You are rendering a DVD that is probably averaging 6,000Kbps to 2,000Kbps so this is your problem. Up the bitrate closer to at least 4,000Kbps and you should get closer because MP4 has better compression than MPEG2. 3,500Kbps might be the sweet spot.

~jr

Thanks, gentlemen. I'm giving both options a whirl this evening.

Cclub,

A close relative to an .mpg render is MKV. The advantage is that it can preserve chapter markers from the original DVD. Don't expect smaller file size though, it just wraps the .mpg.

Of course, so can .m4v such as from Handbrake using x264.

I do both. The advantage to MKV is you can extract the original .mpg if you want to burn a DVD at a later date.

VERY interesting to hear. Definitely taking note of that. I would assume also that at least the .m4v from Handbrake works fine on a Mac.

I had a little trouble with the options listed above. I was using the VideoReDo trial, and about 1/2 way in, it said something like "not enough memory" or not enough hard drive space. It was on a hard drive with about 200GB free, and I have 12 GB RAM, so I wasn't sure why it said that. I tried JR's mp4 bitrate render; it came out well, but it still didn't have the clarity of the original.

I ended up using a program to get the DVD to one large VOB (I can't remember what program I used for that... perhaps IMGBurn or DVDShrink), and then I found a program called VOB2MPG, which took the VOB and made it into one large mpeg-2 file without a re-render. Success one way or another, but I'll definitely be keeping the chapter option in mind. Thanks again.

Try MakeMKV. It's free.
Your DVD is preserved at its original quality, as well as the chapters.

can someone please explain the advantage of using MKV in this situation as opposed to VOBtoMPG
-- And does Movie Studio open MKVs? to edit ? I don't see it in the import files window... v.9

1) MKV can preserve subtitles, multiple audio tracks, and chapters from the DVD.
MPG can do none of these.
2) No.

thank you -

CCLUB, you can just copy the VOB file to PC and rename it to MPG.

I'm not sure if it's a DVD that you rendered but using 2000 kbps is way way to low. Try 8000 kbps. If you go higher than that many DVD players will choke but an MPG destined for a PC will be OK. To be safe 6000 kbps plays on most DVD players.

I use a HD media player called Mede8er which plays anything from MKV to FLV files. If you copy your DVD folders to it it plays it as a DVD play would with menu's etc.

What I find is that the more expensive the DVD player are the more they splutter and choke on higher rendered DVD's but the cheapies play anything.

MusicVid,
A wealth of information, you are. I was just looking into the MKV format (of which I know nothing)... it looks interesting, and it appears that it plays fine on a Mac with the VLC player. I'll have to give that a shot. The program you mentioned -- MakeMKV -- looks promising. I just downloaded it and I'm going to give it a shot rendering right from a DVD.

LightAds, I should have been clearer... I did render a higher bitrate when pulling right from the DVD into a VOB, but I hadn't initially gone high enough when rendering to a mp4 format. I'll also check out your reference to HD Media Player. Thanks.

Edit: the free program MakeMKV is the deal!! It just takes the DVD files, makes it into one large MKV file without re-rendering, and then I played it with the free VLC media player. Very pleased, thanks guys.

LightAds,
tried your solution - moving VOB and renaming it MPG - what a simple solution... thanks...

One more learning lesson that reminds me how little I know about what I think I understand about this video stuff... (grin)

Until that time... Earl J.