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The Best TMPGEnc Settings
How to choose the best settings
I am often asked the question "what are the best TMPGEnc settings?". It is
very difficult to give an answer that suits everybody, since it depends on what
you are trying to achieve. Consider the following points first:
- How am I going to playback my movie - VCD, SVCD, DVD, PC?
- Which is more important to me - picture quality or file size? Do I want to fit a certain amount of video onto each Disc?
- How important is audio quality?
Once you answer these you can tailor more generic settings to suit your
situation.
Using a Template
The best starting place is to use a template. TMPGEnc comes with templates
for common situations. For instance, if you decide that you want to produce a
SVCD using the PAL (European) format, use the templates provided. Click the
"Load" button on the main TMPGEnc window and select the "Super Video CD (PAL)"
template. Settings suitable for producing a PAL SVCD will be loaded.
To see the settings you have just loaded from the template click the
"Setting" button. You'll notice that many options are greyed out. This is
because they are "locked" to prevent accidental modification. If you wish to
modify them, you must load the "Unlock" template from the "Extra" directory.
Click the "Cancel" button to close the Settings dialog, click "Load", double
click the "Extra" directory, the select the "Unlock" template.
Generic Settings
Once you have loaded a suitable template you are ready to modify it to suit
your requirements.
Video options
| Setting |
Option |
| Rate Control Mode |
If you are producing a standard VCD, leave this option at "Constant
Bitrate". If you are producing a SVCD or DVD and want to get as much
video as possible onto the disc select "2 pass VBR". This will take
twice as long to encode, but gets the best results. Click the "Setting"
button, then use the
bitrate calculator to
determine the best setting. Set the "Average Bitrate" to be the result
of the bitrate calculation. Do not adjust the Maximum Bitrate or you may
produce a non-standard SVCD. |
| Bitrate |
If your "Rate Control Mode" is set to "Constant Bitrate", use this to
enter the bitrate for your video. To make a standard VCD, do not alter
this setting from the template default.
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| Motion Search Precision |
For best results set this to "High Quality (slow)". The "Highest
Quality" setting takes much longer with no noticeable difference in the
final video.
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Audio options
The template defaults will produce high quality audio. If you wish to squeeze
more onto each disc you can reduce the audio quality slightly and give a
significant reduction in bitrate requirements. Use the following options to
achieve this. If you wish to preserve Dolby Prologic information from your
source material you need to allow slightly higher bitrate to ensure that the
surround sound information is not lost.
| Setting |
Option |
| Sampling Frequency (Hz) |
To reduce the bitrate requirements of audio, set the sampling frequency
to 32000 Hz (32 kHz). Note that some DVD players will not play this
audio streams with 32kHz sampling frequency, so to maintain maximum
compatibility select 44100 Hz (44.1kHz) instead. |
| Channel Mode |
Use "Joint-stereo". This makes low frequency bands mono, and high
frequency bands stereo. The human ear is more sensitive to the direction
of high frequency sounds. Note that this setting destroys Dolby Prologic
information, so if you source contains Dolby Prologic information choose
"Stereo" mode instead. |
| Bitrate |
In conjunction with the above settings try 128kBps. To preserve Dolby
Prologic information, a minimum of 192kbps is recommended. |
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