Expert Settings

All NTSC-DVD Targets

Overscan compensation:

 -j -16,-32,-16,-32

(The actual numbers vary depending on the source geometry, but these are good numbers for "typical" source)

Aspect ratio compensation for widescreen (> 16:9 asr) content encoded to --export_asr 3:

 -j -64,-32,-64,-32

Note that when you are encoding content that is 16:9 or wider, you should tell transcode that it is encoded at 16:9, this will ensure that the geometry calculations for export are correct (do this even if the source was originally letterboxed into 4:3 and subsequently cropped):

 --import_asr 3

Anime avi, mkv, ogm, etc. to NTSC-DVD

Denoising with moderate sharpening should always be used with anime (gets rid of the "ringing" around subtitles and other sharp lines):

 -J hqdn3d,msharpen=strength=25

A gamma boost is almost always needed as well:

 -g 0.9

When source needs color balancing

See the eq2 section of the man page for mplayer:

 -x mplayer="-vf eq2=NN:NN:NN:NN:NN:NN:NN:NN"

           eq2[=gamma:contrast:brightness:saturation:rg:gg:bg:weight]
              Alternative  software  equalizer  that  uses lookup tables (very
              slow), allowing gamma correction in addition to  simple  bright-
              ness  and  contrast  adjustment.  Note that it uses the same MMX
              optimized code as -vf eq if all gamma values are 1.0.   The  pa-
              rameters are given as floating point values.
                 <0.1-10>
                      initial gamma value (default: 1.0)
                 <-2-2>
                      initial contrast, where negative values result in a neg-
                      ative image (default: 1.0)
                 <-1-1>
                      initial brightness (default: 0.0)
                 <0-3>
                      initial saturation (default: 1.0)
                 <0.1-10>
                      gamma value for the red component (default: 1.0)
                 <0.1-10>
                      gamma value for the green component (default: 1.0)
                 <0.1-10>
                      gamma value for the blue component (default: 1.0)
                 <0-1>
                      The weight parameter can be used to reduce the effect of
                      a high gamma value on bright image areas, e.g. keep them
                      from getting overamplified and just plain white.  A val-
                      ue  of  0.0  turns the gamma correction all the way down
                      while 1.0 leaves it at its full strength (default: 1.0).

Good starting values for a typical slightly flat source: -vf eq2=0.9:1:0.05:1.03

For a VHS rip with red bloom: -vf eq2=0.9:1.1:-0.05:1:0.9:1:1,hqdn3d=3:2:3:3

ffmpeg.cfg for NTSC-DVD target

Using this ./ffmpeg.cfg file should kick ffmpeg up to mpeg2enc quality:

 [mpeg2video]
 mbd = 2
 mv0 = 1
 nr = 20
 trell = 1
 vqcomp = 0.7
 vqblur = 0.3

And this one should make the output indistinguishable from the input, at a HUGE cost in encoding time:

 [mpeg2video]
 mbd = 2
 mv0 = 1
 nr = 20
 trell = 1
 cmp = 3
 precmp = 3
 subcmp = 3
 vqcomp = 0.7
 vqblur = 0.3