MEPG-2 Bluray or AVC Blu-ray for the best quality?

RicardoSan wrote on 5/9/2020, 9:34 PM

Hi. I've been making blu-rays for awhile using DVDArchitect pro and I would be exporting out MPEG-2 Bluray files with Adobe Encoder (Would use Medium settings since DVD Architect won't allow the video if it's placed on High settings, medium settings has Minimum bitrate as: 20, Target bitrate as 25, and Max bitrate as 30). I no longer use Adobe software so my new choice of encoding videos into blu-ray format is in Sony Vegas Pro 15. Now I know that with AVC, the file sizes aren't as big as MPEG2 so I'm aware if I wanted to save space I would choose AVC but the highest the bitrate goes for AVC in the tab is 21,999,616? I'm also guessing that just means 22 bps? Am I able to manually upper up the number to something like 27,000,000 for example? I found people online saying that AVC at 16,000,000 is = to 25mbs of MPEG2-Bluray but I'm not entirely sure if that's correct. Should I stick with MPEG-2 Bluray at 25mbs or go with AVC with 21,999,616? Also, on DVD Architect should I also change default bitrate of the project? When I select MPEG-2 Bluray 1080p 24fps it has it at 18 mbs, is that fine or should I change it to 25/30? the Hopefully this made sense.

Comments

EricLNZ wrote on 5/9/2020, 9:46 PM

MPEG-2 dates back to Standard Definition days whereas AVC is more modern being designed for HD. As you have mentioned it has more effective compression. My preference is to use AVC.. If you use the MAGIX AVC/AAC you can go higher than 22 Mbps but it is not advisable for burnt discs. Also avoid a max of 40 Mbps as this causes problems with DVDA. There is a thread on this.

RicardoSan wrote on 5/9/2020, 9:51 PM

MPEG-2 dates back to Standard Definition days whereas AVC is more modern being designed for HD. As you have mentioned it has more effective compression. My preference is to use AVC.. If you use the MAGIX AVC/AAC you can go higher than 22 Mbps but it is not advisable for burnt discs. Also avoid a max of 40 Mbps as this causes problems with DVDA. There is a thread on this.

Thanks for the quick reply. How come higher than 22mpbs isn't advisable for burnt discs? Also for some reason if you do MAGIX AVC, DVD Architect will want to compress it so I choose regular Blu-ray AVC and it works perfectly.

EricLNZ wrote on 5/9/2020, 9:59 PM

It's the 40 Mbps max that causes the recompression problem https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/magix-avc-requires-recompress-in-vegas-dvd-architect--111191/

Also this thread may help https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/bit-rate--116200/

I do my occasional Blu-rays using Magix AVC 20 Mbps CBR. Others will say always use VBR but I prefer CBR.

RicardoSan wrote on 5/10/2020, 2:20 PM

It's the 40 Mbps max that causes the recompression problem https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/magix-avc-requires-recompress-in-vegas-dvd-architect--111191/

Also this thread may help https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/bit-rate--116200/

I do my occasional Blu-rays using Magix AVC 20 Mbps CBR. Others will say always use VBR but I prefer CBR.

Thanks for the links. Also yeah I think the AVC setting I use is already CBR. One last question, do you keep your default bitrate in DVD Architect as 20 mbs also? It has 18 as the default for mine

EricLNZ wrote on 5/10/2020, 6:14 PM

I had to check. I have it on 20 but it makes no real difference. It only applies to menus plus any videos that need recompression (rerendering), and of course you will trying to avoid that by feeding DVDA with compliant files.

RicardoSan wrote on 5/10/2020, 8:06 PM

I had to check. I have it on 20 but it makes no real difference. It only applies to menus plus any videos that need recompression (rerendering), and of course you will trying to avoid that by feeding DVDA with compliant files.

Oh okay. Thank you!

RedRob-CandlelightProdctns wrote on 2/24/2023, 2:54 PM

I always use AVC templates in Vegas to render my Blu-ray disc videos.. didn't see any Magix AVC templates that actually say "Blu-ray" on them so I've been using the older Sony ones... DVDA doesn't cry (and re-render) files rendered using the Magix templates?

Only downside I perceive with the AVC renders (vs MPEG2) is menu generation time in DVDA... with scene selection menus it takes a REALLY long time to render on my computer if the source files are AVC, and rather quickly if MPEG2. I believe it's the read/decode time since the disc-creation time seems about the same in DVDA whether DVDA is set to MPEG2 or AVC in project settings.

RedRob-CandlelightProdctns wrote on 2/24/2023, 3:53 PM

AND... FWIW -- I've just gotta say -- I ❤️ DVD Architect!

It's intuitive
It's powerful
It has many useful design tools and "snap" guides to help make things look great
We've had fun over the years with some advanced scripting features
We can author BRD and DVD pretty quickly by doing the BRD first then just changing the source media properties... but the design stays intact (mostly)!
And now... most importantly -- IT STILL WORKS despite being "not supported" and OS's getting updated.

I'm thankful for that last point -- many of our clients still want physical media, and I'm thankful to be able to support their needs.

THANK YOU to everyone reading this who has had a part in keeping this alive (or creating/maintaining it in the first place!)