Why doesn't VOB (MPEG2) not burn directly to SVCD (also MPEG2)?

[Traveller]

I did a test on a VOB that I ripped this week from a DVD I'd bought.
After I changed the extension to MPG, ran it through G-Spot and G-Spot
says that this file is MPEG2. I looked up what MPEG2 is, and the net
says that SVCD is _also_ MPEG2
(http://www.dcpproductions.com/vcd%20and%20svcd%20facts.htm,
http://forums.windrivers.com/archive/index.php/t-52080.html and other
sites). But even with the MPEG2/SVCD plugin, Nero has to re-encode!
So I'm absolutely no further ahead. It might have taken only 1/2 hour
or so to rip the VOB from the DVD using DVD Shrink, but then Nero took
3 hours to burn to SVCD. I didn't gain anything in time!

Have gone through guides at the DVD help forum (though they seem very
old). Is there no way to rip from a DVD using DVD Shrink so that we
can just burn to SVCD or VCD easily? The trouble with any of the
rippers I've found so far, none allow you to cut a segment out lke DVD
Shrink does where you can preview what you're doing. The only DVD
ripper I tried that could do that seriously degraded the picture; the
end result was completely grainy every single time. I tested the
results by ripping the DVD straight to mpeg with my preferred ripper
and then I cut out the piece I wanted with TMPGEnc and I _still_ got a
better resolution and quality than the one that allowed me to rip to
MPG straight but cutting out the segment to begin with! But, again,
that took hours and hours to do!

p.s., yes, others do let you rip pieces out _but_ they don't allow you
to preview, so you have to know the exact start and end points ahead
of time and that is such a pain because if the ripper isn't precise,
which these weren't, you didn't get what you wanted in the end anyway.

Anywho, any thoughts appreciated. Cheers. :oD

(Someone else had the same question, but no response that I could see:
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-vcdimager/2001-01/msg00021.html)

[Ken Maltby]

Post by Traveller
I did a test on a VOB that I ripped this week from a DVD I'd bought.
After I changed the extension to MPG, ran it through G-Spot and G-Spot
says that this file is MPEG2. I looked up what MPEG2 is, and the net
says that SVCD is _also_ MPEG2

What does "GSpot" say about the audio?

Post by Traveller
(http://www.dcpproductions.com/vcd%20and%20svcd%20facts.htm,
http://forums.windrivers.com/archive/index.php/t-52080.html and other
sites). But even with the MPEG2/SVCD plugin, Nero has to re-encode!
So I'm absolutely no further ahead. It might have taken only 1/2 hour
or so to rip the VOB from the DVD using DVD Shrink, but then Nero took
3 hours to burn to SVCD. I didn't gain anything in time!
Have gone through guides at the DVD help forum (though they seem very
old). Is there no way to rip from a DVD using DVD Shrink so that we
can just burn to SVCD or VCD easily? The trouble with any of the
rippers I've found so far, none allow you to cut a segment out lke DVD
Shrink does where you can preview what you're doing. The only DVD
ripper I tried that could do that seriously degraded the picture; the
end result was completely grainy every single time. I tested the
results by ripping the DVD straight to mpeg with my preferred ripper
and then I cut out the piece I wanted with TMPGEnc and I _still_ got a
better resolution and quality than the one that allowed me to rip to
MPG straight but cutting out the segment to begin with! But, again,
that took hours and hours to do!
p.s., yes, others do let you rip pieces out _but_ they don't allow you
to preview, so you have to know the exact start and end points ahead
of time and that is such a pain because if the ripper isn't precise,
which these weren't, you didn't get what you wanted in the end anyway.
Anywho, any thoughts appreciated. Cheers. :oD)

First stay away from Nero Vision. Just use the Nero Burning ROM
application. If you must use Nero Vision, find the switch that turns off
its insistence on re-encoding everything it can. But DVD Shrink can
output a ready to burn SVCD, assuming you are feeding it properly.
Nero Burning ROM can provide the SVCD structure to put DVD
Shrink's output into.

Luck;
Ken

[Alpha]

Post by Ken Maltby

Post by Traveller
I did a test on a VOB that I ripped this week from a DVD I'd bought.
After I changed the extension to MPG, ran it through G-Spot and G-Spot
says that this file is MPEG2. I looked up what MPEG2 is, and the net
says that SVCD is _also_ MPEG2

What does "GSpot" say about the audio?

