Encoding (Standard Definition) : options

Get professional processing even though you know nothing about how to do that.

• Preview
• Cut off the beginning of the source
• Force the framerate (expert)…
• Force the decoder
• Management of fields
• Target appearance (and its options)
• Video noise reduction
• Audio output
• Preferred encoder (and its options)
• Output format
• Batch processing
• Miscellaneous

 

Preview:

Encoding a video is a long process. It is worth checking before encoding so your finished results will appear as you wish :)

To preview, click on the eye.

A window will open and play your source as it will be encoded (according to your appearance settings).

The conformity of the output ( for DVD or DV, PAL or NTSC) and the synchronisation are controlled by MovieConverter Studio, just check that you agree with the appearance settings you've chosen.

A source file can sometimes appear in several different forms (e.g. DV videos or satellite streams have the same source size no matter if they appear in 4:3 or 16:9 format on the tv screen). For every dubious case (such as an anamorphic source file), MovieConverter Studio will warn you and will ask you to select more precisely the appearance settings that you prefer.

 

 

 

Cut off the beginning of the source:

The Internet abounds with legal videos. Instead of having to pay for them, you will often get advertising screens before the actual video. And if your video is a movie trailer coming from the States, you will systematically undergo a 4 second "Parental guidance" screen :-(
These before-programs annoy me, this tool will allow you to cut them off :-)

Click on "the scissors" and a window will open (allowing you to trim your cut’s setting)

 

If your source file is compatible with QuickTime, it will be displayed (it's always more practical to set a cut when one sees what one is doing). If your source isn’t compatible with QuickTime, you will be still allowed to cut the lead-in, but without preview.

 

If you do not see the button (scissors), your source file can not be trimed (it's not a QuickTime compatible file, nor compatible with an encoding process that would allow you to cut with accuracy).

 

 

 

Force the framerate (expert)…:

• It is possible (though rare) that MovieConverter does not succeed in determining the number of fps of your source file (or be caught out).
  This can occur the with Variable FrameRate for example (a video with a non-constant fps).
  You can specify manually the framerate you think is the best for your source file.
• Some source files (even more rarely) have a non-standard framerate (e.g. 26 fps). You can force and specify the new framerate to get the best results.

In 99% of the cases, automations should be sufficient (it's just an option for the specialists).

 

 

 

Force the decoder:

MovieConverter Studio includes 2 decoders:

• QuickTime (from Apple) is a registered format, creator of .mov (you can extend its functionalities with codecs that MC proposes you download).
• FFmpeg(credits) (from the Unix world) is, at the opposite, an open-source reader, multi-format (but don't expect the same .mov decoding skills as the ones with QuickTime).

QuickTime performs the best with .mov, FFmpeg performs the best in particular with MPEG.
Each one has its own weaknesses. The strengths lie in how they complement each other.

MovieConverter Studio takes time to analyze your source, it determines the decoder "which suits it best".

• If the check box is activated, it means that the two decoders are compatible with your source file (and if there is a possibility that a problem with one of the decoders could occur, an alert will warn you).
• If the check box is not activated, it simply means that the other decoder is not compatible with your source file.

ou can also check if the decoder is able to decode your source by choosing to preview the result.

 

 

 

Management of the fields:

What are fields? See the chapter Understanding interlaced video.

An interlaced source file contains 2 different "images" (2 fields) in each frame, but which field has to be displayed first?

If the field's decoding order is the right one, you'll see … the frames are displayed in the normal order ;-)
If the field's decoding order is wrong, you'll see on your tv screen :
frame 2, then the 1st, then the 4th, then the 3rd, and so on (you are in for a good headache!).

If you have seen the movie "Phantom of the Paradise" by Brian De Palma : the electrocution of the singer (the one named "Beef") is produced by an inversion in the order of the frames. It jerks, it vibrates, it's ugly :-) (But here, it is a matter of special effects. Avoid doing the same thing involuntarily).

The interlace information is supposed to be written inside the video.But some software forgets this information and some hardware indicates it incorrectly…
MovieConverter Studio allows you to correct (or only check) the possible interlace mode of EVERY source file.

This tool has 3 main functions:

• Check the actual content of an mpeg stream (if by miracle your other encoding software has not yet damaged the fields of your source, they've certainly not taken care of marking this information).
• Make the distinction between truly interlaced content and a simple interlaced wrapping (see the chapter Understand interlaced broadcast).

