Mini-DV to SVCD using DVD2SVCD 1.0.9 build 2 w/CCE Guide [May 2002]

- NTSC DV is 29.976 fps, interlaced and non-progressive. 3.6Mbps.
- There are ways to batch encode multiple .avi with avisynth.dll, etc. (I won't cover those methods in this guide) but I like to keep it simple. So a 60min capture/transfer requires nearly 13GB for the .avi so FAT32 has a 4GB file limit. You need NTFS partition 2000 or XP.

I went insane trying to find the appropriate settings which give excellent results with DV source material and these are the ones I use:

Obviously you can use any video capture/transfer which you like. If it's not type-2 be sure to convert it to Canopus DV codec. I currently use Vegas Video 3.0. Under Capture | Options | Preferences here are a few settings which I set.

I just leave it on Automatic and it seems to work out fine. I guess I should choose 0.9091 though to be safe but the auto seems to work just fine.

Make sure you have about 13GB for 60mins of DV (60secs x 60mins = 3,600seconds x 3.6Mbps = 12.65GB) To process I ended up with another 4GB. If you uncheck 'Don't delete any files' then you'll need only about 2.5GB additional. This is all assuming that whichever program you use doesn't require a complete conversion to Type-2 avi. You might need another 13GB for just that. But you can delete it right after the conversion.

I uncheck 'Enable DV scene detection' otherwise it'll break your capture into many .avi files.



I connect my mini-DV camcorder to the 1394 firewire cord and capture the entire tape.


After an hour I have a fat juicy 13GB .avi file ready to input into DVD2SVCD.

Here are some settings which I set in DVD2SVCD 1.0.9 build 2

Convert Microsoft DV Avi to Canopus Codec. You should almost always do this since many use directshow vfw type-1 avi which DVD2SVCD won't be able to handle. Install both the free converter and codec below.
ftp://ftp.canopus.com/pub/drivers/Canopus_DV_File_Converter.exe
ftp://ftp.canopus.com/pub/drivers/dvcodec.exe

mini-DV can be 44Khz or 32Khz. I downsample because I caputure in 32Khz and if it didn't convert 32Khz to 44Khz it sounds like Speedy Gonzalez free-baseing it (super -fast speech). You most likely won't have to downsample, however since your audio is most likely already 44Khz which is the SVCD spec.

Make sure you choose 'Edit as part of Video encoding' cuz you need to edit the .avs file for the correct aspect ratio.

I use 2530 and it looks fantastic. I suppose if I did have 90min tapes I'd use a bitrate of 2285 and be satisifed with the results on two SVCDs.

Ok I admit I'm a CCE 4 pass believer. However, when the bitrates are above 2200 or so there is little if any difference. I tried like crazy to have DV source look good in 1600 CCE 4 pass but it's impossible. The only way is with a bitrate above 2200. I do 2530 myself with 128 audio and it looks extremely close to the original. CBR looks great at 2530 as many will atest too. I tried Image Quality Priority of 10 but 17 (default) seems better. Anti noise I've never touched it and really don't notice any effect on the video. Reason I don't use it is in the CCE manual it states if it's too strong video could be jerky. Since DV is already jerky enough I stay far away.

Linear quantizer scale is for mpeg-1 not mpeg-2..either way I don't see much difference. Zigzag should not be used with interlaced pictures which DV source is. DV is non-progressive so uncheck that too. DV home video has high movement and it's bitrate 3.6Mbps is below 4Mbps so a low number 8 of bits is approriate.

Now your ready to convert. Under Misc tab choose your 'default output folder' then hit convert. It'll ask you to convert to Canopus codec and hit yes.. It only takes me a second but could take 5 or 10 mins depending if it's a type-1 or type-2 avi.

Choose aspect ratio 4:3 for fullscreen. After extracting and encoding audio and converting title and change pic if any up pops your avisynth script file which you need to edit. This is a bug with AVI2SVCD in DVD2SVCD 1.0.9 build 2 I believe. It should not be adding borders and should be 480x480 and not 480x320 + borders. Regardless change so it looks like so:


Click Save and then OK and wait a bit and you should have your image files made. Remember I don't de-interlace since my only viewing will be on the TV. So take that into account when previewing on your PC.

Quirks
--Time scandata offsets seem to be off. In other words it shows the first cd as being 26 mins but the second only 10 minutes. So I assume the video was cut and missing but I rechecked and it's all there.
-- First cd was 805MB and second cd was 428MB. I guess with an average bitrate of 2530 this is correct so it's no biggie.