Post by Traveller
(http://www.dcpproductions.com/vcd%20and%20svcd%20facts.htm,
http://forums.windrivers.com/archive/index.php/t-52080.html and other
sites). But even with the MPEG2/SVCD plugin, Nero has to re-encode!
So I'm absolutely no further ahead. It might have taken only 1/2 hour
or so to rip the VOB from the DVD using DVD Shrink, but then Nero took
3 hours to burn to SVCD. I didn't gain anything in time!
Have gone through guides at the DVD help forum (though they seem very
old). Is there no way to rip from a DVD using DVD Shrink so that we
can just burn to SVCD or VCD easily? The trouble with any of the
rippers I've found so far, none allow you to cut a segment out lke DVD
Shrink does where you can preview what you're doing. The only DVD
ripper I tried that could do that seriously degraded the picture; the
end result was completely grainy every single time. I tested the
results by ripping the DVD straight to mpeg with my preferred ripper
and then I cut out the piece I wanted with TMPGEnc and I _still_ got a
better resolution and quality than the one that allowed me to rip to
MPG straight but cutting out the segment to begin with! But, again,
that took hours and hours to do!
p.s., yes, others do let you rip pieces out _but_ they don't allow you
to preview, so you have to know the exact start and end points ahead
of time and that is such a pain because if the ripper isn't precise,
which these weren't, you didn't get what you wanted in the end anyway.
Anywho, any thoughts appreciated. Cheers. :oD)

First stay away from Nero Vision. Just use the Nero Burning ROM
application. If you must use Nero Vision, find the switch that turns off
its insistence on re-encoding everything it can.

Nero Vision has no switch to turn of re-encoding, Movie Factory 4 does.

Post by Ken Maltby
But DVD Shrink can
output a ready to burn SVCD, assuming you are feeding it properly.
Nero Burning ROM can provide the SVCD structure to put DVD
Shrink's output into.
Luck;
Ken

[Traveller]

On Sat, 21 May 2005 12:34:31 -0500, "Ken Maltby"

Post by Ken Maltby

Post by Traveller
I did a test on a VOB that I ripped this week from a DVD I'd bought.
After I changed the extension to MPG, ran it through G-Spot and G-Spot
says that this file is MPEG2. I looked up what MPEG2 is, and the net
says that SVCD is _also_ MPEG2

What does "GSpot" say about the audio?

I'll do a VOB rip again tonight and run it through GSpot again to see.
There were no errors for either, I just can't remember particulars.

Post by Ken Maltby

Post by Traveller
(http://www.dcpproductions.com/vcd%20and%20svcd%20facts.htm,
http://forums.windrivers.com/archive/index.php/t-52080.html and other
sites). But even with the MPEG2/SVCD plugin, Nero has to re-encode!
So I'm absolutely no further ahead. It might have taken only 1/2 hour
or so to rip the VOB from the DVD using DVD Shrink, but then Nero took
3 hours to burn to SVCD. I didn't gain anything in time!
Have gone through guides at the DVD help forum (though they seem very
old). Is there no way to rip from a DVD using DVD Shrink so that we
can just burn to SVCD or VCD easily? The trouble with any of the
rippers I've found so far, none allow you to cut a segment out lke DVD
Shrink does where you can preview what you're doing. The only DVD
ripper I tried that could do that seriously degraded the picture; the
end result was completely grainy every single time. I tested the
results by ripping the DVD straight to mpeg with my preferred ripper
and then I cut out the piece I wanted with TMPGEnc and I _still_ got a
better resolution and quality than the one that allowed me to rip to
MPG straight but cutting out the segment to begin with! But, again,
that took hours and hours to do!
p.s., yes, others do let you rip pieces out _but_ they don't allow you
to preview, so you have to know the exact start and end points ahead
of time and that is such a pain because if the ripper isn't precise,
which these weren't, you didn't get what you wanted in the end anyway.
Anywho, any thoughts appreciated. Cheers. :oD)

First stay away from Nero Vision. Just use the Nero Burning ROM
application. If you must use Nero Vision, find the switch that turns off
its insistence on re-encoding everything it can. But DVD Shrink can
output a ready to burn SVCD, assuming you are feeding it properly.
Nero Burning ROM can provide the SVCD structure to put DVD
Shrink's output into.

Okay. Sounds reasonable. :oD

Maybe I'm not "feeding" it properly in DVD Shrink, as you say. I'll
try again and see if there are any options in DVD Shrink I haven't
looked at. Tx.

