Custom profile question

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I was able to make a custom profile, but I have some questions.

My goal is to take a series of different sized JPEG images from a 3.1 mp
digital camera, and generate a NTSC DVD slideshow to be played on the TV. Top
priority is quality of picture.
Disk space is not an issue.

I'm using TmpgEnc to encode the WMM 2 output into mpeg2 format.

For video size - Since I have a series of different sized photos taken from
a 3.1 mp dig camera should I set size to 720x480 or 'same as video input'? I
have a lot of pictures, so editing all of them to make them all same sized is
not an option.

Key Fram/Buff size - are the default values ok for a picture slideshow?

Vid Bit Rate - If I choose CBR, would it make sense to use the same bitrate
that I use in TmpgEnc when encoding it to MPeg2 (e.g. 8000 kbps; would a
higher bit rate just be wasting time/space)? I tried using 'uncompressed' but
TmpgEnc wouldn't read in the resultant WMV file (although it didn't have any
problems with other WMV files)
I also tried saving it in DV-AVI, but the output was noticably blurry -
couldn't be a player issue as it was just as blurry after encoding to mpeg2.
WMV files encoded into mpeg2 don't show this blurry problem.
If I choose VBR than I assume I should use a value of 100 for Video
Smoothness.

Should decoder complexity be left at 'auto'?

I understand that 'allow nonsquare pixel output' needs to be checked for
burning a dvd and I can set an audio rate of 0 since I'll be adding audio
seperately when I author the DVD.

thanks
 
For best quality NTSC DVD use one of these in the given priority:

1. Photo Story 2, save using 640x480 profile from MS.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/plus/dme_more/moreprofiles.asp

2. Photo Story 3. Save using Profile for computers 640x480

3. For Movie Maker, do not apply any video effects. Save using Custom
Profile 800x600 as provided by Papajohn.
http://www.eicsoftware.com/PapaJohn/MM2/MM2-SavingMovies-CustomProfiles.html

4. If must apply video effects use Ease In or Ease out only or my pan zoom
effects which avoid indirect 3D rendering to retain quality.


In TmpGenc use 2 pass VBR mode with maximum/average bitrates = 4/3Mbps.
 
Thanks for the info.

Rehan said:
For best quality NTSC DVD use one of these in the given priority:

1. Photo Story 2, save using 640x480 profile from MS.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/plus/dme_more/moreprofiles.asp

2. Photo Story 3. Save using Profile for computers 640x480

3. For Movie Maker, do not apply any video effects. Save using Custom
Profile 800x600 as provided by Papajohn.
http://www.eicsoftware.com/PapaJohn/MM2/MM2-SavingMovies-CustomProfiles.html

4. If must apply video effects use Ease In or Ease out only or my pan zoom
effects which avoid indirect 3D rendering to retain quality.


In TmpGenc use 2 pass VBR mode with maximum/average bitrates = 4/3Mbps.
Click to expand...
 
Hello there,

csaagp said:
I was able to make a custom profile, but I have some questions.

My goal is to take a series of different sized JPEG images from a 3.1 mp
digital camera, and generate a NTSC DVD slideshow to be played on the TV.
Top
priority is quality of picture.
Disk space is not an issue.

I'm using TmpgEnc to encode the WMM 2 output into mpeg2 format.

For video size - Since I have a series of different sized photos taken
from
a 3.1 mp dig camera should I set size to 720x480 or 'same as video input'?
I
have a lot of pictures, so editing all of them to make them all same sized
is
not an option.
Click to expand...

Thats a pity, the only way to maintain the highest possible quality is
to crop and resize. Crop to desired ratio...note I say ratio not number of
pixels. Then resize using any program other than Movie Maker. Movie Maker
does not do a very good job of doing this as described in here previously by
one of the team members that created Movie Maker.

If your target is DVD using NTSC then step 2 above will be resize so
that the height will be 480. The width takes care of itself because of the
crop to required ratio.

Whatrever you do...DO NOT RESIZE TO SOMETHING LIKE 800 x 600 or any
other computer screen size...there is no relationship between the number of
pixels on a computer screen to those require by a DVD...this was also
discussed in this newsgroup previously when REHAN was corrected by the same
team member from Microsoft
Key Fram/Buff size - are the default values ok for a picture slideshow?
Click to expand...

I would think they were more than adequate, even if you have some
effects/transitions. Personaly, I have played with those settings a few
times and never found any difference no matter what I set them to.....at the
end of the day, if you set the bitrate to high then the keyframe will come
into play forcing the image to catch up...causing a small jump in the
picture...if that happens a lot then it would suggest you have to high a
bitrate.
Vid Bit Rate - If I choose CBR, would it make sense to use the same
bitrate
that I use in TmpgEnc when encoding it to MPeg2 (e.g. 8000 kbps; would a
higher bit rate just be wasting time/space)? I tried using 'uncompressed'
but
TmpgEnc wouldn't read in the resultant WMV file (although it didn't have
any
problems with other WMV files)
Click to expand...

I always use VBR with a maximum of 8,000 and an average of 7500kb/s
I also tried saving it in DV-AVI, but the output was noticably blurry -
couldn't be a player issue as it was just as blurry after encoding to
mpeg2.
Click to expand...

Proably due to the phyical size of images used.....
WMV files encoded into mpeg2 don't show this blurry problem.
If I choose VBR than I assume I should use a value of 100 for Video
Smoothness.
Click to expand...

