivCrap
I have one of those players too
I bought it SPECIFICALLY so I could test and benchmark my KVCD encodes against the X craps.
I can clearly see the KVCD/KDVD advantages every day

-kwag