??? "Recommended Procedure" Create Video File

Ray Musicbear · Post by **Ray Musicbear** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 1:07 am

The advice states, if you have captured to AVI files, as I have:

Point 3: Compression Tab - Set Media Type = NTSC DVD

Do I set this at NTSC DVD, at this point, as suggested, if I am going to be buring to SVCD in the final step?

Select Video Data Rate = Variable, (8000 kbps or whatever your AVI bitrate is)

I do NOT know what my AVI bit rate is; where and how do I find out?

Thanks...

jchunter · Post by **jchunter** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 2:05 am

Ray,

The Recommended Procedure is oriented to burning DVDs. The properties have to be modified significantly for SVCD, roughly as follows:

For NTSC select NTSC SVCD in the Compression Tab - this will preset most other properties to appropriate values such as:
Frame size: 480x480
Framerate: 29.97fps
bitrate: 2375 - you set bitrate when creating the Mpeg video file
(max bitrate is 2600 kbit/sec MPEG-2 )(Audio + Video bitrate max bitrate is 2778 kbit/s).
Audio:
44100 Hz
32 - 384 kbit/sec MPEG-1 Layer2 or MPEG2 Audio
with up to 2 Audio Tracks

There is a bitrate calculator at http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/mpg/avgbit.htm

See http://www.videohelp.com/svcd for some expert advise on SVCD.

John

Ray Musicbear · Post by **Ray Musicbear** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 3:38 am

I still don't quite understand the bit rate numbers.
Are they very important to the overall quality of the video?
Is there, perhaps a default rate that I could set it at?
I'm very confused by this.

Also, at this point, can I push the "quality" up to 100%?
Is that a good or bad move?

thecoalman · Post by **thecoalman** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 4:14 am

Ray Musicbear wrote:I still don't quite understand the bit rate numbers.
Are they very important to the overall quality of the video?
Is there, perhaps a default rate that I could set it at?
I'm very confused by this.

Also, at this point, can I push the "quality" up to 100%?
Is that a good or bad move?

Depends on what format the AVI is. You should be able to right click on it and select properties. Most likely it's huge compred to what you'll be converting it to. For example a DV-AVI is 35,000kbps

Bitrate is how much data is transferred per second. It's a stream of data, higher data rates allow for more information which will give you better quality, higher bitrates also require more disc space.

Generally for a video using a resolution of 720x480 6000kbps is sufficient, that will give about 1 1/2 hours on a DVD.

rwindeyer · Post by **rwindeyer** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 4:57 am

Ray Musicbear wrote:I still don't quite understand the bit rate numbers.
Are they very important to the overall quality of the video?

Ray - have a look at this thread.

Bear in mind that the higher bitrates are primarily for DVDs, which are a slightly different format. The SVCD standard, as stated by jchunter, has a maximum bitrate around 2600 for video. It follows that DVD quality will be better than SVCD quality, although the latter can be quite good.

Ray Musicbear · Post by **Ray Musicbear** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 5:08 am

Thanks rwindeyer,

That article helped a lot to bring it into focus for me...

Trevor Andrew · Post by **Trevor Andrew** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 8:25 am

Hi Ray

Be aware that you will only get about 40 minutes on a CD using SVCD format.
The quality is very good.

The settings below were taken from VS 8 Make Movie Manager.

MPEG files
24 Bits, 480 x 480, 29.97 fps
Lower Field First
(SVCD-NTSC), 4:3
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 2375 kbps)
Audio data rate: 224 kbps
MPEG audio layer 2, 44.1 KHz, Stereo

All the Best

thecoalman · Post by **thecoalman** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 11:24 am

Ray Musicbear wrote: Also, at this point, can I push the "quality" up to 100%?
Is that a good or bad move?

The higher you push the slider the more that the encoder takes to calculate how to encode the video. It's been my experience that there is not much difference between 70% and 100% in either quality or performance so I just leave it at 100%. I haven't sat there with a stopwatch or compared frame by frame either.

from rwindeyer link wrote:As a rough guide, top quality video - the best you can get - will be obtained at a bitrate of 8000 (kbps). With LPCM sound this gives you about 60 minutes video on a DVD; with AC-3 you would get about 70 minutes. Medium quality - bitrate 6000 - is still very acceptable, and gives about 90 minutes. A bitrate of 4000 is lower quality, but if your original source is VHS you may not notice any difference, and you will easily get 2 hours video on a disc.

