"K Video Compression Dynamics"
KVCD is a modification to the standard MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 GOP structure and Quantization Matrix. It enables you to create over 120 minutes of near DVD quality video, depending on your material, on a single 80 minute CD-R/CD-RW. We have published these specifications as KVCDx3, our official resolution, which produce 528x480 (NTSC) and 528x576 (PAL) MPEG-1 variable bit rate video, from 64Kbps to 3,000Kbps. Using a resolution of 352x240 (NTSC) or 352x288 (PAL), it's possible to encode video up to ~360 minutes of near VCD quality on a single 80 minute CD-R. The mpeg files created will play back in most modern standalone DVD players. You must burn the KVCD MPEG files as non-standard VCD or non-standard SVCD (depends on your player) with Nero or VCDEasy.
Using KVCD parameters to create DVDs (KDVD), will enable you to create 100% DVD compliant MPEG-2 streams, capable of playing on any standard DVD player. This will allow you to put up to about 6 hours Full D-1 720x480 on one DVD, or about 10 hours at Half D-1 352x480.
(or how to get 120mins of video on a CD)
Lets face it, eveyone's heard of a VCD. Quite frankly, they're yesterday's news and although the quality's "watchable", the chore of switching to a new disk after only 60 mins of video is unbearable. Well, okay, maybe I'm exagerating, but you get the picture. But what if some genius came up with a way of squezing two hours of VHS quality video on a single ordinary bog-standard CD-R. Yep, for around about 15p, you can have 120mins of glorious, uninterupted video footage. Too good to be true? Nope, and it's proved so much of a good idea that you're spoilt for choice in the method of encoding. VCD fans have never had it so good.
So for those unlucky people without a DVD burner, you can squeeze 2 hours of VCD quality video on a single CD. Enough of my hard-sell, all you want to know is how to get your 2 hour masterpiece on a standard CD. Well, I've so far found three different methods: KVCD, MVCD and XVCD, and they're all based around "tweaks" on the standard VCD format with varying degrees of compatability with stand-alone DVD players (for those not in "the loop", a standalone referes to a standard DVD player you'll find in the majority of households).
But enough of my hard-sell, all you people want to know is how to queeze two hours of video on a plain old CD-R. Well the first pretender to the VCDs throne is the XVCD. According to those i the know, the X in XVCD stands for eXtended, so what's eXtended about an XVCD and why wasn't it called an EVCD? Well, the extended bit related to the ability to change the bitrate of a VCD to a mximum of 3.5mbit/s. That's roughly half the bitrate of a normal DVD and pretty impressive. But this format was actually designed for increased quality, therefore reducing the video capicty of a CD - a 2 hour video would need 4 discs at the maximum bitrate! Moreoever, compatibility is actually worse. You can tweak the bitrate to extend the length of your VCD above the 74mins limit - to do this visit Digital Digest - but from a personal point of view, there's not much value to this hack of the VCD standard.
So the XVCD failed in my promise to deliver two hours of good quality video on a VCD. Can the MVCD be the next generation VCD? It's not looking promising as the first few pages in google search display websites in foriegn languages. Personally, I've never created a MVCD and the reasons now are clear - there's little or no support written in English. I'm told the format can produce a 2 hour single disc VCD, but without any solid documentation, this user can't comment on either the quality or the validity of a MoleVCD (and don't ask why it's called a MoleVCD!)
So it's two hacked formats down and one left to go. Can the KVCD finally give me two hours of video. To cut straight to the chase (something the Matrix Revolutions should have done), yes. And it does it well. A quite directly from the official site:
"KVCD is a modification to the standard MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 GOP structure and Quantization Matrix. It enables you to create over 120 minutes of near DVD quality video, depending on your material, on a single 80 minute CD-R/CD-RW."
All very technical, I know. But all you need to know is that it works. I've created a few KVCDs from various source formats and haven't been dissapointed. Morever, the documentation is spot on, the templates exhaustive and compatability with standalones the same as VCDs.
But don't take my word for it… get yourself over to www.kvcd.org and download some templates. The guys there have created some templates for tmpgenc (the best encoder par excellence), but seem to dislike the tmpgenc audio encoder. I don't have any qualms with using the internal audio encoder, so I switch to a system format to encode both audio and video.
So there is life in the VCD yet - 2 hours video on a standard CD that's burned at upto 52X! I wouldn't say it negates the need for a DVD burner, but I certainly tend to use a KVCD where I would have used a VCD in the past. And I'll use a KVCD where my source quality isn't perfect such as VHS captures where a DVD simply wouldn't be justified.
Marc Peters Digital Director
KVCD, KSVCD, and KDVD templates are TMPGEnc templates created by Kwag (homepage).
The really cool thing about these templates is that they quizzed just a little bit more out of the current VCD (VideoCD), SVCD (Super VideoCD), and DVD formats. The main kick is that you will (most likely) be able to squize an entire movie on a single CD! Or with DVD: put multiple movies on a single DVD.
Some templates even up to 360 minutes of video on a CD!
For you to be able to use these templates, you will need TMPGEnc (either the free version or the Plus version).
Don't forget to read the disclaimer!
On Kwag's website you can download the individual templates, or download the relevant templates for WeetHet (click HERE).
Template Target Media Recommended resolution Average movie time per Media […]
With some of these templates you can select different resolutions than the ones we recommend. Be warned that these alternative resolutions might improve picture quality, but will most likely produces issues with some DVD players. Issues might arise in the sense that the CD/DVD cannot be played or shows a greenish screen with lot's of artifact, or the playback may be shocking.
Tip: For information on other video formats, see the Formats page.
See also the DVD Compatibility Database on this website (KVCD, KSVCD and KDVD values are based on the recommended resolutions!), to see which players can deal with KVCD, KSVCD and/or KDVD.
If your DVD player is not there or the information in the database is incomplete, then please let us know, either by email or by updating the database yourself.
Quality of KVCD, KSVCD and KDVD may vary, but usually it produces a good looking movie.
Step 1. Download the templates.
You can download them from Kwag's KVCD.NET website or download the bundle of recommended templates from WeetHet.
Step 2. Place the templates with TMPGEnc.
You will need to copy the templates to the \Template folder found with TMPGEnc. Commonly TMPGEnc is installed in C:\Program Files\Pegasys Inc\TMPGEnc Plus 2.5.
Note: if you downloaded the bundle, you will need to use WinRar (v3 or higher) to extract the files first!
Step 3. Start TMPGEnc and use the Wizard (CTRL+W)
The templates should now appear in the list of the Wizard.
For an example on how to use KVCD, see the AVI to K(S)VCD and AVI to K(S)CD with subtitles articles.
I created some guides helping you to start with converting AVI files (commonly DivX or XviD files) to KVCD, KSVCD or KDVD:
AVI to KVCD, KSVCD or KDVD
AVI with subtitles to KVCD, KSVCD or KDVD
AVI with subtitles and AC3 audio to KVCD, KSVCD or KDVD