SVCD bitrate

[Fred]

Hello,
i got an SVCD film from the net. This film has a really good quality. Now i want to encode a DVD from home into SVCD with DVDx. If i use the bitrate which the calc is proposing me(1500 k/bits), a one minute part of this film has the size of 13MB. One minute of the film from the net is 8MB large. To reach 8MB with the home DVD, i've to set the bitrate to 900(!) k/bits. Then the film has got a very bad quality. What's wrong?
Is there a tool which shows me the data of an mpeg2 Stream(bitrate, ...) ?

thx

[The Sorcerer]

If you´re making SVCD´s (not VCD´s) don´t switch the videobutrate under 2100!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1500 can´t be good quality with SVCD (VCDmusn´t have a V-bitrate 1500 it´s much too hight for it!!!)!!!
Sorry about my bad english!!!!

[Fred]

If i set the bitrate of SVCD's to 1500k/bits the quality isn't bad. Setting it to 2100, a 2h film would take 3 CD's. That's too much. I wanna put it on 2 CD's.
I'd like to know the data of the film from the net to improve the one from home.

[benderman]

How do you encode your SVCDs? If you use TMPGEnc you can use variable bitrates (VBR). That means that the video has an average bitrate of 900kbps. Action scenes get a higher bitrate, scenes with less motion get a lower bitrate. In thet way a SVCD with 900kbps can look like one with a higher bitrate. Not all stand-alone-DVD-players support that. If your player is a "good one" you may also lower the resolution of the svcd. Some players except non-standard-resolutions like 480x240 or others. On lower bitrates that may look better than high resolutions.

[Fred]

At this time i'm trying to encode with DVDx. It seems not to be available at digital-digest so maybe you don't know it. It's an easy but very unprofessional tool. To use Tmpgenc i've to encode it to *.avi first but i don't want it.
Does the encoder recognize himself when there is a low or fast motion scene?

[benderman]

TMPGEnc recognizes itself what bitrate is the best for the actual scene. In VBR-mode it first scans the whole video and then starts the encoding.
If you don't want to encode to avi first you can use a fantastic tool named VFAPI. You can open the VOB-files in DVD2AVI, save as d2v (takes a few minutes to create an small d2v-file) , and use vfapi to open the d2v-file in TMPGEnc.

[Fred]

THX, i'll try it.

[Fred]

Something is wrong with this VFAPI plug in. I can't open *.d2v files although i installed the needed plugin for tmpgenc. I red something about that i need v 12x.. Doesn't it work with v 2.50, too?

[UncasMS]

DID you actually register vfapi properly??

[Fred]

What do you mean with registering? First i got the tmpgenc plugin (including tmpgenc.vfp and two batch files for installing and uninstalling). I thought if i do this i would be able to open d2v files with temgenc but it wasn't the case. Nothing happens when i click in dvd2avi on VFAPI in the scrollbar and i red sth. about that it must be activated. It's nowhere explained correctly how to apply it...

[Fred]

I already installed the codec from your site but the VFAPI in the scrollbar isn't checked.
Last time i still got problems with installing avisinth. Seem like general problems with installing codecs.

[The Sorcerer]

If u have probs with DVDx go to this forum: www3.labdv.com/forum/
I´m sure they´ll help u!!!