• Enable you to have clean decoding of a source file encoded by badly adjusted software. This is done by helping you identify the field order of interlaced content within a progressive wrapping (thus theoretically without fields) in order that the resulting DVD (or DV) has no unceasing "comb effect" inside the frame.
  E.g. : Apple.com has put online several times some interlaced movie trailers into progressive wrappings (X-Men, A Scanner Darkly, …). After a few days, the movie trailer has been replaced by a "clean" one (always a progressive wrapping, but also with progressive content).

In some cases of standards changes (telecine) or appearance changes (from a 4:3 source file towards a 16:9 one), it's in your interest to check the content of a video tagged as interlaced.
If the content of your video is interlaced, there's no problem.
If only its wrapping is interlaced (progressive content), it will be in your interest to force the video decoding into progressive mode. You will obtain more quality by handling it in one large image instead of two half-images.
For more information, read the chapter Understanding interlaced broadcasting.

 

 

 

Target appearance (and its options):

MovieConverter Studio will match the size of your source to the target format, by adding black strips if necessary.
Moreover, whatever the normal settings of the display (4:3 or 16:9), MovieConverter will ask you to change the display of your source file in order to:

• Transform every source file into 16:9 (even if  it was originally 4:3)
• Transform every source into 4:3 (even if it was originally 16:9, the American market is very fond of this mode of view, called "PanScan" :-(

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aspect 4:3

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aspect 16:9

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aspect options 16:9 -> 4:3 PanScan

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aspect options 4:3 -> 16:9

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As MovieConverter Studio is really kind, it will even show you exactly what it's going to do, how it will treat your source file:

• With or without black strips added (and it will show you how many pixels it shall add).
• With or without cropping (and it will show you how many pixels it will crop).
• (And it will even show you about the resulting size -always in pixels- in order to match with the aspect ratio you've chosen).

You don't need to supply a source with "a size compatible to …", EVERY source file can be treated according to the specifics of the final aspect.

 

 

 

Video noise reduction:

Video noise reduction consists in smoothing the frame by comparing the present frame with the former ones and with the following ones. Point-by-point differences will be erased (e.g. this is the case for dust in a video : the traces do not follow a regular course -like a camera does- but they scutter randomly into each frame of the video. Therefore they will be detected and removed).

The graininess of the film roll is also a random element (neither continuous nor systematically the same in every frame). Keep in mind that noise reduction is also an information suppression from your source file.
Thus, and ONLY IF your source needs it:

• … some traces from bad aerial reception ? Select "Light"
• … an old tired VHS cassette that you've digitized ? Select "Strong"
• … a good source file? Do not check the option!

 

 

 

Audio output:

.wav and .ac3:

MovieConverter Studio is able to encode your audio into AC3, stereo, 192Kb/s (this is one of the settings generally used in commercial stereo DVDs).
Like MP3s (or MP2s or AACs), AC3 is a compressed audio format. Unlike the MP2 (Mpeg1 Audio Layer 2, useful also for DVD), AC3 is the format most compatible with DVD players.
You would like another setting? You're a sound engineer and you'd like less compressed audio? …output the audio into .wav (a non-compressed format) and handle it as you like.

You don't have a choice, alas, for DV audio output. Only the .wav -non-compressed format- is compatible.

 

Normalize option:

Although its name doesn't reveal it (it's just the name of the tool which MovieConverter uses for this processing), "Normalize" is an audio limiter/expander (which also normalizes ;-)).
"Normalize" means:

• Read the whole source file in order to calculate the range and its maximums.
• Distribute the range of the audio source file to the complete range allowed in an audio file.

"Normalize" will seek the sound average of your audio and will normalize it (to -12db).
"Normalize" will look for the audio's higher peak (the loudest level) and will set it at the maximum height allowed (to -6db) by paying attention that the sound never saturates (that is the limiter function). If the audio level of your source file was too low, "Normalize" will increase the gain (the volume).
If the audio of your source file had too "packed sounds", "Normalize" will allow you to distribute all these sounds in larger range (that is the expander function). Sounds will be clearer, distinctions will be lessened, your ears will be less stressed.
With "Normalize", do not expect for a result as good as DVD’s audio, but it will be better than what you had before.

Theother advantage of "Normalize" is that all the target files will have a sound level that is more or less constant. If you burn a DVD containing several files, you will not be obliged to play with the volume level of your remote control with every track change (that is the normalizer's function).

