[MEncoder-users] Encoding video for old DVD players

[Staffan Hamala]

Hi,

I have a problem with encoding video so that older DVD players will play it 
correctly.

I have used commands similar to these:

mencoder -oac lavc -ovc lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd -vf 
scale=720:576,harddup -srate 48000 -af lavcresample=48000 -lavcopts 
vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=8000:vbitrate=5000:keyint=15:acodec=ac3:abitrate=224:aspect=4/3 -ofps 
25 -o out.mpeg2 in.avi   

mencoder -oac lavc -ovc lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd -vf 
scale=352:288,harddup -srate 48000 -af lavcresample=48000 -lavcopts 
vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=7800:vbitrate=4000:keyint=15:acodec=ac3:abitrate=224:aspect=4/3 -ofps 
25 -o out.mpeg2 in.avi

These are taken from the mplayer manual (on the web). I've tried to lower the 
maxrate, and vbitrate, but it made no difference. I've also tried different 
abitrates.

The encoded videos work perfectly in mplayer.

After making a DVD disk structure with dvdauthor, and burning the DVD, I can 
use both xine and mplayer to watch it without a problem.
I've also tried the DVD's on a modern stand-alone DVD player, and there 
everything looked as it should.

The problem is this:
On my DVD player (Pioneer DV626), the picture quality is really bad. The 
picture gets blocky at scene changes and when something moves rapidly on the 
screen. It also seems like everytime this happens, the video starts lagging 
behind the audio, more and more. Not noticeable at first, but after a while 
it starts to get annoying.

I've also tried burning a few ISO's from copied DVD's and these all work 
perfectly.

So, there must be something in the mpeg stream that my DVD player doesn't 
like.

Can it be "b frames" or something? Or are there "b frames" in mpeg2?

Thanks,
Staffan