Low bitrate OK?

Maverick wrote on 5/9/2004, 9:43 AM

Hi

Having been boasting alittle about what the new DVD Architect 2 can do (haven't actually tried it yet though) I have been asked to put three mp2 video files on to a DVD with menus etc.

The total size of these files is around 3GB and when added without menus, etc I am told that over 250% of 4.7GB disc is used.
If I lowere the bitrate to around 2Mbs they will fit.

The quality of these clips is that of SVHS.

My question is will such a low bitrate still produce an acceptable DVD to view or should I be looking at other options to do this.

Any help appreciated.

Cheers

Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 5/9/2004, 9:46 AM

You'll lose a fair amount of quality recompressing m2v's to a lower bitrate. You're better off redoing the encode or even encoding from DV to m2v if you have an archived file. If the files total 3 gig, that makes no sense that DVD Architect won't accept them unless you are creating monster length menus.

Maverick wrote on 5/9/2004, 10:25 AM

Thanks.

Ran the mp2 file through gSpt v2.21 and it indiacted it is mpeg file and not mpeg2. So I assume DVDA would have to recompress and the resultant compressed file would be much greater than the orginal.

Is there another way to do what I want? Or shoudl I put each file onto a separate VCD?

Even then, with file sizes of almoost 1GB each they would go on a VCD.

Does anyone have any suggestions other than just putting only one film per DVD?

Thanks

Spot|DSE wrote on 5/9/2004, 10:35 AM

Again, I'm still not getting it. If each file is less than a gig, why not put all 3 on one DVD? That makes no sense. You can put 4.3gig of usable space on one DVD. Where is the extra gig of storage expense coming from? And if they're MPEG1, they'll be recompressed regardless, because DVD doesn't support MPEG 1. And if they're MPEG1, then they'll already be at a low bitrate of no more than 1.5 Mbps, so you'll lose a TREMENDOUS amount of quality recompressing them.
I'm confused about what you're missing here.
For DVD:
Must be less than 4.3 gig in total size. You have 3 vids, all less than 1 gig. So all three fit.
You can put as many videos on a DVD as you'd like so long as they don't aggregate to more than 4.3/4.4 in size. You can have up to 32 buttons on a single menu page....so lots of small vids.

Maverick wrote on 5/9/2004, 10:43 AM

Thanks spot.

Shortky I will reboot and start the process over again.

I must be missing something here that is probably simple to explain.

If I stil have problems I will report back and ask.

Cheers.

Maverick wrote on 5/10/2004, 9:35 AM

A reboot and on loading just one file mp2 that is 987.41MB in size I find that Optimise DVD indicates that the project size will be 6629.3MB. This is on a newly open DVDA2 instance with only one menu item namely the file I have just added.

The bitrate is shown as 8000Mbps. I need to reduce it to 3600 to get file size to under 4.3GB.

When played in WMP the file plays fr around 1.45 - so I suppose the figures must be right.

I just assumed I could get three 1GB fmp2s onto a single DVD.

Spot|DSE wrote on 5/10/2004, 9:47 AM

You can. You've got something odd going on, might be how you've built your menus. Three 1 gig files will easily fit on a 4.7 gig disc, which really only allows about 4.3 gigs of storage due to overhead.
Try removing all menu items, using only a still and static button, see what that does to your project size. If you have three motion buttons running full length, plus the video, you might well be doubling your DVD size without realizing it.

Maverick wrote on 5/10/2004, 9:52 AM

All I have is One static button and still. I have run DVDA2 afresh and even selected New to be sure.

This could be a red herring but... I have DVDA set for PAL but the mp2 is NTSC.

When I check all project settings the file is only being shown one.

And the same thing still happens if I use DVDA (not2)

I am at a loss.

Can you perhaps suggest anything else I may need to look at as to what is going wrong.

I really appreciate your time and help here.

Thanks