Technology (…for those who have "a good ear" or are curious):
AC3 (or the A52 more exactly) may be compared to mpeg2 as it is composed with fields, like mpeg with GOPs.
Each field contains 3 bits that indicate the amplification coefficient of the field, once decoded (a kind of mantissa, for the mathematicians).
It is exactly these 3 bits which are more or less deactivated (at least, the induced effect…) when one sets the "dynamic range" of DVD's players or of the amplifiers which decode Dolby Digital. Deactivated, it allows you to listen not loudly, to hear people whispering without waking up everybody when there is a shot, but of course, sound "is pumping" (it's audible on music DVDs).

 

 

 

Preferred encoder (and its options):

MovieConverter Studio includes 2 encoders:

• mpeg2enc(crédits) (the old hand from the Unix world. The one who has enabled us to make our first DVD on MacOSX).
• FFmpeg(crédits) (who is not a kid anymore too and who is getting better and better…)

hy 2 encoders? …I mainly only use FFmpeg.
It's my favorite, it's a little bit faster, it's more complete, makes smaller files on the disk with the same quality, …
BUT it is not very impressive with too slow bit-rates and isn't precise with their maximum thresholds (2 qualities possessed by the great mpeg2enc).

• So, if your purpose is to have the "ultimate compliant video", or to perform a video on mini-DVD (a DVD on CD-R), use mpeg2enc (quality will be there).
• In every other case, choose FFmpeg (and quality will also be there ;-)).

If you have a true emotional relationship with mpeg2enc, use it anyway. You'll even be able to select it as default in the preferences!

 

Options:

Common options of mpeg2enc and FFmpeg:

• Closed GOP: mpeg2 (DVD video format) is composed of "Groups Of Pictures" lasting around half a second. Each GOP is composed of a whole frame (a kind of jpeg image) and of algorithms indicating how this "jpeg" image will modify itself during the incoming half second. Closing GOPs means making each GOP totally independent from the former one and from the further one. Leaving them open means making each GOP dependant on the former one.
  You didn't understood this? You have no interest with the matter? …don't worry. Don't check this box ;-)
• Light Denoise: a function that works the same way as "video noise reduction"? …Yes, partially. This option only removes high frequencies (e.g. some dots in the images). Its advantage is to be very fast, its too bad that it doesn't give the same quality as "video noise reduction".

FFmpeg specific options:

• Black & White: your source file is in Black & White (like on old movie), but it begins to "faint", to show "some coloured blurs". Check this option to remove every colours remaining (P.S. This option works only with the DVD output).

 

 

 

Output format:

Output your source file "for DVD" (PAL or NTSC) or to DV format (PAL or NTSC):

• If your purpose is just to watch your source on a tv screeen: select "for DVD".
• If your purpose is to edit in United Kingdom (which uses PAL) your holiday video shot by your American cousins (which uses NTSC), select DV. And edit the resulting DV file with your preferred software: iMovie, FCP, …

DV output: some hardware encoders (e.g. EyeTV) can capture video streams and forget to correct the field order while exporting to DV format.
But your editing software only handles one field order in DV format: bottom-field-first.
All your "images" (fields) will be inverted (first image is #2, next is #1, next is #4, etc), and you will only notice it on a TV.
MovieConverter Studio's automation can not help you (MC just reads the order inside the stream). If your encoder did a bad job you must force the field order of your source file manually to top-field-first (with the MovieConverter Studio option "Management of the fields").
PS: MovieConverter ALWAYS outputs files as DV bottom-field-first:
• If your source file was top it will re-order fields.
• If your source was bottom it will keep them in that order.
(For more information, read the chapter "Understanding interlaced video").

 

 

 

Batch processing:

Load and encode each source one at a time or…
load several sources and encode each one while you're sleeping ;-)
Mark "Batch processing", the button in the main window changes:

Each source you validate (by clicking on "+") will be added to the list of the sources to be encoded.

• To remove an item from the list, select it and click on "X"
• To remove all items from the list, select one and click on "X"
• To reload an item to encode (useful if you want to check or modify your settings), double-click on this item.
• To launch the batch encoding, click on the "GO" button (now located in the "Batch processing" drawer).

While "Batch processing", the application is not locked, you'll be allowed to:

• Go on loading new source files and adding them to the batch encoding in progress.
• Remove previously added sources files.
• Modify the settings of the source files already loaded (excepting the one being encoded).
• The only limit is that, while audio managing, these options will not be accessible. But they will become accessible again as soon as the video encoding begins (thus you'll be able to control things during the largest part of the encoding process ;-)).

 

 

 

Miscellaneous:

Click on the triangle to display complementary information about the source file (…just for curiosity)
Click on the triangle to display the estimated size of the target (…just for fun)