Rendering 1080i for DVD
 

What settings do I use to get the best quality video for HDV 1080i to DVD?

Well, that's a very complex and loaded question and NO WAY, can anyone on here give you a simple answer.

Try the standard Vegas templates - they give you the best outcome in 80-90% of cases. Document what you do and define, in your own mind, what works better for your kind of footage. Then narrow in on specific problems/issues with your DVD's. If you're still not happy try searching on this section about specific issues that you don't like. In seconds you'll usually have the answer right in front of you. If not, then post.

Bob, sorry to be blunt/drop my normal English politeness, sure we'll try and help you, but you've got to be more specific than that if you want the vast expertise on here to try and have a stab at helping!

Here's what I tried so far.

I started out with HDV 1080-60i video from my HC1 camera using Pro 8 and rendered as template DVD Architect NTSC Widescreen video stream. With DVD Pro 4.5 burned onto a DVD-RW. Played it on My HDTV. The result was heavy pixals.

Then I tried render as template HDV 1080-60i and burned onto DVD-RW with DVD Pro 4.5 which rerendered it and the result was much better.

Is there a better way to do this?

try taking your 1080i from your cam into cineform deinterlaced avi, then in vegas edit it at 29.97p and then into dvda as a progressive mpeg 2 dvda clip. works for me

Probably what happened on this pass is that your Vegas render exceeded the capacity of a DVD and DVDA rerendered - which is a horrific look, rerendering already compressed source.

Edward Troxel has a bit rate chart in Vol 1 #07 of his newsletters. Using it, you can assure that your MPEG2 renders out of Vegas won't be too large.

Hi Bob,
This is what i do and it seems to look ok for mpeg-2 DVD Pal version.

Select a template, i use a PAL Widescreen video-only MPEG-2 file compatible with DVD Architect.
Select Variable bit rate, tick two pass.
Maximum bps 8,500,000
Average bps 6,000,000
Minimum bps 4,200,000

That should do it.
Dont forget to include the audio stream in the audio page.

Cheers
Simon

Simon being on PAL and 25 fps, the bitrate issues are a little different (about 17% different).

Here in the U.S., with nearly 30 fps, 8Mbps will take you to about 60 minutes of content with PCM audio, or 70 minutes with AC-3.

Just be aware that if DVDA sees a combined file size over about 4.2GB (for all disc content including menues) or a bitrate over 9.8Mbps it will recompress.

But while 9.8Mbps is within the DVD spec, it is the stratosphere as far as compatibility with set-top DVD players (most PCs/Macs will play better than 9.8). More conservatively, about 8 Mbps for combined audio and video assures greatest compatibility with most set-top players.