Best export to DVD? at DVinfo.net

Adam Bray · January 22nd, 2006, 01:29 AM

What is the best export to DVD? I shot the video on my XL2 in 16:9, 30p

4MB VBR 2 pass
7MB CBR 1 pass?
7MB VBR 2 Pass?
Progressive high quality 4MB VBR 2 pass?
Progressive high qulaity 7MB CBR 1 pass?

Saturnin Kondratiew · January 23rd, 2006, 03:48 PM

i'm thinking 7MB CBR 1 pass?
thats what i export to mpgdvd in

Emre Safak · January 23rd, 2006, 05:59 PM

VBR is more efficient than CBR. The bit rate depends on the length of the material. If you do not have enough to fill the disc, you can use something high, like 6Mbps.

Saturnin Kondratiew · January 23rd, 2006, 06:52 PM

what looks better :D

Emre Safak · January 23rd, 2006, 07:49 PM

7Mbps VBR 2-pass

Saturnin Kondratiew · January 23rd, 2006, 07:58 PM

so far i have been exporting in DV 4x3 high cbr

should i do ntsc progressive VBR 7mbs
will that get me a better resolution..
this is going to be played on north american systems

Emre Safak · January 24th, 2006, 06:22 AM

The resolution is fixed; it's the amount of compression you are setting.

Saturnin Kondratiew · January 25th, 2006, 03:22 PM

i am encoding 4x3 high quality vbr 2 7mbr. Now, whats hould i have sound set to
PCM or MPEG and tweak the settings all the way to the top?

Spike Spiegel · January 25th, 2006, 03:53 PM

since we're on the subject, when exporting in mpeg 2 format for DVDs, it gives me multiple choices for aspect ratio.. I don't remember the numbers, but roughly i had the choice to select something like :
1.0695
1.0255
.9815
and a bunch more
1.09 (ntsc): it says 525 lines on it, is NTSC limited to only 525 lines horiz res? Should i pick this one ?

for 4:3 aspect ratio on miniDV footage, which aspect ratio should I select when exporting...A bit confused!

I want the highest quality exporting, thats obviously been discussed as VBR 2 pass 7mbps max. But which aspect ratio should I pick so it looks like the original raw footage and not warped...

Emre Safak · February 3rd, 2006, 08:01 PM

Since you are in the States, it's going to be NTSC (720x480). If you shot wide screen (16:9) pick NTSC Widescreen. If you shot full screen (4:3), pick NTSC Fullscreen. In your case (full screen), the pixel aspect ratio is 10:11=0.91

Henry Cho · February 4th, 2006, 11:31 AM

cbr (constant bitrate) at a high bitrate is actually better than vbr (variable bitrate) with the same bitrate setting when you're not concerned with filesize. vbr is, as emre stated, more efficient because the encoding process will actually change the bitrate depending on the video content as it sees fit. this lends itself to smaller filesizes at relatively comparable video quality. when we kick out an mpeg2 preview of a 30 second commercial spot, we usually encode to cbr 8-9Mbps.

Saturnin Kondratiew · February 4th, 2006, 06:19 PM

ok this sux, everyone says different thing. Who's right and whos wrong? lol
we need to agree on somthing here fellas, whats better quality cbr or VBR?
Dont make me go to the adobe.com forums lol

Dan Euritt · February 4th, 2006, 09:51 PM

nobody would argue with the following settings being the best choice:

1) always use two-pass encoding
2) always use the highest reasonable bitrate, if you want the best picture quality.
3) dolby digital over mpeg audio, for the best compatibility with dvd's distributed in america.

beyond that, 8mbps peak vbr and 8mbps cbr should both look the same, if you have a good encoder, because you are giving the dvd the same 8mbps bitrate on scenes that are tough to encode.

on the flip side, a lot of the 8mbps cbr will be wasted on static shots, because it's more bandwidth than the shot needs.

Saturnin Kondratiew · February 4th, 2006, 10:27 PM

ok
there are 3 in premere pro as u guys know
minimum bitrate
target target bitrate
maximum bitrate
at one point i jacked up the bitrate up and htat messed up the dvd test, the footage was all jumpy(i'm not sure now wich bitrate i jacked up)

how do i know wich bitrate to bring up.

Henry Cho · February 5th, 2006, 05:27 AM

saturnin,

let me be clearer than my initial post... there is no global best setting for mpeg2 compression that is applicable across the board. that is why you have the cbr and vbr options.

if you have two hours of video you want encoded to mpeg2 and burned to disc, it wouldn't be possible for you to encode to 9Mbps cbr because it simply wouldn't fit on the dvd. it's math. 2-pass vbr would be the choice here. for the appropriate bitrates, i would use one of the many free bitrate calculators available on the web. these handy tools will take the total time of your project and kick out bitrates to use in your encoder so that your project will fit on a disc at the best possible quality.

here's a link to one i use:
http://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm

if you have a 10 minute short you want to encoded to mpeg2 and burned to a dvd, why not use 9Mbps cbr? sure it'll be overkill sometimes, but who cares? a vbr setting of 6-9Mbps won't look better than 9Mbps cbr. and with cbr, you gain the benefit of faster encoding.

January 22nd, 2006, 01:29 AM	#1
Adam Bray Major Player Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Houston/Austin Posts: 394	Best export to DVD? What is the best export to DVD? I shot the video on my XL2 in 16:9, 30p 4MB VBR 2 pass 7MB CBR 1 pass? 7MB VBR 2 Pass? Progressive high quality 4MB VBR 2 pass? Progressive high qulaity 7MB CBR 1 pass?

