Hello. I noticed a VCD template in TMPGEnc. I was wondering if it was good quality? I never use it because I set up my own custom template for high quality XVCDs and it works well. But I'm just wondering. How well does it work? Is it on par with officially released VCDs?

I also noticed for the audio that the DVD template uses 384 kbits/sec while VCD uses 224 kbits/sec. What does that mean? Why are they different? Does it convey the volume or what?

At first, you need to learn a little about what is information volume meaning, and there is VCD and DVD standard in the world.

The bitrate of the audio has nothing to do with the volume of the audio. The higher the bitrate, the higher the quality of the sound. The standard for VCD is 224. A good bitrate range for DVD is 256 - 384. The DVD bitrate is higher because a DVD has a much higher capacity then a CD and thus can have higher quality audio.

If you want to adjust the audio volume then use the Normalize feature in TMPGEnc.

For your first question, TMPGEnc is one of the best VCD encoders. The template follows the standard but if your player supports it you could increase the bit rate a bit to get better quality.

Video Guy

Regarding DVD bitrates.
I agree with Video Guy in that 256 - 384 is a good bitrate range for DVD, but it also depends on the format of the audio.

If it's AC3 5.1 then 384 would be best (some DVD's even use 448), but if it's only 2 channel AC3 or MPEG audio then 192 is usually plenty and the standard 224 for VCD is more than enough for MPEG audio.
Some people (novices usually) actually use wav(PCM) in their DVD for audio which is a complete waste of valuable space on the disk which could be used for the Video because the audio would be almost as good if it was compressed to 2 channel AC3 or MPEG audio.

Hi,
I'm having a problem with the merge and cut in TMPGenc. It completes Video Streaming fine, but when it finishes the audio stream the excalmation mark is still beside the "Performing Audio Stream" it just freezes there and never becomes a checkmark. I went to my task manager and it said it wasnt responding.. Someone Help Me Please?

aex

Have you tried waiting longer? Usually with large clips, it takes longer and it stops there for me too. But I just leave it alone and do something else. When I come back it's done!

I have Had this Problem Lots of Times...and there is No special Setting that will Fix it..You just have to find something else to do it....

TMPGEnc sometimes chokes on MPEG files created by other programs. It works best on files that it created.

Perhaps your audio is AC3. The merge and cut feature seems only to work with mpa files. I could never merge and cut with AC3 audio.

TMPG won't merge or split any MPEGs with Ac3 audio, it will just remove the stream completely form the output, so that's unlikely the problem.

I agree with Sakuya, with problems like these all that is usually required is a litle patience. Sometimes TMPG seems like it is hanging whereas in fact it is still performing the operation even if if it says in task manager it says the program is not responding (Task manager actually says this about most programs during a task which use a lot of CPU time which are in fact working OK)

Just go and have a coffee and let it do it's thing then check it. Remeber a watched pot never boils.

I would like to produce small mpeg-1 clips for dial up users. 3 min in 180x120 or 120x90 image size. Is this possible using commercial version of tmpgenc. it does not appear possible in free version.

Yes it is Possible in ALL Tmpgenc Versions...You just set the Resolution to 180+120 ,simple?? If the Resolution is Greyed out you have to then Load the "Unlock.mfc" Template from the "Extra Folder then all of the Settings will Be unlocked...And remember to set the "System" setting to "Mpeg-1" And NOT "Mpeg-1 Video-CD" cuz if you don"t do that all of your Files will be Huge...Cheers

I've just downloaded and installed TMPGEnc and tried converting an .avi file to mpeg. One worked fine, however one gave a greatly increased running time when I went through the wizard. After converting there was only 25 minutes of video and the rest was black screen.

If anyone could help that would be great.

Paul

Usually if you go to "Options" to "Enviromental Settings" to "Vfapi Plugins" and Raise the "Direct Show" to "2" this will solve this Problem...But it isn"t really that big of a Deal because you can allways Cut the Extra Black Video off the end of the Mpeg file useing the "Merge & Cut".....Cheers

This is driving me nuts. I've got some files at 480x360 that I'm trying to encode to go to DVD. Using the wizard, NTSC and everything and it doesn't matter what the hell I use for my video arrange method, the files that are being ouput are 720x540 and obviously aren't DVD compliant. What the hell do I do to get a 720x480 with this source footage???

Setting -> Video -> Size -> 720x480
Setting -> Advanced -> Video Arrange Methode -> Center (Custom Size) -> 704x480
Setting -> Advanced -> source aspect ratio -> 1:1 (VGA)

But i suggest you to use AVISynth with the following Script and in TMPGEnc with the Arrange Methode Center.

