I have done a few SVCD movies over the last few months and the quality is always excellent if ripped from DVD. I definately wont be doing anymore because its a right pain in the **** having to change cds every half an hour while watching a movie. I mean you can fit about 40 minutes of SVCD onto a 700meg disc its just not worth it. VCD is better, as on average you only need to swap the once but picture quality is worse. I just wonder why people bother with SVCD. Its just a shame there are no DIVX home players out there as you can get good picture quality in a small size file.

bub

sorry to state the obvious but because some people want the best quality possible. It's all personal preference at the end of the day.

T.

Exactly, it's a matter of preference.

Also you can use a bitrate calc to determine the bitrate(s) to set so that a movie will fit on 2 CDs in SVCD format.

Thats interesting Nexzus but 2 questions on that firstly by altering the bitrate to fit on 2 cds, will the SVCD still work in a standalone DVDplayer?
Secondly will the end result be the same as VCD?

bub

yea svcd is my way to go..Most of my movies usually end up on 2 discs and some on 3-4...But its worth the quality over vcd.

If it's your average 90 min movie, it's going to be 2 discs either way. Going SVCD is a no-brainer in this case. But once you get to the 3 & 4 disc movies.. it can be a bit of a pain.

As someone who's new to the game of VCD's and SVCD's, i haven't seen the difference.

But i would like to know is, what sort of things should i look out for in SVCD's and VCD's, i know about the multi-coloured squares at the start (or blank full screen), and an SVCD won't do that, but as far as picture and sound quality go, whats the difference?

I have been told by a few people that an SVCD is better, but as you say, it takes longer...How much longer?

Anyway, i would appreiciate it if someone could fill me in about the differences between them both.

Thanks,
Rob

How much longer? LOL Depends on what you use

With my Athlon 1600, I can encode SVCD faster than doing VCD by using CCE for SVCD encode and tmpgenc for VCD ;)

And btw, 40 minutes of video in one cd? MMM, have u heard about VBR encoding? I guess not!!! With VBR, I can encode a whole movie like let's say 120 mins (2 hours) in 2 cds in a good and way better quality than VCD.

That sounds good Paulcat. Does your end result work on a home DVD player? Also what Bitrate do you use to get 2 hours of SVCD on 2 cds

cheers bub

I recently got the first Austin Powers movie on SVCD and if it weren't for the fact that it's split up on 2 discs, and lacks a menu, I would not be able to tell the difference from my SVCD and the actual DVD on my television... so basically, if it's a well done SVCD, it's the way to go. I have seen some really well done VCDs, but never one which I could mistake as a real DVD while in the middle of play.

mate for me the best thing about svcd is the way you dont get bad blocks on colours. for eample a shot of a dark colour with vcd will break up, svcd even at lower bit rates (i dont do anything under 2000 though) doesn't. i think this is to do with the resolution, not sure. if i'm going to rip a dvd i'll do it to svcd, once you start with svcd it's hard to go back to vcd.
also is it me or is this new interest in svcd all down to people seeing that lotr rip?

bub1, that depends. If i were to use CBR encoding, I would use bitrate not lower than 2000K but using VBR, I can use about 2200 or even higher to fit in the same amount of cds that CBR can.

VBR works like it allocates for bits to a scene that is complex ie action and put less bits to scenes that dont need thats why it is better and can fit to 1 or 2 cds a whole movie ;)

And without BLOCKS like VCD does ;)

YEs, my Apex and Malata DVD players play them all without a problem. I even reduce the sound to 128K to have more room for video. Whether I use 1200-3500K for bitrate, I dont find any problems playing it on my player ;)

Cheers Paulcat and others looks like ill have to give SVCD another go. I am doing DVD to DVDr on my home panasonic DMRe20 burner with results as good as original but its too easy. I like a challenge and for me excellent quality SVCD to fit on 2 discs is a challenge.

bub

Oh by the way Paulcat would you reccomend TMpeg for lowering the bitrate.

bub

I really dont use Tmpeg at all for encoding SVCD. I only use it for VCDs and XVcds but when it comes to mpeg2 encoding, I always use CCE. It is way way faster than Tmpeg and with CCE you can choose which method of encode you like

CBR - so fast that in a P3 @500box, a whole movie can be encoded under 8 hours but the bitrate is fixed, however, if the bitrate is about 2300K, then it will be as good as VBR encoded in a lower bitrate

VBR - better quality but takes a while to finish. If you choose about 4 multipass, it will take 4x times more time than one CBR encode