Hello! I recently made an NTSC DVD (for an American friend), and I used TMPGenc Plus to encode the video files. The original files are XViD PAL 16.9 25fps AVI files. I used a KDVD template to convert them, and I saved out the video/audio as M2v/mp2 files, as I use DVDLab Pro for authoring DVD's, and I know these filetypes are compliant. However, the playback is quite jerky, as the conversion changes the PAL fps to the NTSC standard. Does anyone have a method of getting very good quality KDVD NTSC files using the following software: [bold]TMPGenc Plus[/bold] [bold]dgpulldown 1.03[/bold] (I've only just downloaded this, and don't know how to use it yet) [bold]DVDLab Pro[/bold] By the way, I use KDVD as I need to fit several episodes on one DVD. I'm happy enough with the picture quality, it's the frame rate jerkiness I need to sort out. Also, what bitrate settings on a 2-pass VBR are acceptable for a good quality KDVD file? Thanks in advance.
Just use the regular KDVD settings. Don't change anything. They're designed for the highest quality (in KDVD GOP) you can get. Encode the video to 720x480, but keep it at 25fps in tmpgenc. Use DGPulldown on the video, to go from 25 to 23.976 or 29.97fps. Author in DVDLab as you normally would.
OK, thank you - I'll give it a try. By the way - do I have to tick the "set timecodes" and "set drop frames" boxes in dgpulldown? And should I use CBR or VBR in TEMPGenc?
Leave the KDVD setup as is. I believe it's CBR. Don't change it. Leave Set Timecodes, and Set Dropframes ticked.
Thanks again. I'll encode a file, run it thought dgdropdown, and do a quick compile in DVDLab without burning to DVD - then I can watch the VOB's to check the quality.
I've just finished making the VOB file using dgpulldown to change the frame rate - and it works a treat. No more picture jerkyness. I'm still getting some blockyness of fast-moving scenes, but I suppose that's because I used the default CBR bitrate of 2500 - I suppose if I used 2 pass VBR using higher bitrates I could eliminate that blockyness - but I suppose the slight blockyness is the trade off you get for the small file size! lol
If you choose 2 pass vbr, it will double the encoding time, and probably not yield results that are much better. It's something you just have to live with, when using KDVD templates.
Yup, that's fair enough. So if I were to use a normal DVD template for a movie, what would be the best bitrate settings to ensure non-blockyness on the fast-moving scenes? Just the default CBR?