Not certain about that, you might want to test a few transition sections
with a range of settings to see which you prefer.

If using still images with transitions...therefore video is mostly a
still image then yes Auto should do just fine.
I understand that 'allow nonsquare pixel output' needs to be checked for
burning a dvd and I can set an audio rate of 0 since I'll be adding audio
seperately when I author the DVD.
Click to expand...

Non-Square always has to be set if making a standard DVD for use on
domestic equipment. In profesional software such as the better packages from
AIST in Germany instead talk of the pixel aspect ratio AND the destination
size in pixels...its quite a bit different when you move away from programs
at this end of the market (Free) You will have noticed I am sure that some
widescreen DVD's are "wider" than others.

To sum up....you MUST do the cropping and resizing yourself especially
in your case as you say quality is important. Movie Maker like other free
graphic tools from Microsoft is very basic and uses low grade algorithms
when resizing etc. If you remove that task from Movie Maker there are two
benefits....you get a huge improvement in quality...Movie Maker runs faster.
The higher the bitrate the better, so long as it does not exceed the ability
of the DVD player (I made that mistake recently...I did not check what
bitrate I hade in MovieDV and the resulting file whilst technically very
high in quality was terrible when played because the player could not keep
up)
thanks
Click to expand...

--
Best Wishes.....John Kelly
www.the-kellys.org
www.the-kellys.co.uk
Check out free video hosting at www.the-kellys.org
----
\|||/
(oo)
----------ooO-(_)-Ooo-------------
All material gained from other sources is duly acknowledged. No Value is
obtained by publishing in any format other peoples work
 
Thanks for that very detialed response.

John Kelly said:
Hello there,



Thats a pity, the only way to maintain the highest possible quality is
to crop and resize. Crop to desired ratio...note I say ratio not number of
pixels. Then resize using any program other than Movie Maker. Movie Maker
does not do a very good job of doing this as described in here previously by
one of the team members that created Movie Maker.

If your target is DVD using NTSC then step 2 above will be resize so
that the height will be 480. The width takes care of itself because of the
crop to required ratio.

Whatrever you do...DO NOT RESIZE TO SOMETHING LIKE 800 x 600 or any
other computer screen size...there is no relationship between the number of
pixels on a computer screen to those require by a DVD...this was also
discussed in this newsgroup previously when REHAN was corrected by the same
team member from Microsoft


I would think they were more than adequate, even if you have some
effects/transitions. Personaly, I have played with those settings a few
times and never found any difference no matter what I set them to.....at the
end of the day, if you set the bitrate to high then the keyframe will come
into play forcing the image to catch up...causing a small jump in the
picture...if that happens a lot then it would suggest you have to high a
bitrate.


I always use VBR with a maximum of 8,000 and an average of 7500kb/s


Proably due to the phyical size of images used.....


Not certain about that, you might want to test a few transition sections
with a range of settings to see which you prefer.

If using still images with transitions...therefore video is mostly a
still image then yes Auto should do just fine.

Non-Square always has to be set if making a standard DVD for use on
domestic equipment. In profesional software such as the better packages from
AIST in Germany instead talk of the pixel aspect ratio AND the destination
size in pixels...its quite a bit different when you move away from programs
at this end of the market (Free) You will have noticed I am sure that some
widescreen DVD's are "wider" than others.

To sum up....you MUST do the cropping and resizing yourself especially
in your case as you say quality is important. Movie Maker like other free
graphic tools from Microsoft is very basic and uses low grade algorithms
when resizing etc. If you remove that task from Movie Maker there are two
benefits....you get a huge improvement in quality...Movie Maker runs faster.
The higher the bitrate the better, so long as it does not exceed the ability
of the DVD player (I made that mistake recently...I did not check what
bitrate I hade in MovieDV and the resulting file whilst technically very
high in quality was terrible when played because the player could not keep
up)


--
Best Wishes.....John Kelly
www.the-kellys.org
www.the-kellys.co.uk
Check out free video hosting at www.the-kellys.org
----
\|||/
(oo)
----------ooO-(_)-Ooo-------------
All material gained from other sources is duly acknowledged. No Value is
obtained by publishing in any format other peoples work
Click to expand...
 
Sorry to be so obtuse on this, but one thing concerning 640x480 and 720x480 -
I want to make a NTSC DVD to play on the (full frame) TV.

So ,since NTSC is 720x480, then should I crop my pictures to a 4.5/3 ratio
(what 720x480 is) and resize to 720x480 or crop to 4/3 ratio (what
640x480) is and resize to 480?

thanks again.
 
Hello,

This is why wrong information is such a pain in the ass, in particular
because its the same person over and over again putting out duff info that
confuses those who have not yet learned better.

No you are not being Obtuse.....simply....

1) Crop your image to the desired ratio utilizing as much or as little of
the original image as desired. If you have the right software (free version
of Adobe Photoshop or perhaps Jasc) you use a constrained bounding box
which you set to the ratio you require...this works for ALL ratios by the
way including standard and non-standard widescreen

2) Resize the resulting image so that its HEIGHT is exactly the number of
pixels high (480 in your case)

Job Done

--
Best Wishes.....John Kelly
www.the-kellys.org
www.the-kellys.co.uk
All material gained from other sources is duly acknowledged. No Value is
obtained by publishing in any format other peoples work
 
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