SVCD on philips standalone players

Bitrate confidence 

Hi. I dont believe Philips would limit its player to 2200 since SVCD standard is about 2700 (video+audio). I think we have a measurement problem. It can be in TMPEG at the encoding limits or at the bitrate checking software (I used Bitrate viewer and Rempeg). See these tests: Original VOB size(a+v)- 352.272 KB TMPEG encoding video only (m2v file) : TMPEG bitr settings - file reduction - (bitrate viewer val) -(rempeg val) CQ75 - (1000-xxxx-2000) - 21% - (706-1242-1769) (1630-2380) CQ75 - (1000-xxxx-2520) - 23% - (713-1365-2176) (1790-2895) CQ75 - (0000-xxxx-2520) - 21% - (471-1273-2079) (1700-2906) 2PVBR- (600-1400-2400) - 19% - (778-1147-1780) (1510-2658) As you can see Rempeg gives always higher values to the bitrate (med and max) than Bitrate viewer. And the peak values from Rempeg are very high, with video values exceeding the spec for a+v in some cases. Newbie conclusion: you cannot trust bitrate checkers. Question: Is there any stuff that can give good lectures from mpeg2 files bitrate? Thanks

I've struggled quite a bit with my Philips DVD 622, this is what I've learned from it: - With my original firmware (v.2.9.6) both VCD and SVCD playback problems - Updating the firmware to v.4.15.O-0 solved most of the playback problems (+Rew/Ff working), still having problems with SVCD subtitles - Updating the firmware to v.4.15.V-0 didn't solve SVCD subtitle problems but introduced a new bug in mp3 playback -> I downgraded my firmware back to v.4.15.O-0 - The player is very sensitive about the maximum bitrate AND minimum bitrate. Anything over 2720 or below ~ 1000 can cause playback problems. - TMPGEnc doesn't respect the given bitrate limits always in CQ VBR mode. TMPGEnc doesn't multiplex your SVCD's according to Philips SVCD specs, but according to chinese specs. This causes Rew/FF problems and inability to use time search and inability to make chapters with for example VCDEasy. If you want to use TMPGEnc for your encodes, encode video and audio separately and multiplex them with bbmpeg (This is also how DVD2SVCD does it). Philips DVD firmware updates can be found @ Some more firmware versions can be found @ (the new Philips Syndicate site). Here's also a Philips DVD player firmware forum and some instructions about upgrading your firmware. Note that some Philips DVD players come with an upgradable firmware chip, some doesn't.