Very true, but as rwindeyer pointed out above this is a guide for DVD resolutions. Smaller resolutions such as SVCD require less bitrate to maintain quality. I have even see it suggested that using a lower resolution of 352x480 with a bitrate 3500-4000kbps actually produces a better video than a 720x480 at 4000kbps.

There's a graph here near the bottom of the page showing the appropriate ranges: http://www.digitalfaq.com/capture/avivsmpeg.htm

One last thing I would like to note is if your going to be sharing these SVCD's with others be aware that SVCD playback is not supported on many standalone DVD players. If you have to use CD's I'd suggest using VCD for compatibility or if you want to fit a lot on one DVD use a lower resolution.

Ray Musicbear · Post by **Ray Musicbear** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 6:46 pm

One note of thanks, for everyone!

Thanks:

jchunter
thecoalman
rwindeyer
trevor andrew

Thanks guys for all of your help and always excellent suggestions.
thecoalman, the web page you suggested had some great info.

Thanks again, it really did help...

I understand about bit rates now...

All this conflicting stuff about VCD/SVCD one trade off for another, VCD more copatable, but less quality and time on a CD, SVCD better quality,
but not many DVD player recognize the format... Less time on a CD Sigh...

I think I just might invest in a cheap DVD burner; how much should I expect to spend?

Thanks...

thecoalman · Post by **thecoalman** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 6:49 pm

Ray Musicbear wrote: I think I just might invest in a cheap DVD burner; how much should I expect to spend?

Thanks...

There dirt cheap, I bought a Plextor 8x drive for about $275 1 1/2 years ago. You can get a comparable one now for $50.

Try www.newegg.com

Ray Musicbear · Post by **Ray Musicbear** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 12:08 am

Hi thecoalman!

That is good news! Why mess with VCD/SVCD!

Someone told me expect to pay 150.00 or more...
And since I recently plopped down $400.00 for my Cannon
Elura 65, and $100.00 for UVS, I need to watch ever penny.

They said the real inexpensive ones don't work as well!
Aren't they like CD Burners, they all do about the same
thing, it depends on the "features" you want?

All I want is one that burns DVD's!

They have six around 50 bucks on the newegg page you
suggested; which one of those would you go with?

Thanks again thecoalman

thecoalman · Post by **thecoalman** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 12:17 am

Personally I only buy Plextor, not that there's anything wrong with others. But I have had no trouble with them. Try here for reviews and comments. You can look up each one from that page in the search box, someone will have something to say about it.

http://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters

This one here appears to have good reviews at both Newegg and Videohelp.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 035&depa=1

maddrummer3301 · Post by **maddrummer3301** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 1:48 am

Ray,

Whatever dvd burner you decide to purchase make sure you can
return it. Usually there is a 14 to 30 day period with many stores.

Buying items online is cheaper. But, if you have problems with the
merchandise returns and refunds can be a hassle.

Almost all burners now are dual-layer multi-format.
Dual layer means the burner can burn the 4.7 and 8.5 dvd disks that
are labeled in the store as such. Forget the 8.5gig, to expensive.

Multi-format means they can burn almost all the formats
dvd-r, dvd+r, dvd+rw and dvd-rw.

Plextor has always had a good name.
I never saw a plextor for $50.00, maybe they are made in china now
like all the other stuff.

Hope this helps,

MD

thecoalman · Post by **thecoalman** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 1:53 am

maddrummer3301 wrote:
Plextor has always had a good name.
I never saw a plextor for $50.00, maybe they are made in china now
like all the other stuff.

I didn't say a Plextor for $50 but a comparable DVD Burner for $50.

Perhaps I phrased that wrong and should have said one with the same specs, actually the specs are higher. Mines only a 8x.

maddrummer3301 · Post by **maddrummer3301** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 6:09 am

You didn't post anything wrong. My mistako..
javascript:emoticon(':oops:')

MD