Converting Sage Recordings to Nero Digital

[Echo]

I need a little advice on recoding Sage recordings with Nero Digital.

I record a lot of animation with Sage at the DVD Standard quality. A 30 minute show usually takes about 1.5 Gigs. On screen, this looks wonderful. After removing commercials with Video-ReDo, the shows are about 22 minutes. (And about 1.1-1.2 gigs)

I have tried encoding the show with Nero Recode (Nero Ultra 6.6) either ASP or AVC trying various quality setting, but cannot get acceptable results. I ran two tests recently and encoded the same source clip (An episode of Teen Titans) four times:

1) ASP Standard 520 Kbps, final result 97 Megs
2) ASP Standard 2.11 Mbps, final result 352 Megs
3) AVC Standard 515 Kbps, final result 95 Megs
4) AVC Cinema 2.06 Mbps, final result 352 Megs.

(I was trying to get an apples to apples comparison between the two codecs ASP and AVC)

#1 was unwatchable.
#2 was Good but noticeable artifacts (pixilation?) in the backgrounds, especially in motion scenes
#3 was Bad, but better than #1, noticeable pixilation.
#4 was Good but with noticible artifacts in the background (almost identical to #2)

We’re talking animation which I would think would be a wonderful candidate for compression (not many different colors, large areas of the same color/hue).

I’ve read on these boards that people are having great results with Nero Digital, even encoding an entire hour of video down to 350 megs in AVC mode with almost no loss in quality. I’m trying to encode just 22 minutes and can easily see the difference.
Also I’ve downloaded some clips encoded in Xvid where there was an hour of video (animation) that only took up 160 megs, and the quality was phenomenal.

So this leaves me with one assumption…I’m doing something horribly wrong. Anybody have any suggestions? Maybe I’m just expecting too much from the compression engine.
I am installing AutoGordianKnott now just to compare its output to Nero’s with the same source clip to see how things shake out.


What settings are other people using that have gotten acceptable results? Are there any advanced options that I need to be aware of?

[BobPhoenix]

I have found that two pass mode is the only way I can get acceptable quality out of either AVC or ASP mode.


BobP.

[dvd_maniac]

I have been doing South Park in AVC at 350kbps but on the Nero Digital -> general settings tab it defaults to 1 reference frame and I put it to 2 and also use 2-pass.
Note: Expert Mode must be enabled to see General Settings tab...
1 gives you faster encoding but poorer quality. The resulting file is around 66MB for 22 minutes and I am happy.
I use 425kbps for non-animated stuff though, even my DVD collection.But I still use 2 reference frames.

[tdalton]

I am trying out this app and I can't seem to figure out how to convert a DVD to a single mp4 file? Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks!

TD

[mkanet]

I use 2-Pass/Maximum Definition. That's the best Nero can do as far as compression/quality ratio. It also takes the longest to encode.

[dvd_maniac]

@ tdalton

convert a DVD to a single mp4 file

If what you are trying to do is take 2 movie files and make them 1 mp4 file, then the best way to do it is to use recode in "Remake a DVD" mode. Here you can add video titles and then merge titles together. Then create the NEW DVD structure. THEN, import the NEW DVD structure into Recode using Nero Digital. It should now import as one video file and will output only one mp4 file.

Is this what you were looking for?

[Ryokurin]

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=98247

The higher Quantisizer does really help, but this should tell you much more than I can.

[tdalton]

Yes I just want to take a DVD movie and make it into a single mpeg4 file. I assume that I'll only need to add the chapters since menus, etc. don't work.

[dvd_maniac]

Nero digital will create the chapters for you. They will be the same as the DVD chapters too.

You could also keep subtitles and 2nd audio track as well.
I am a little confused though. Do you want to create a SINGLE mp4 file from multiple videos on one DVD? or do you just want to create a SINGLE mp4 file from one movie on a DVD, or do you want to create a SINGLE mp4 file from one movie on two DVDs?

[tdalton]

In the simplest form I want to take my DVD collection and put into Sage. I want it to be highly compressed with good image quality but don't care about menus so mp4 seemed like the perfect solution. Since each movie has multiple chapters it seems as though Recode by default makes each chapter a separate mp4 file. I just want one mp4 file for all of the chapters and didn't see a way to do this. Thank you for your replies!

[dvd_maniac]

Oh, now I see.

The whole dvd has to be ripped for Nero to see. Then import the DVD and pick the main movie. It will not create a seperate mp4 file for each chapter. By default it creates just one mp4 file per title(Imported movie). You can also batch encode using Recode. I also like to take out the end credits with the Start/End feature.

I have Zoomplayer working as an external video player in Sage for my Nero Digital encodes. The reason I use Zoom is that I can't get Chapters to work with ShowTime.

[tdalton]

Which option in Recode do I select: Recode DVDs and Videos to Nero Digital or Recode Main Movie to Nero Digital?

[dvd_maniac]

Either one will work. Main Movie just picks the longest Title on the DVD. Sometimes Episode discs have a complete title that groups all the episodes together. If you are doing a movie you could pick this option, but if you wanted to do episode DVDs and have each episode be it's own mp4 file then you'll have to pick the Recode DVDs and Videos to Nero Digital option instead. I myself always pick Recode DVDs and Videos to Nero Digital. Sometimes the DVD will have a Widescreen and 4:3 version on the disc and the Main Movie mode will pick the wrong one.
If using Recode to create Nero Digital files for Sage recordings then You'll have to use Recode DVDs and Videos to Nero Digital!!!

I hope this clears it up a little.