January 23rd, 2006, 03:48 PM	#2
Saturnin Kondratiew Major Player Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: vancouver Posts: 310	i'm thinking 7MB CBR 1 pass? thats what i export to mpgdvd in __________________ My documentaries - http://www.asphaltjunkiez.com

January 23rd, 2006, 06:52 PM	#4
Saturnin Kondratiew Major Player Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: vancouver Posts: 310	what looks better :D __________________ My documentaries - http://www.asphaltjunkiez.com

January 23rd, 2006, 07:58 PM	#6
Saturnin Kondratiew Major Player Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: vancouver Posts: 310	so far i have been exporting in DV 4x3 high cbr should i do ntsc progressive VBR 7mbs will that get me a better resolution.. this is going to be played on north american systems __________________ My documentaries - http://www.asphaltjunkiez.com

January 25th, 2006, 03:22 PM	#8
Saturnin Kondratiew Major Player Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: vancouver Posts: 310	i am encoding 4x3 high quality vbr 2 7mbr. Now, whats hould i have sound set to PCM or MPEG and tweak the settings all the way to the top? __________________ My documentaries - http://www.asphaltjunkiez.com

January 23rd, 2006, 05:59 PM	#3
Emre Safak Trustee Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brookline, MA Posts: 1,447	VBR is more efficient than CBR. The bit rate depends on the length of the material. If you do not have enough to fill the disc, you can use something high, like 6Mbps.

January 23rd, 2006, 07:49 PM	#5
Emre Safak Trustee Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brookline, MA Posts: 1,447	7Mbps VBR 2-pass

January 24th, 2006, 06:22 AM	#7
Emre Safak Trustee Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brookline, MA Posts: 1,447	The resolution is fixed; it's the amount of compression you are setting.

January 25th, 2006, 03:53 PM	#9
Spike Spiegel Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 429	since we're on the subject, when exporting in mpeg 2 format for DVDs, it gives me multiple choices for aspect ratio.. I don't remember the numbers, but roughly i had the choice to select something like : 1.0695 1.0255 .9815 and a bunch more 1.09 (ntsc): it says 525 lines on it, is NTSC limited to only 525 lines horiz res? Should i pick this one ? for 4:3 aspect ratio on miniDV footage, which aspect ratio should I select when exporting...A bit confused! I want the highest quality exporting, thats obviously been discussed as VBR 2 pass 7mbps max. But which aspect ratio should I pick so it looks like the original raw footage and not warped...

February 3rd, 2006, 08:01 PM	#10
Emre Safak Trustee Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brookline, MA Posts: 1,447	Since you are in the States, it's going to be NTSC (720x480). If you shot wide screen (16:9) pick NTSC Widescreen. If you shot full screen (4:3), pick NTSC Fullscreen. In your case (full screen), the pixel aspect ratio is 10:11=0.91

February 4th, 2006, 11:31 AM	#11
Henry Cho Major Player Join Date: May 2005 Location: NYC Posts: 516	cbr (constant bitrate) at a high bitrate is actually better than vbr (variable bitrate) with the same bitrate setting when you're not concerned with filesize. vbr is, as emre stated, more efficient because the encoding process will actually change the bitrate depending on the video content as it sees fit. this lends itself to smaller filesizes at relatively comparable video quality. when we kick out an mpeg2 preview of a 30 second commercial spot, we usually encode to cbr 8-9Mbps. Last edited by Henry Cho; February 4th, 2006 at 12:44 PM.

February 4th, 2006, 06:19 PM	#12
Saturnin Kondratiew Major Player Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: vancouver Posts: 310	ok this sux, everyone says different thing. Who's right and whos wrong? lol we need to agree on somthing here fellas, whats better quality cbr or VBR? Dont make me go to the adobe.com forums lol __________________ My documentaries - http://www.asphaltjunkiez.com

February 4th, 2006, 09:51 PM	#13
Dan Euritt Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Carlsbad CA Posts: 1,132	nobody would argue with the following settings being the best choice: 1) always use two-pass encoding 2) always use the highest reasonable bitrate, if you want the best picture quality. 3) dolby digital over mpeg audio, for the best compatibility with dvd's distributed in america. beyond that, 8mbps peak vbr and 8mbps cbr should both look the same, if you have a good encoder, because you are giving the dvd the same 8mbps bitrate on scenes that are tough to encode. on the flip side, a lot of the 8mbps cbr will be wasted on static shots, because it's more bandwidth than the shot needs.

February 4th, 2006, 10:27 PM	#14
Saturnin Kondratiew Major Player Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: vancouver Posts: 310	ok there are 3 in premere pro as u guys know minimum bitrate target target bitrate maximum bitrate at one point i jacked up the bitrate up and htat messed up the dvd test, the footage was all jumpy(i'm not sure now wich bitrate i jacked up) how do i know wich bitrate to bring up. __________________ My documentaries - http://www.asphaltjunkiez.com

February 5th, 2006, 05:27 AM	#15
Henry Cho Major Player Join Date: May 2005 Location: NYC Posts: 516	saturnin, let me be clearer than my initial post... there is no global best setting for mpeg2 compression that is applicable across the board. that is why you have the cbr and vbr options. if you have two hours of video you want encoded to mpeg2 and burned to disc, it wouldn't be possible for you to encode to 9Mbps cbr because it simply wouldn't fit on the dvd. it's math. 2-pass vbr would be the choice here. for the appropriate bitrates, i would use one of the many free bitrate calculators available on the web. these handy tools will take the total time of your project and kick out bitrates to use in your encoder so that your project will fit on a disc at the best possible quality. here's a link to one i use: http://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm if you have a 10 minute short you want to encoded to mpeg2 and burned to a dvd, why not use 9Mbps cbr? sure it'll be overkill sometimes, but who cares? a vbr setting of 6-9Mbps won't look better than 9Mbps cbr. and with cbr, you gain the benefit of faster encoding.