AviSource("D:video.avi")
BicubicResize(704,480,0,0.6,0,0,480,360)
AddBorders(8,0,8,0)
ConvertToRGB24()

If you have Files that are 480+360 and want to make a DVD out of them I wouldn"t encode them to 720+480 because the Resize from 480+360 to 720+480 will totally Destroy any Definition and Clarity in the Image and you will end up with a File that looks Much worse as a DVD than it did as a 480+360 file..Up-sizeing destroys Image Quality especially when you are resizeing about 100%...What I would do is use the "Half D1" DVD standard which is a Mpeg2 file at 352+480 authored to DVD..So that the File stays in it"s original Aspect ratio set the Resolution to 352+480 but in the "Video Arrange method" set it to "Center(Custom Size)" and set the Size to 352+264, But if you don"t like how that looks because of the Black Boarders then choose "Fullscreen Keep aspect ratio" ....This will Give you a Much clearer and sharper Picture and you will only need to use Half the Bitrate and you can get twice as Much Video on the DVD......Good Luck

Actually I'm gonna have to disagree with both of you.
@B_Racer
>Setting -> Advanced -> Video Arrange Method -> Center (Custom Size) -> 704x480

Why 704x480 and custom size when using 'Full screen keep aspect ratio' will maintain the exact ratio of the original whereas using custom and 704x480 will distort it slightly?
I hope it's not gonna be something to do with the overscan issue on this one either.

@minion
>Up-sizeing destroys Image Quality especially when you are resizeing about 100%...What I would do is use the "Half D1" DVD standard which is a Mpeg2 file at 352+480 authored to DVD..So that the File stays in it"s original Aspect ratio set the Resolution to 352+480

In my opinion it WOULD be better upsizing to 720x480. Using 352x480 is still upsizing the vertical resolution from 360 to 480, but then you would also be downsizing the horizontal from 480 to 352 which will only result in quality loss.
It would be better to just simply upsize it to DVD resolution and use the keep aspect ratio method.

I will agree though with B_Racer that it is better to use AVIsynth to resize than TMPG as this will maintain a better quality in the resized image.

> Why 704x480 and custom size when using 'Full screen keep aspect ratio' will maintain the exact ratio of the original whereas using custom and 704x480 will distort it slightly?


Well, that's because 'Full screen keep aspect ratio' will distort the Video, custom size to 704x480 will not!

Remember, the Video is 4:3. 704x480 is also exactly 4:3. If he does a direct resizing to 720x480, the AR is no longer 4:3. (720x480 is equal to 704x480 plus 16 Pixels Overscan).

Jeez, i have to tell shh to correct Fit2Disc a little. ;)

I just Know from Personal experience when I first started to try to back up my SVCD Collection to DVD and resizeing to 720+480 allways looked awefull, I actually got better Quality resizeing down to 352+240 than I did Up-sizeing to 720+480...I ended up Just Authoring the SVCD"s to DVD the way they were which was the best option....I also Found that Up-Sizeing Interlaced material was especially bad , But with Progressive Footage it was OK, I guess it depends on the Source file...Cheers

@B_Racer
>Well, that's because 'Full screen keep aspect ratio' will distort the Video, custom size to 704x480 will not!

Sorry to disagree, but I don't think so!
Actually I don't disagree with you that 704x480 will produce the correct ratio. What I'm trying to convey is that using 'Full screen keep aspect ratio' will produce exactly the same results.

TMPG will automatically place the resized image with the exact same aspect ratio as the original within the 720x480 frame and create the 8 pixel border. If you test it you will see.

This is what the 'maintain aspect ratio' setting is for. TMPG will resize the image to exactly the same ratio as the original input ratio setting no matter what the output resolution is, so if it's 4:3 then TMPG will maintain this ratio and resize the image accordingly (namely 480x360 to 704x480) to fit inside the 720x480 frame.

@Minion

Minion I think your quality degradation when upsizing is due to using TMPG to do the upsizing.
If you use AVIsynth to do the upsizing you should see much better results.
Upsizing is best using a Bicubic method. I don't know what method TMPG uses, but I don't think it's Bicubic which is why the quality is always degraded.
I guess it may be Bilinear, or worse some other quick resizing method such as nearest neighbour (Ughh), which is just no good for upsizing and nearest neighbour is just no good for anything (in my opinion).

@minion.
By the way minion it probably wasn't necessary for you to re-encode or resize your SVCD's at all.

You can use DVDpatcher to patch the resolution which will make any DVD authoring program accept it so you can author it to DVD.

