Any Movie --> 1 VCD The TMPGEnc Way

This guide will show you how to fit any movie of whatever length on one CD without overburning.

Part 1: Obtaining your source

If your source is already in a digital format (AVI, MPEG etc) then go straight to Step 2. If your source is a DVD, rip the movie to your hard drive. Once you have the DVD on your Hard Drive, you will need to load these VOB files into DVD2AVI so that TMPGEnc will recognize them. Once you load the first file the other corresponding files will also be loaded. Go to the Audio menu and make sure that Dolby Digital is set to Decode and MPEG Audio is set to demux all tracks. Go to the options menu and select preview. Make sure that the stats window is also open. Let the movie run through for a few seconds. What you will be looking for are the following: aspect ratio, frame rate, video type, and frame type. These specs are what will determine what our settings are in TMPGEnc. Here is what the specs might look like for a NTSC standard movie:



Stop the preview. When you’re done select save project. After you have named and saved it in a directory the process will begin. Times will vary depending on the speed of your computer and the length of the movie. Once it is done you will have two new files – the video is d2v and the audio will be either wav if you have Dolby Digital or mpa if you have MPEG Audio. On occasion you might have both – I would use the wav file if available. You will need these two files to load into TMPGEnc.

Part 2: Encoding Your Movie

Open TMPGEnc. If you have version 2.5x close the wizard if it pops up. Here’s how to set up your movie to fit on one CD: First click on the load button pictured below.



Browse to the template folder if it isn’t already open. Locate the template VideoCD (xxxx) - the standard may vary depending on country.



Next hit the load button again and in the same folder you see another folder called extra. Open this folder and you will see another template called unlocked. Double click on this template.



Now you will notice that the options that were all greyed out are now selectable. Hit the settings button in the main window. Below are the following settings that will allow you to adjust the size of your movie.

 


Change the Motion search precision to High Quality (Slow). Set the VBV to 0.

I also outlined the rate control mode. You can also use 2-pass VBR. This can improve video quality. A word of caution though - I only suggest using this instead of CBR if you don't care about how much time it takes to encode and you plan on setting the rate control very low in order to accommodate for a long movie. When I set it to VBR on my computer the movie encoding time will take 9 hours instead of the normal 4-5 for me.



To change the settings just hit the settings tab next to its drop down menu. The average will be lowest bitrate you are willing to go. Maximum should be at least the standard which is 1150 for VCDs.



Hit the system tab and select MPEG-1 VideoCD Non-standard



When you are done changing those setting click OK. Hit the save button. Now name your template whatever you want. Browse to the template folder if it isn’t already open.

Now every time you open TMPGEnc and the wizard shows you will see you template listed in the other section. After you have changed all of the settings and saved you newly modified template you won’t have to go back and unlock anything again.

Now all you need to do is configure TMPGEnc so that the output size will fit on one disc. Open the project wizard. In the first window select the newly created template. If you saved it properly it should display in the other category.



If it does not display go back to main window and resave the template. Once you have selected you template hit the next button. Hit the browse button in video source at the top of the window. Find where you saved the d2v file you created with DVD2AVI. Once TMPGEnc is done checking it, hit the browse button for the audio file. It should have been saved in the same folder with the same name but instead have a .wav or mpa extension. If you remembered the stats in DVD2AVI then select them under expert settings. For field order I use Bottom field first (field B). This setting may very depending on video type.



Hit the next button when you are done. Click next in the filter settings window. The bitrate settings window is what will be the window that determines the size of the movie. Since you unlocked your template first then everything should be adjustable. There are several ways to make the movie an acceptable size for your media.

Here are the target sizes: 740MB for a 74min CD, 800MB for an 80min CD, 900MB for a 90min CD and 990min for a 99min CD. Please note that for the last two types of media you will only be able to burn to them if your burner supports it. If the movie file goes over the limit by a minute or two and your burner supports overburning then you will be able to squeeze it onto one CD. Assuming that you don’t have a burner that supports overburning then our target size is 80min since all burners support it and 80min CDs are very available.

Please note that you only need to use only one method to get a desired file size instead of all three.

To adjust the size of your movie there are 3 ways that I have circled. The first is by manually typing in the bitrate. This is good if you want to get the exact number. If you use the up and down arrow it will move in increments of 50 so it is better to manually type it in. To get the bitrate figure use the bitrate calculator that is available on DVDRHelp's website. Select the media length and amount of CDs, which should be set to one. At the bottom you will see a number generated under the calculated average bitrate. Use this number in TMPGEnc under average video bitrate. After typing in the number generated your file should be about 800MB or less.



Here is a slightly easier way to get the same results. Without using an external bitrate calculator you can have TMPGEnc calculate the bitrate for you. Select the CD size you will be using. It will be either CD-R 74min for a 74min disc or CD-R 80min for an 80min disc. If you are using 90 or 99min CDs then you will need to use the bitrate calculator. Next to the media selection drop down menu you will be the percentage of the disc space used. Type in 100 to get a file size that will fit the disc's capacity.

The last way is just as easy. With the media type still selected. Observe the blue bar at the bottom of the window. If you move you pointer over it will turn into an arrow pointing both directions. Drag the arrow to the red dotted line of the media capacity you selected. Now the estimated file size should be able to fit on one CD.

For movie lengths of 100min or below the bitrate shouldn’t have to be set too low. If the bitrate gets lower then what your limit is then start lowering the audio quality. 192 kbits/sec is still quite acceptable. Personally I rarely ever lower audio quality because most of the movies I do are in the 90min range. You start having to do that if you have a movie over 100min.
Hit next and you will be able to select the file name and where it is saved. Usually the movie will be saved in the same folder as the VOB files and have the same name as the d2v project. If these are the settings you want make sure that the “start encoding” box is checked and hit the OK button.



Sit back and let it encode for a few hours depending on movie length and PC speed. Once it’s done open the folder where the movie was saved. Double click on the movie file and watch it. Once the process is done you should have an entire movie that will be small enough to fit on one CD. Open the finished movie and skim through it to make sure it came out. If everything looks good then you are ready to burn. Open your burning program of choice that supports VCD burning. I use Nero. Select VideoCD if you are burning with Nero. Name the volume label and volume set if you want. When you are done click new. Find the movie file in the browser window. Drag it into the video window. If a window pops up saying that the file isn’t valid then click the standard compliancy window. Once the movie is loaded you are ready to burn.

 

For regular CDs like 74 and 80min I usually burn at 24x or 32x if they are listed at 32x. If you have burned movies before at a higher speed then listed on the CD then go ahead and burn it faster. After you have burned the movie the VCD should play in any standalone DVD player that will play VCDs and CDRs. You can also play it in your PC with any media player.