[da_test]

On Sat, 21 May 2005 13:08:12 -0400, Traveller

Post by Traveller
I did a test on a VOB that I ripped this week from a DVD I'd bought.
After I changed the extension to MPG, ran it through G-Spot and G-Spot
says that this file is MPEG2. I looked up what MPEG2 is, and the net
says that SVCD is _also_ MPEG2
(http://www.dcpproductions.com/vcd%20and%20svcd%20facts.htm,
http://forums.windrivers.com/archive/index.php/t-52080.html and other
sites). But even with the MPEG2/SVCD plugin, Nero has to re-encode!
So I'm absolutely no further ahead. It might have taken only 1/2 hour
or so to rip the VOB from the DVD using DVD Shrink, but then Nero took
3 hours to burn to SVCD. I didn't gain anything in time!
Have gone through guides at the DVD help forum (though they seem very
old). Is there no way to rip from a DVD using DVD Shrink so that we
can just burn to SVCD or VCD easily? The trouble with any of the
rippers I've found so far, none allow you to cut a segment out lke DVD
Shrink does where you can preview what you're doing. The only DVD
ripper I tried that could do that seriously degraded the picture; the
end result was completely grainy every single time. I tested the
results by ripping the DVD straight to mpeg with my preferred ripper
and then I cut out the piece I wanted with TMPGEnc and I _still_ got a
better resolution and quality than the one that allowed me to rip to
MPG straight but cutting out the segment to begin with! But, again,
that took hours and hours to do!
p.s., yes, others do let you rip pieces out _but_ they don't allow you
to preview, so you have to know the exact start and end points ahead
of time and that is such a pain because if the ripper isn't precise,
which these weren't, you didn't get what you wanted in the end anyway.
Anywho, any thoughts appreciated. Cheers. :oD
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-vcdimager/2001-01/msg00021.html)

Not sure if this all, but there are at least two problems. First, the
video in a DVD's VOB is probably at too high a bit rate for SVCD.
Svcd is typically 2.5 MB p/s.
Secondly the audio. The scvd standard is for audio to be sampled at
44.1. The VOB audio on the otherhand os probably different.
So, as you can see, it's not possible to avoid the re-encode.
Dave

[Ken Maltby]

Post by da_test
Not sure if this all, but there are at least two problems. First, the
video in a DVD's VOB is probably at too high a bit rate for SVCD.
Svcd is typically 2.5 MB p/s.
Secondly the audio. The scvd standard is for audio to be sampled at
44.1. The VOB audio on the otherhand os probably different.
So, as you can see, it's not possible to avoid the re-encode.
Dave

Both true but if the clips the OP is extracting will fit on a CD, many
players will have no problem playing what DVDShrink has made.

If it were me I would use DVD Shrink to decrypt and place on the
hard drive. Then VideoReDo to extract DVD compliant frame
accurate MPEG clips from the .vobs. Then I would make a "Mini-
DVD" with TDA.

If I really wanted it to be a SVCD then I would set the correct
packet length for SVCD in the VideoReDo options. Then feed
the results to a TMPGEnc Encoder (probably 2.5 Plus, well
tweaked for SVCD) (or 3.0 Express, if I was not being picky)

The OP said he had checked some sites and seen some guides,
rereading that post I saw no mention of www.videohelp.com ; so
he might want to check there. There are some "all in one"
DVD2SVCD programs out there. If that's the way he wants to
go.

Luck;
Ken

[da_test]

On Sat, 21 May 2005 16:33:42 -0500, "Ken Maltby"

Post by Ken Maltby

Post by da_test
Not sure if this all, but there are at least two problems. First, the
video in a DVD's VOB is probably at too high a bit rate for SVCD.
Svcd is typically 2.5 MB p/s.
Secondly the audio. The scvd standard is for audio to be sampled at
44.1. The VOB audio on the otherhand os probably different.
So, as you can see, it's not possible to avoid the re-encode.
Dave

Both true but if the clips the OP is extracting will fit on a CD, many
players will have no problem playing what DVDShrink has made.
If it were me I would use DVD Shrink to decrypt and place on the
hard drive. Then VideoReDo to extract DVD compliant frame
accurate MPEG clips from the .vobs. Then I would make a "Mini-
DVD" with TDA.

