MPEG info

SonyEPM wrote on 1/23/2002, 10:37 AM
Many of you have been using the new MainConcept MPEG plug-in in Vegas 3 and VideoFactory 2. This plug-in was developed by Sonic Foundry using MPEG libraries licensed from MainConcept. Both companies continue to devote significant engineering and support resources to this plug-in and closely monitor the forums and technical support inquiries. Our goal is to provide the best MPEG technologies possible in Sonic Foundry products.

It should be noted that Sonic Foundry is responsible for all technical support for the MainConcept MPEG plug-in (and any other component of any Sonic Foundry application). You can use Sonic Foundry's online technical support forums, or you can post to the Sonic Foundry forum and get feedback from your peers.

To address some known issues with the first release of the MainConcept MPEG plug-in, a Vegas 3 update is scheduled for release at the end of January. Changes include fixes to the CBR/VBR modes and progressive rendering as well as options for separate streams, and more. You can pick up those fixes immediately if you download and install the VideoFactory 2 demo from:

http://www.sonicfoundry.com/download/step2.asp?DID=337

(the MPEG plug-in is automatically updated in Vegas when you install the VideoFactory demo)

You may also notice that the MPEG-2 Pro plug-in (as shipped with Vegas 3.0) exposes a significant number of controls in the custom settings dialog. It is recommended that users stick to the using the provided preset templates without modifying any of the custom settings. These templates have been optimized for speed, image quality and file size (as well as compliance with 3rd party DVD authoring applications).

Under rare circumstances, you may need to utilize the custom settings to create your own templates. Please be aware that changing the custom settings will take some research and experimentation on your part. It is very possible to create non-compliant files if you change the custom settings (this is true with any render format).

Comments

gcoulthard wrote on 1/23/2002, 11:17 AM
Two quick questions re: Vegas Video 3:

1. Is it worthwhile for Vegas users to purchase the MainConcept DV Codec? In other words, does this codec enhance the capabilities of Vegas in terms of encoding or playback?

2. On a similar vein, if I purchase the Sorenson Video 3.0 Professional codec, is it possible to access the various codec's encoding settings from within the Vegas user interface?

Thanks,
Glen
Shmuel wrote on 1/23/2002, 12:19 PM
Will it be possible for audio users to render projects to MPEG using .wav, like Qdesign ACM?
DuncanS wrote on 1/23/2002, 2:52 PM
1) ...worthwhile ...purchase the MainConcept DV Codec? >>> No

2) ...possible to access the various codec's encoding settings from within the Vegas... >>> Yes
nanjil wrote on 1/23/2002, 4:56 PM
Guys:

I have used custom settings especially for svcd and has obtained much better results. The templates produce blocky video.

I have upped the max bit rate to 8000bps, upped block size from 12 to 18 (this reduces blockiness at the expense of smooth motion) , also bumped up average bit rate 2300bps.

This produces cleaner, less blockier video in my opinion.

Also , you cna even bump up the frame size to 704x480
(not exactly svcd compliant but will play neverthless in many dvd players)

Can I preserve these custom settings in the new release of the codec?
pelvis wrote on 1/23/2002, 7:57 PM
Cool Najil- lots of people asking about SVCD. Yes, your custom settings will be preserved after you update.
pelvis wrote on 1/23/2002, 8:15 PM
"Will it be possible for audio users to render projects to MPEG using .wav, like Qdesign ACM?"

You can always render audio in a second pass, and mux it later in the authoring app.

(I think that's what you are asking...)
RichR wrote on 1/23/2002, 11:50 PM
What is "muxing" ?
Wondering wrote on 1/24/2002, 2:29 AM
Thanks for the info, SonicEPM.

But just a reminder, hope your update will include the fix on 'stuttering audio' in the MPEG1 rendered output.

Usually happens when the timeline contains still frame, graphics, JPEG file format, ...etc.

Regards
SonyEPM wrote on 1/24/2002, 9:51 AM
Wondering said: "hope your update will include the fix on 'stuttering audio' in the MPEG1 rendered output.

Usually happens when the timeline contains still frame, graphics, JPEG file format, ...etc."

I just burned a VideoCD. Project was 6 tracks of audio + fx, all video started out as stills, mostly jpegs, but also png, bmps, and tga. No stutter at all when played back in an APEX player.

So I can't repro using this test case. What are your render settings, and what are you playing this stuff back on (computer? VCD? etc)
Wondering wrote on 1/25/2002, 9:08 PM
Sorry for the late reply.

Thanks for the little experiment by you.

SonicEPM, I used the standard template (VCD PAL) as provided.

I playback my VCD on the Pioneer DVD player DVL 353, think so. (You can try other models of Pioneer DVD player)

Could it be the problem of the Pioneer MPEG standard?

I used mostly Pioneer players, do not have a chance of playing on other sets.