Actually I do use AVISynth to Resize and when Resizeing that Much (Allmost 100%) and still Had really bad results, absolutly no definition or Sharpness and a Lot Of Blockyness in Dark areas even when useing 5000kbs-8000kbs with CCE 2-Pass and that is why I Just end up authoring the SVCD"s to DVD but didn"t use the Patching the Headers Method Because My DVD Player had Problems with those DVD"s, What I did was Used DVD-Lab which is Great for Authoring SVCD"s to DVD..I actually got Much better Quality resizeing Down to 352+240 from 480+480 than I did Upsizeing to 720+480 ,But I guess everyone has a Method that works for them...Cheers

@Minion

On Videos with a Resolution like this one here in the Thread, i prefer to resize to 352x480, unsing Bicubic with a Factor of 0.5 - 0.6.
"Upsizing interlaced"? Huh? What's that? Interlaced Video HAS to have the vertikal Resolution of 480 or 576, all other Stuff isn't interlaced, it is distorted. So there's absolutly no need to do any Resizing-Job on interlaced Video except for coversions NTSC-PAL, PAL-NTSC.
If i convert NTSC interlaced Video to PAL, i do a interlaced Resizing using AVISynth (after SeparateFields), it works perfect.


@Ashy

I did'nt say, your Methode is wrong, but for Newbies, it might be a little Dangerous. If he don't know the exact Source-AR of the AVI and do use the wrong setting, Keep aspect ratio will not do a propper Job.
But like you said (and me too): it's better to use an other Tool to do the Resizing because TMPGEncs Resizer is a simple Bilinear working thing (i guees so, the Results do look like simple bilinear resized).
If you use AVISynth or VirtualDub to do the Resize-Job, it's a good Idea to use Center in TMPGEnc. That's the fastest and imho save Way.

I am trying to burn an mpeg movie onto a CD-R....have encoded the movie to mpeg, from AVI with TMPGEnc. Do I just burn it onto a disk, or do I need another program to do this?

No, you need an authoring program.
Assuming you've created a VCD or an SVCD, you can use NERO or VCDEasy, the second is a better choice to my opinion

Sorry to barge in, but why is VCDEasy better than Nero? Is VCDEasy free? I use Nero 5 and it adds more minutes to my VCD, plus, the video in the VCD stops a few seconds shorter than it was intended to. But then again, it might be my DVD player's problem.

I find VCDEasy a Better authoring Program because it supports Chapters and has better menu options but it"s Burning engine isn"t very reliable ,So I used to use VCDEasy to add chapters amd menu"s then make a Bin/Cue file that I burn with nero....

I'd appreciate if someone "WHO KNOWS" will explain the setting of the aspect ratio parameters.

When I start the TMPGEnc with the Wizard and pick the AVI file (Captured by Scenalizer from Sony TRV900) the Aspect Ratio in Expert Settings for Source portion of the screen shows 4:3 525 Line (NTSC, 704x480) - Is it correct or should I change it to 4:3 525 line (NTSC) or even 4:3 Display

Next when I go to Other Settings, Video Tab the spect ratio there is set to 4:3 Display
And finally I go to Advance tab and look at Vidoe Source Settings - It looks like this Aource aspect ration corresponds to whatever I selected at the very beginning at the Expert Settings for Source part of the Wizard. And again; What should it be?

Another confusing part on this tab is the Video Arrange Method. Does it matter how it is set if I'm producing the DVD for the NTSC TV Output and I'd like to keep original size and aspect ratio?

I come accross the following explanation for Source aspect ratio and Video arrange method. Are they correct?

>>>>
***Source aspect ratio
If source footage dimensions are the same as the output dimensions, then selecting 4:3 Display or 16:9 Display (depending on the format) for both the source and output aspect ratios will ensure that no resizing is done (which makes the encoding faster and preserves the source quality). Alternatively, you can select the n-Line mode that corresponds to the source file's format (ex., for a 4:3 PAL file captured at 720x576, select 4:3 625 line (PAL), and for a 16:9 NTSC file captured at 704x480, select 16:9 525 line (NTSC, 704x480), etc.). In older versions of TMPGEnc, the n-line modes compressed the image horizontally by a few pixels in PAL, but this problem appears to have been fixed in newer versions. Note that the 1:1 (VGA) option doesn't refer to square images, but to square pixels (the format used by most computer-generated images).

***Video arrange method
If your source footage has the correct size (i.e., the same as the output size, selected in the Video tab), any method you pick will produce the same result. If the source footage has a different size, then it will be resized using the rule you define here. If you do not want the video to be resized at all, select Center. If you want the video to be stretched to occupy the entire screen, select Full screen. If you want the video to be resized in such a way that it keeps its original aspect ratio even when that's different from the output aspect ratio, select the modes marked (keep aspect ratio). If you want to convert a video clip to fullscreen without letterboxing it (by clipping the edges instead), select No margin. If you want to adjust its size manually, select Center (custom size).

