Setup DVD2SVCD and Begin Conversion.

Now we will change some preferences in DVD2SVCD. The first you must do is setup whichever encoder you have decided to use.

Setup QuEnc.

After you download QuEnc.zip from AfterDawn, go to your Program Files folder and create a new folder called QuEnc. Extract QuEnc.exe into this folder. Now Open DVD2SVCD and click the Encoder tab. First thing you have to do is select QuEnc as your encoder. After you have done this, click the little folder icon beside the QuEnc field. You will now be able to browse for the executable QuEnc file, which we have put into a QuEnc folder in your Program Files folder. Find it and click open. You can leave the Save in Folder at whatever default it's set to as you will be setting a default save folder later for all files. Encoding Passes should definitely be 2 pass Encoding. This will increase the amount of time it takes to encode the video but it will also highly increase the quality of the output file so I suggest you choose 2 pass encoding. We don't need to change any of QuEnc's advanced settings.

Setup TMPGEnc.

When you download the zip file containing TMPGEnc from AfterDawn go to your Program Files folder and unzip all the files into a TMPGEnc folder you create. Now open DVD2SVCD and click the Encoder tab. The first thing you need to do here is select TMPGEnc as your encoder. Now click the little folder icon beside the TMPGEnc.x.xx field and a browse box will open for you to locate TMPGEnc.exe. Go to your Program Files folder and to the TMPGEnc folder you made moments ago, select TMPGEnc.exe and click open. Leave Save in Folder blank as you will be setting a default folder for all files soon. You can choose one of two options in Rate Control Mode. By default it is set to Constant quality (CQ) but there is also 2 pass encoding available. The difference is the time it will take to encode. In my experience 2 pass encoding produces slightly higher quality but takes more time than Constant Quality. This is a decision I will leave up to you. Motion search precision should be kept at Highest Quality {very slow}. This will increase the encoding time by a lot but is worth it for the quality difference. We can leave all the remaining settings the way they are.

Setup CCE SP 2.50

It is possible to use other versions of CCE SP besides 2.50 but you will need to find EclCCE to use them properly. CCE Basic however is not yet supported by DVD2SVCD. After installing CCE SP 2.50, open DVD2SVCD and click the Encoder tab. First thing you need to do is set Cinema Craft Encoder as your main encoder. Click the little folder Icon beside the Cinema Craft Encoder 2.5 field and a little browse box should pop up. Browse to your Program Files folder, then find the Custom Technology folder. Now open the Cinema Craft Encoder SP folder and select cctsp.exe file and click open. You can leave Save in Folder set to its default because you are going to set a default save folder later on for all the files. Make sure Multipass VBR is selected for Video Encoding Mode. I suggest anything up to 4 passes to make sure the quality comes out well. The more passes you choose the longer the encoding takes, but generally anything over 2 pass will produce good quality. You can leave the rest of the settings the way they are.

Misc Preferences.

Click the Misc tab in DVD2SVCD. First of all make sure Input file type is set to AVI (as DivX/XviD files are AVI files) and Output file type is set to DVD. Change Process priority for all used programs to High and DVD2SVCD level to Advanced. Leave Don't delete any files ticked. Now click the Default output folder button and click Set default output folder. Now you have a chance to set a folder that all the processes involved in the conversion will save files into. My default folder is set to D:\movies, and I suggest you set yours to something similar. A default folder for all your output files just makes things easier for you in the long run. Make sure whatever partition you choose a folder on has at least 20GB - 25GB of free space, as it will definitely be needed to store all the files from this conversion. Inside this folder it will also save another folder with your authored DVD files in it. After you have set this, click the Conversion tab.

Conversion Preferences.

Click the Conversion tab. Click the little folder icon beside the Avi file field and browse to the DivX file you wish to convert. Now we will use some information from earlier. In the example here we found out using AviCodec (or GSpot) that the Aspect Ratio was 2.35:1. If your Aspect Ratio was 1.85:1 or 2.35:1 then set your Aspect Ratio out to Anamorphic (no borders encoded as 16:9). If you got an Aspect Ratio of around 1.33:1 then chance your Aspect Ratio out to 4:3 (No borders, encoded as 4:3). If you didn't get a good value from GSpot or AviCodec to determine an Aspect Ratio, then simply choose Anamorphic if the file plays back with black borders on the top and bottom of the video. If there are no borders, choose 4:3. You can preview a still image of the output video in the drop down list if you click the Go button. If you have set your Aspect Ratio to Anamorphic, it may look a little bit stretched on the preview but will look fine when you play the DVD in a DVD player or a Software DVD Player. NTSC to PAL is available to pick, but I must warn you if you do pick it, you cannot use the source AC3 audio and the video length will be longer than the DivX length. Also if you got 29.976fps as a framerate, I highly suggest you DO NOT try to convert it to PAL using this method.

Audio Preferences.

Click the Audio tab. Now its time to remember what the audio format was. If you had AC3 audio and you are not converting NTSC to PAL, then I suggest you tick Do not convert audio (use source audio). If you had MP3 audio, or you are encoding NTSC to PAL, then I suggest you do not tick that option. Instead you will encode to MP2 audio. You can choose the audio Birate yourself, but do not choose a birate lower than 224kb/s if your input audio is AC3.

DVD Image Preferences.

Click the DVD Image tab. Firstly choose DVD Author unless you know what you are doing with Sonic Scenarist. Changed Fixed chapters to whatever you want in seconds. I have always chosen 300 seconds, or 5 minutes as my fixed chapters. Change the Data preparer to anything you want also. Movie Title and CD Label you can also choose yourself. Now, if you tick ISO image, it will give you a huge ISO file but will also give a bunch of DVD files. It is up to you whether you would prefer an ISO image as well as a VIDEO_TS folder containing all the DVD files.

Birate Preferences.

I decided to add Birate Preferences for people who either will be authoring later on with another program OR people who are unlucky enough to be still using a FAT32 file system.If you are using a FAT32 file system, you should know that FAT32 wont accept files over 4GB in size. For this reason, under the Birate Tab, change CD size to something less than 4000. This will decrease the quality but is the only option you have since DVD2SVCD will create multiplexed MPEG files that will add up to whatever size you put in here. I recommend about 3800MB for FAT32 users. NTFS users, feel free to use one of the already existing CD Sizes or if you are planning on authoring later on with another program, I suggest about 4300MB so you have room for a small menu.

Beginning Conversion.

Now that you have all your settings configured, you are ready to begin the encoding. Click the Conversion tab. Click Go --> Start Conversion then click Yes when asked to confirm.