[ExtractStream] Re: Transferring files

[Roger Merchberger]

--- rudolphadam <rudolphadam@y...> wrote:

[smb-snippage]

> Roger...
> Nice job on the 0.0.0.0.1 version of your site. Very informative. 
> I 
> am doing an almost identical procedure as you have laid down.

Thanks - it's a hack, but at least it's a workable hack... ;-)

> Two questions....
> Since you are using the source range filter in TMPGEnc anyway, why 
> are you doing steps 8 & 9? The source range filter works really
> well 
> for finding the commercial break points. Hasn't failed me in over
> 20 
> Red Dwarf conversions.

I have a *very* good answer to that one: habit. I noticed today that
it looked like TMPGenc would work fine for finding the commercials,
so I'm burning a "quickie-test" as I type this. I also wanted to
experiment with the 23.976 framerate to see if it makes a smaller,
yet still viewable [sans headaches] video. That way one could up the
bitrate & still fit 43+ minutes on a SVCD.

> Why are you using 2-pass VBR? Haven't we determined that VBR saves
> 
> disc space, hence lower quality (in TiVo 2.5.1 at least)? Using a 
> formula you can figure out exactly what video bitrate to encode at
> to 
> perfectly fill a CDR. For anywhere from 38 to 62 minutes of video,
> I 
> can fill a CDR with SVCD data up to 79:54~79:56. Seems to me
> that's 
> the best use of space/quality ratio. Besides, it takes less time
> to 
> encode.

With CBR, I had to bump the bitrate down to the point of making the
action scenes look too poor for my taste to get 43 minutes of video
on a CD. For my personal use, using 2-pass VBR makes the action
scenes come out better (that I've seen so far...) and there's "Lotsa
Action [TM]" in Charmed - me wifey's favo[u]rite show, and the
primary reason I started doing this. I've dubbed off exactly *1* of
my farscapes so far - I'm pushing 40+ Stargates (wifey), Charmed
(wifey) & Enterprise (oldest kiddie) - I've lost count...

But I'm the only guy in a 20 mile radius that 1) doesn't have to dial
long distance to update his tivo, and 2) can change channels on his
satellite dish from work, 18 miles away. (Satellite dish controlled
by Tivo Serial Port. ;-)

> Here's a link to a bitrate calculator I wrote specifically for the 
> TiVostreams (oh, and DVDs too).
> http://www.geocities.com/rudolphadam/SVCDCalc.zip
> Source available upon request...

Cool. I'm constantly tinkering, so I will probably tinker with CBR -
and I'll put up some stats on the duallie, but I can tell you right
now that the results won't be quite as stellar as with VBR - My
cheezy IDE hard drive can't keep up with both processors doing CBR
(right now, I'm averaging 75% of my CPU utilization, and my hard
drive light is blinking like a madman). Mebbe tomorrow I'll find time
to throw in my 9Gig IBM SCSI HD I have saved up *just* for doing
conversions. Might help keep the CPU's full... :-)

> Personally I have found XP faster for video encoding than 2000 on
> my 
> wimpy single Athlon 1400. About 15% faster. Faster than ME too
> and 
> MUCH more stable. I can transcode an Enterprise length show in
> just 
> about 2 hours.

So can I - in VBR. ;-P Neener, Neener. ;-) Using the fastest [lowest
quality] motion routine on a Stargate show at CBR 2000 bps, it should
take roughly 53 minutes to encode 45 minutes worth of video. (61842
frames - at 23.976 fps) Again, the CPU's are twiddling their thumbs
25% of the time, tho...

I don't think XP was efficient with duallie CPU's as 2K is, but you
might be seeing increased speed due to different codecs. I've found
that my encoding speed improved after I installed the elecard MPEG
player - methinks it replaced some codecs (at least in 2K) and gave
me about a 25% speed boost.

> I'd love to hear how long it takes your blazing
> fast 
> machine to do the same at CBR. It must fly. You should try it for
> a 
> side-by-side at least. I would bet that CBR looks better,
> especially 
> for motion, and converts in 30% less time.

I'll do some more tinkering - I just cleaned a bunch of hard drive
space, so I can set up several versions of a show, and let 'er rip
overnite.

I'll post more benchmarks when I have 'em.

Laterz,
Roger "Merch" Merchberger

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