What is TDA? I did make a mini-dvd once before as an experiment
using Nero - ISO /UDF setting ? (it's been a while since I did it).
My old dvd player is one of those units with an IDE drive;
with the speed reduced firmware, the mini dvd probably was at the
limit of what the unit could read speed-wise.

Post by Ken Maltby
If I really wanted it to be a SVCD then I would set the correct
packet length for SVCD in the VideoReDo options. Then feed
the results to a TMPGEnc Encoder (probably 2.5 Plus, well
tweaked for SVCD) (or 3.0 Express, if I was not being picky)

Thanks for the info. I've just installed the VideoRedo demo -
looks like I ned to familiarize myself with it.

Post by Ken Maltby
The OP said he had checked some sites and seen some guides,
rereading that post I saw no mention of www.videohelp.com ; so
he might want to check there. There are some "all in one"
DVD2SVCD programs out there. If that's the way he wants to
go.
Luck;
Ken

[Ken Maltby]

Post by da_test
On Sat, 21 May 2005 16:33:42 -0500, "Ken Maltby"

Post by Ken Maltby

Post by da_test
Not sure if this all, but there are at least two problems. First, the
video in a DVD's VOB is probably at too high a bit rate for SVCD.
Svcd is typically 2.5 MB p/s.
Secondly the audio. The scvd standard is for audio to be sampled at
44.1. The VOB audio on the otherhand os probably different.
So, as you can see, it's not possible to avoid the re-encode.
Dave

Both true but if the clips the OP is extracting will fit on a CD, many
players will have no problem playing what DVDShrink has made.
If it were me I would use DVD Shrink to decrypt and place on the
hard drive. Then VideoReDo to extract DVD compliant frame
accurate MPEG clips from the .vobs. Then I would make a "Mini-
DVD" with TDA.

What is TDA? I did make a mini-dvd once before as an experiment
using Nero - ISO /UDF setting ? (it's been a while since I did it).
My old dvd player is one of those units with an IDE drive;
with the speed reduced firmware, the mini dvd probably was at the
limit of what the unit could read speed-wise.

TDA=TMPGEnc DVD Author One thing that I ran into making those
was that to get the menus to work, I had to burn the CD as ISO not as
ISO/UDF, as you would expect. That could be something that is player
dependent, though.

Post by da_test

Post by Ken Maltby
If I really wanted it to be a SVCD then I would set the correct
packet length for SVCD in the VideoReDo options. Then feed
the results to a TMPGEnc Encoder (probably 2.5 Plus, well
tweaked for SVCD) (or 3.0 Express, if I was not being picky)

Thanks for the info. I've just installed the VideoRedo demo -
looks like I ned to familiarize myself with it.

Just try every button and feature you see, remember that your
original video remains untouched, no matter what you do in
VideoReDo. The "Help" has a lot of valuable info. also.

Post by da_test

Post by Ken Maltby
The OP said he had checked some sites and seen some guides,
rereading that post I saw no mention of www.videohelp.com ; so
he might want to check there. There are some "all in one"
DVD2SVCD programs out there. If that's the way he wants to
go.
Luck;
Ken

[Traveller]

On Sat, 21 May 2005 16:33:42 -0500, "Ken Maltby"

Post by Ken Maltby

Post by da_test
Not sure if this all, but there are at least two problems. First, the
video in a DVD's VOB is probably at too high a bit rate for SVCD.
Svcd is typically 2.5 MB p/s.
Secondly the audio. The scvd standard is for audio to be sampled at
44.1. The VOB audio on the otherhand os probably different.
So, as you can see, it's not possible to avoid the re-encode.
Dave

Both true but if the clips the OP is extracting will fit on a CD, many
players will have no problem playing what DVDShrink has made.
If it were me I would use DVD Shrink to decrypt and place on the
hard drive. Then VideoReDo to extract DVD compliant frame
accurate MPEG clips from the .vobs. Then I would make a "Mini-
DVD" with TDA.

How much time would this take, though? The reason why DVD Shrink is
so neat to use is 1) speed to rip, 2) ability to preview pretty much
exactly where you want to start and stop before ripping.