Generally, if your source footage does not match the DVD resolution, it's best to resize it using an interactive program (that will show you the result immediately), and then feed the resized footage into TMPGEnc. If you resize directly in TMPGEnc you will only see the result after the compression is finished, so if you select the wrong mode you will have wasted a lot of time.
<<<<

Thanks for any clarification, Tomas

You are mostly right, but:

> If you resize directly in TMPGEnc you will only see the result after the compression is finished

You can use the Prview Mode to see if it is correct.

About the Keep Aspect Ratio settings: They are dangerous. Without any Resizing, there are only two Modes which will work correct all the Way: Center and Full Screen.
Because many Source-Vids didn't have a correct DAR and/or PAR, with Keep Aspect Ratio you will get a distortet Result

I am trying to convert a 500MB file that is 480x480 to 720x480 and when it is done it comes out to be 1.2GB. Is there any way to make this so that it stays approx thesame size?

Thanks!

Ryan

Let me Guess you are Trying to convert SVCD to DVD???? Bad Idea...Converting from SVCD to DVD or from 480+480 to 720+480 will totally Ruin any quality the Image Had and you would need to use about twice the Bitrate which means the File will probably be about twice the size of the SVCD Files...What I would sugest is to author the SVCD"s to DVD as a Non-Standard DVD...Most DVD Players should Play this Type of DVD without a problem and there will be No quality loss...There is a DVD authoring Program called "DVD-Lab" that will author SVCD"s to DVD, I used it for backing up over 400 SVCD"s to DVD and they all worked Flawlessly in all DVD players I have tried them in...You can download a Fully working 30 day demo of DVD lab at :"http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/"..

So to your Question...No you can"t keep the 720+480 file the same as the SVCD files ,Well you can if you use a Low enough Bitrate but at a Bitrate that Low and encodeing from SVCD Files the Quality will be Just Horrendous....good Luck

Hi,

I've been trying to encode my DVD movies to SVCDs..
NTSC, 4:3, CQ....

Anyway I tried to rip this movie with DVD2SVCD (using the TMPGEnc)
and the results were fine, except the BeSweet Audio encoder thats
included was crap.. (like Downmix Overflow where it makes this annoying
BEEP and TICK sounds... like a bad encoded mp3)

But I I realised that I can use DVD2AVI to get the WAV file extracted
from a VOB file, then encode the VOB file in TMPGEnc with the WAV file
extracted from DVD2AVI.

Anyway to get to the problem, Windows Media Players are not taking the
file so well. It gives errors if i try to search the movie, fast forward
or something. However there is no problem when I burned the encoded
mpg file on to a SVCD and played it on my DVD player...

Does anyone know what the problem is?

Thanks in advance

This Probably because WMP Sucks For Playing Mpeg2 files and uses a Pretty Crappy Decoder if it is Useing the Decoder that comes with Media Player 9...You should be playing your Mpeg2 files with a Software DVD Player like WinDVD or PowerDVD then you should be able to Navigate the File without Problems.....

Hi,

I've been trying to encode my DVD movies to SVCDs..
NTSC, 4:3, CQ....

Anyway I tried to rip this movie with DVD2SVCD (using the TMPGEnc)
and the results were fine, except the BeSweet Audio encoder thats
included was crap.. (like Downmix Overflow where it makes this annoying
BEEP and TICK sounds... like a bad encoded mp3)

But I I realised that I can use DVD2AVI to get the WAV file extracted
from a VOB file, then encode the VOB file in TMPGEnc with the WAV file
extracted from DVD2AVI.

Anyway to get to the problem, Windows Media Players are not taking the
file so well. It gives errors if i try to search the movie, fast forward
or something. However there is no problem when I burned the encoded
mpg file on to a SVCD and played it on my DVD player...

Does anyone know what the problem is?

Thanks in advance

Hi,

I've been trying to encode my DVD movies to SVCDs..
NTSC, 4:3, CQ....

Anyway I tried to rip this movie with DVD2SVCD (using the TMPGEnc)
and the results were fine, except the BeSweet Audio encoder thats
included was crap.. (like Downmix Overflow where it makes this annoying
BEEP and TICK sounds... like a bad encoded mp3)

But I I realised that I can use DVD2AVI to get the WAV file extracted
from a VOB file, then encode the VOB file in TMPGEnc with the WAV file
extracted from DVD2AVI.

