Whats the best settings for encoding to DVD?
 

Hey all,

Im trying to find out what are the best settings to get the most detailed results when I export DV to a DVD.

So far I feel like things look a tad bit soft, and Id really like to see the best results possible when I make a DVD.

Thanks all,

Hi Kevin,

Unfortunately the answer is not easy.

Having a high constant bit rate will help but then it also depends on:

How long you movie is
Where the DVD will be played
The Mpeg Encoder you are using
The footage you are using
....

The best thing to do is test! Create DVDs at different bit rates and then find out what would be best for you.

Generally speaking I use 7MBits/sec on a constant bit rate, but then again it depends on how long the DVD is...

Cheers,

First you need to talk about your DVD/MPEG2 encoder. Some will
have better quality than others. After this there are basically two
ways to encode to MPEG2, constant and variable bitrate. Most
professionals seem to prefer the latter and as Ed pointed out the
higher the bitrate the less compression is used and you will receive
the best quality with a reduction in maximum media length.

in addition to what's already been said, always use the two-pass option for encoding, it'll definitely make a difference in the quality.

when using software mpeg encoders, time should never be an issue if quality is the top priority.

i encode everything i do at the higher end of the vbr bitrate scale, usually 8,800 max... set the average bitrate to correspond with whatever space constraints you have on the disc.

i don't have any customer dvd compatibility issues that are related to the mpeg bitrate.