Post by Ken Maltby
If I really wanted it to be a SVCD then I would set the correct
packet length for SVCD in the VideoReDo options. Then feed
the results to a TMPGEnc Encoder (probably 2.5 Plus, well
tweaked for SVCD) (or 3.0 Express, if I was not being picky)

No, ultimate format is of no concern to me in terms of what comes out.
What I need is to rip quickly (DVD Shrink on average takes 1/2 hour on
my old, slow dinosaur <g>) and to then burn quickly without
re-encoding. Doesn't matter how it's done, but if I could burn
without re-encoding something that DVD Shrink rips, I'd be one happy
camper. I'm buying quite a few DVDs lately, esp. workout ones but
like my old VHS workout tapes, would like to compile my own workouts
from the masters. Extremely time-consuming if I have to rip whole
DVDs (i.e., not using DVD Shrink).

Tx.

Post by Ken Maltby
The OP said he had checked some sites and seen some guides,
rereading that post I saw no mention of www.videohelp.com ; so
he might want to check there. There are some "all in one"
DVD2SVCD programs out there. If that's the way he wants to
go.

Trouble is, do any preview? I'm finding that so few do not. DVD
Shrink allows me to quickly view and "splice" and then rip in minutes.

[Traveller]

On Sat, 21 May 2005 13:39:57 -0700, da_test

Post by da_test
On Sat, 21 May 2005 13:08:12 -0400, Traveller

Post by Traveller
I did a test on a VOB that I ripped this week from a DVD I'd bought.
After I changed the extension to MPG, ran it through G-Spot and G-Spot
says that this file is MPEG2. I looked up what MPEG2 is, and the net
says that SVCD is _also_ MPEG2
(http://www.dcpproductions.com/vcd%20and%20svcd%20facts.htm,
http://forums.windrivers.com/archive/index.php/t-52080.html and other
sites). But even with the MPEG2/SVCD plugin, Nero has to re-encode!
So I'm absolutely no further ahead. It might have taken only 1/2 hour
or so to rip the VOB from the DVD using DVD Shrink, but then Nero took
3 hours to burn to SVCD. I didn't gain anything in time!
Have gone through guides at the DVD help forum (though they seem very
old). Is there no way to rip from a DVD using DVD Shrink so that we
can just burn to SVCD or VCD easily? The trouble with any of the
rippers I've found so far, none allow you to cut a segment out lke DVD
Shrink does where you can preview what you're doing. The only DVD
ripper I tried that could do that seriously degraded the picture; the
end result was completely grainy every single time. I tested the
results by ripping the DVD straight to mpeg with my preferred ripper
and then I cut out the piece I wanted with TMPGEnc and I _still_ got a
better resolution and quality than the one that allowed me to rip to
MPG straight but cutting out the segment to begin with! But, again,
that took hours and hours to do!
p.s., yes, others do let you rip pieces out _but_ they don't allow you
to preview, so you have to know the exact start and end points ahead
of time and that is such a pain because if the ripper isn't precise,
which these weren't, you didn't get what you wanted in the end anyway.
Anywho, any thoughts appreciated. Cheers. :oD
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-vcdimager/2001-01/msg00021.html)

Not sure if this all, but there are at least two problems. First, the
video in a DVD's VOB is probably at too high a bit rate for SVCD.
Svcd is typically 2.5 MB p/s.
Secondly the audio. The scvd standard is for audio to be sampled at
44.1. The VOB audio on the otherhand os probably different.
So, as you can see, it's not possible to avoid the re-encode.
Dave

<sigh> And I guess there's no way to rip VOB with SVCD specs?

[Eric Gisin]

Post by Traveller

Post by da_test
Not sure if this all, but there are at least two problems. First, the
video in a DVD's VOB is probably at too high a bit rate for SVCD.
Svcd is typically 2.5 MB p/s.
Secondly the audio. The scvd standard is for audio to be sampled at
44.1. The VOB audio on the otherhand os probably different.
So, as you can see, it's not possible to avoid the re-encode.
Dave

<sigh> And I guess there's no way to rip VOB with SVCD specs?

I have a mpeg-2 file 720x576, 3.5Mb/s video, MP2 48k. Not SVCD complient.

I go into Nero and create SVCD. I add the file, it analyzes and sez "invalid audio/video".
I choose "turn off standard complience".

Burn the CD-R and it plays fine on 30$ DVD player. You may not be as lucky.

[doS]

Why?