Anyway to get to the problem, Windows Media Players are not taking the
file so well. It gives errors if i try to search the movie, fast forward
or something. However there is no problem when I burned the encoded
mpg file on to a SVCD and played it on my DVD player...

Does anyone know what the problem is?

Thanks in advance

I have a 1.5 hr movie which is a compilation of several home movies. At the beginning of each section, I have some text that fades in, displays for a few seconds, and then fades out. I'm trying to use TMPGEnc so I can better control the resulting file size and thus fit teh entire movie on one DVD.

First, I encoded everything with a contant bit rate of 4965. Everything seemed ok. It encoded well, it worked well with the authoring software, it burned fine. I was able to play the DVD perfectly on my PC. However, when I put it in to my standalone DVD player (memorex), the text fade sections did not work. To be exact, the screen just stayed blank and the text never appeared.

I then tried several smaller files with just the text fade in/out with several of the different options in TMPGEnc. It turns out that using the Constant Bit Rate, the text never showed up. Even at 8000 bit rate. I did a test using 2-pass VBR Min:0 Max:8000 Avg:4000 and the text fade worked perfectly.

So I re-encoded my entire movie using the following settings:
2-Pass VBR
Min: 1000
Avg: 4900
Max: 7500
P Spoilage: 0
B Spoilage: 20

GOP: IBBPBBPBBPBBPBBP
Closed GOP: Y
Detect Scene Change: Y

What I got was a movie, that would fade the text in correctly, but while the text was static, it would appear to be "jumpy" or have fuzzy edges, then the fade out would look fine as well.

This is my first DVD and I think I have everything figured out except the correct settings for encoding the MPG file. The text fade looks great if I use some simpleton software like Sonic MyDVD. But that won't let you change the bit rate (therefore, the size can't change) and the menus suck.

Can some one help me out?

Thanks,
Josh Breitbach
josh@breittechnologies.com

What Audio format are you useing with your DVD??? If you are Useing wav audio then that could be why the DVD Files are so big as Wav Files are Huge and it is better to use a Different format even Mpeg 1 layer 2 audio is better than Wav just because it takes up so much disk space..At an average bitrate of 5000kbs with mpeg audio at 224kbs you should be able to easilly fit 2 hours on a DVD-R ...As for the Fade ins and Fade outs not working on your DVD Player but they do work on your PC then it seems like a DVD Player or Burning program problem and not a Tmpgenc encodeing Problem..Tmpgenc will only encode what is On the Video and will not change it in a way that you seem to be sugesting.....cheers

I was using WAV but I don't see how that would affect whether or not my text displayed correctly. And I don't see how it can be a player problem if the player will play it correctly if encoded by another software. It's definitely got to be the way it is encoded in TMPGEnc. Would the Detect Scene Change have any affect on this? How about the minimum bit rate or GOP structure? Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Josh Breitbach
josh@breittechnologies.com

What program did you use to create the text? Many programs render the text as Progessive frames. Go back to the program and see if you can set the render option to interlaced. This may be why its fuzzy and jumpy.


Minion is correct.

Wav audio is huge compared to mpeg audio. Most of the time your ears can't tell the difference between the two. Your text may appear fuzzy because it may not be given enough bitrate by the encoder. By compressing the audio and can give much more bits to the video stream and thus clearer video.

Use the GOP defaults that are in the TMPGEnc DVD template.

It makes no sense that you would get a black screen using CBR and then have it show up in VBR.

What is the format of your source. Is it avi? If it is, is it uncompressed or DV or something else? If the text is in the source avi file then it should be shown.

I do 1.5 hour encodes all the time which I burn to dvd. I use CQ, Max at 6500, Min at 2000, Audio at 256. I find that CQ gives much better results then the two pass VBR, plus its takes less time to encode.

Video Guy.

The text was created in Adobe After Effects. And the movie was output as a DV AVI file. I assume the render out of AE was interlaced but I will check tonight.

I was using the default GOP structure unless I am mistaken.

As I mentioned earlier, I did a test on a much smaller video (30 sec) that included the exact same text fade in/out. The best test was from the 2-pass VBR. During testing, the CQ setting showed the text, but it was fuzzy and jumpy. But I will try one with your settings.

The were some differences between the test video that looked great and the actual full video.

The test had:
min: 0
max: 8000
avg: 4000

The actual:
Min: 1000 (I thought this would improve quality)
Avg: 4900
Max: 7500

I agree that encoding my audio would allow me a higher bit rate for my movie. But what kind of a bit rate should static (not moving) text require? I wouldn't think much. Also, that wouldn't explain why when rendered with a cbr of 8000 (pretty high I assume) the text did not show up.

I'll try some of these things out tonight.
Any other tips?

Thanks for your help
Josh