Regards
JumboTech wrote on 1/26/2002, 6:05 PM
To SonicEPM

Any chance of letting us bend the rules a little and make VCDs with a 1700kbits/sec bitrate. I do realize that that's not in the standard but the SVCD template takes too long and the standard VCD template could use a few more bits. TMPGEnc at 1700 looks pretty good but Vegas with a XVCD option would be so much easier.

Please....


Thanks for your help.

Al
SonyEPM wrote on 1/28/2002, 8:33 AM
You can bend the rules yourself- dial in a setting you like (and that works!!) and save as a render template.
Feel free to share this info on this forum if you figure out something cool.
JumboTech wrote on 1/28/2002, 6:52 PM
SonicEPM

Thanks very much for your reply. What's a bit weird is that on 12/4/2001, your colleague "sbrenneman" replied as follows to a similar question:

--------------------------------------------

Subject: RE: VV3 & SVCD Quality
Posted by: sbrenneman
Date: 12/4/2001 7:19:29 AM

The maximum bitrate for VCD is 1,151,929 bps. That's why you're not able to increase the bitrate to 1,700,000 bps. We do not support making XVCDs.

--------------------------------------------------

Have things changed now or did I miss something at that time???

Thanks again...

Al




SonyEPM wrote on 1/29/2002, 8:45 AM
We do not currently support BURNING SVCDs directly (like VCD, or Red Book CD), but you can certainly render SVCD compliant MPEGs, and burn them as you wish.
If you burn a VCD in Vegas and look at the file structure on the disk you'll see there's much more to it than merely dumping a file to a CD-R.

We're currently putting all of our MPEG efforts into Mpeg-2 for DVD. As the encoder evolves, the SVCD producers will likely benefit, since both formats are MPEG-2.
JumboTech wrote on 1/29/2002, 7:46 PM
Sonic EPM

Thanks you very much for your reply. I produce VCDs and SVCDs as part of my job as a full time video technician and have been doing so for over a year so am pretty familiar with the file structures of both and realize that they are, as you correctly point out, very different from that of a CD-R with a mpeg file dumped on it. What I was asking was if it was possible in Vegas to actually change the bitrate for a VCD to 1700 k bits/sec? I don't burn using Vegas anyway so am not bothered about that. You seem to be saying "yes" and your colleague (sbrenneman)says "no".

As soon as the various parties decide on whether it's to be +RW or -RW and the prices drop, I'll be glad to switch to DVD. In the meantime, I've tried the SVCD template and found that it needs a lot of extra help from the various FX filters. The use of the filters makes the encoding time so long that it is almost unusable. Therefore the VCD option is of interest to me. Additionally, some industrial DVD players such as the Pioneer 7400, will not play SVCDs. I have found that the VCD template with a bit of sharpening and some adjustments to the chroma level and the contrast is very acceptable for archiving stuff that would otherwise deteriorate on the shelf as an analog tape etc. It also renders pretty quickly on my Athlon 1.4 GHz system. Although I really like SVCD, it takes too long to encode and you can't get enough on one disc. A VCD at 1700 k bits/sec produces an acceptable result for what it is with the advantage of those extra bits helping with motion artifacts. Plus you can get about 50+ minutes per disc. I don't blame you guys for putting your efforts into DVD but we can't all afford the money right now to switch to DVD and there are many people who don't want to buy a Pioneer drive (Or a Philips/HP/Ricoh etc) only to find that their choice ends up being the one that doesn't make it.

Hope you see where I'm coming from...

Thanks again.


Al
SonyEPM wrote on 1/30/2002, 9:01 AM
Everything I have ever read says that VCD's must have
a bitrate setting of 1150000 bit/sec.

If I ever said otherwise(?), I retract.



PeterMac wrote on 1/30/2002, 9:34 AM
Nanjil

Would you let me know your exact settings for SVCD? (I'm using PAL, by the way)

-Pete
kkolbo wrote on 1/30/2002, 11:12 AM
That is the spec for VCD, 1150000 bit/sec. 1150K is the standard but really is insuffciant for good quality. Many DVD players support higher bit rates which really improve the quality. In fact I prefer a VCD at 2000K to SVCD. Higher bit rate VCD's are known as XVCD. The Pioneer 333 supports XVCD at up to 2500K. each player is different.

Many DVD players don't publish it but will support VCD up to 1235K and some at 1700K. Check your player's specs. Obviously if you are going to pass out the discs then you need to stick to the spec of 1150K or label it XVCD.
JumboTech wrote on 1/30/2002, 5:19 PM
kkolbo

Thanks, that is exactly my point.

Al
sjungberg wrote on 2/5/2002, 9:37 AM
Installing videofactory demo gives me the VCD PAL option in Videofactory, but it still does not appeare in VV3. How do I get the VCD PAL option into VV3 ?

/Stig J
PolHarris wrote on 2/5/2002, 10:24 AM
Please let us know what is the new ETA of the VV3 update...end of January has come and gone...