Post by Traveller
I did a test on a VOB that I ripped this week from a DVD I'd bought.
After I changed the extension to MPG, ran it through G-Spot and G-Spot
says that this file is MPEG2. I looked up what MPEG2 is, and the net
says that SVCD is _also_ MPEG2
(http://www.dcpproductions.com/vcd%20and%20svcd%20facts.htm,
http://forums.windrivers.com/archive/index.php/t-52080.html and other
sites). But even with the MPEG2/SVCD plugin, Nero has to re-encode!
So I'm absolutely no further ahead. It might have taken only 1/2 hour
or so to rip the VOB from the DVD using DVD Shrink, but then Nero took
3 hours to burn to SVCD. I didn't gain anything in time!
Have gone through guides at the DVD help forum (though they seem very
old). Is there no way to rip from a DVD using DVD Shrink so that we
can just burn to SVCD or VCD easily? The trouble with any of the
rippers I've found so far, none allow you to cut a segment out lke DVD
Shrink does where you can preview what you're doing. The only DVD
ripper I tried that could do that seriously degraded the picture; the
end result was completely grainy every single time. I tested the
results by ripping the DVD straight to mpeg with my preferred ripper
and then I cut out the piece I wanted with TMPGEnc and I _still_ got a
better resolution and quality than the one that allowed me to rip to
MPG straight but cutting out the segment to begin with! But, again,
that took hours and hours to do!
p.s., yes, others do let you rip pieces out _but_ they don't allow you
to preview, so you have to know the exact start and end points ahead
of time and that is such a pain because if the ripper isn't precise,
which these weren't, you didn't get what you wanted in the end anyway.
Anywho, any thoughts appreciated. Cheers. :oD
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-vcdimager/2001-01/msg00021.html)

[Mike Kujbida]

DVDs (in NTSC) are 720 x 480. An SVCD is 480 x 480 which is why it has to
re-encode.

Mike

Post by Traveller
I did a test on a VOB that I ripped this week from a DVD I'd bought.
After I changed the extension to MPG, ran it through G-Spot and G-Spot
says that this file is MPEG2. I looked up what MPEG2 is, and the net
says that SVCD is _also_ MPEG2
(http://www.dcpproductions.com/vcd%20and%20svcd%20facts.htm,
http://forums.windrivers.com/archive/index.php/t-52080.html and other
sites). But even with the MPEG2/SVCD plugin, Nero has to re-encode!
So I'm absolutely no further ahead. It might have taken only 1/2 hour
or so to rip the VOB from the DVD using DVD Shrink, but then Nero took
3 hours to burn to SVCD. I didn't gain anything in time!
Have gone through guides at the DVD help forum (though they seem very
old). Is there no way to rip from a DVD using DVD Shrink so that we
can just burn to SVCD or VCD easily? The trouble with any of the
rippers I've found so far, none allow you to cut a segment out lke DVD
Shrink does where you can preview what you're doing. The only DVD
ripper I tried that could do that seriously degraded the picture; the
end result was completely grainy every single time. I tested the
results by ripping the DVD straight to mpeg with my preferred ripper
and then I cut out the piece I wanted with TMPGEnc and I _still_ got a
better resolution and quality than the one that allowed me to rip to
MPG straight but cutting out the segment to begin with! But, again,
that took hours and hours to do!
p.s., yes, others do let you rip pieces out _but_ they don't allow you
to preview, so you have to know the exact start and end points ahead
of time and that is such a pain because if the ripper isn't precise,
which these weren't, you didn't get what you wanted in the end anyway.
Anywho, any thoughts appreciated. Cheers. :oD
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-vcdimager/2001-01/msg00021.html)

[Alpha]

Post by Mike Kujbida
DVDs (in NTSC) are 720 x 480. An SVCD is 480 x 480 which is why it has to
re-encode.

Bingo.

[Ken Maltby]

Post by Mike Kujbida
DVDs (in NTSC) are 720 x 480. An SVCD is 480 x 480 which is why it has to
re-encode.
Mike

Actually for MPEG 2 DVDs:

NTSC
352x240 / 352x480
704x480 / 720x480

PAL
352x288 / 352x576
704x576 / 720x576

for MPEG 1 :

NTSC 352x240 / PAL 352x288

But what the OP would be getting off a commercial DVD is surely
720x480.

As I read the post, what he wants is to get to playable video on a
CD faster than by the reencoding Nero was applying. If you were
to review my responses they are directed at that goal. I shouldn't
have continued the use of the term SVCD at that point though, my
bad.

Luck;
Ken

[Alpha]

See Mike Kujbida's comment. Mpeg2 has a large number of parameters, and
SVCD parameters are different than traditional DVD (which has SVCD
subsets...you are dealing with the fact that your mpeg2s are not SVCD
compliant).