Yes, you can lower the bitrate to get more video on a DVD. The default is 8000/kbps but you can go as low as 6000/kbps for some footage. What you should do is experiment with the footage that you want to make 2hrs of to see what’s acceptable to you. Start with a section that has a bit of action in it because encoding movement is more demanding on bitrate. Just the surface of a swimming pool is enough movement to see how bitrate affects encoding. Next, encode the same section (about 2-3 minutes) at a bitrate of 8000/kbps (default), 7500/kbps, 7000/kbps, 6500/kbps, & 6000/kbps. I wouldn’t go below 6000/kbps. Then burn all the clips to a DVD-RW and view them on your TV to see if you can detect compression artifacts. Then use the bitrate that’s one higher, (i.e., the last one that you didn’t detect halos, blocking, and other compression artifacts).

~jr

JohnnyRoy, How do I encode at various bitrates from Screenblast MovieStudio? I'd like to try your experiment putting the clips all on one DVD, but need to encode them prior to entering the DVD burning program.

> How do I encode at various bitrates from Screenblast MovieStudio?

I have VideoFactory but the steps should be similar in MovieStudio (meaning some of the prompts may have different names). Since there is no demo of MovieStudio for me to download I can’t check this out for you. (sorry)

Step 1: Select Make Movie
Step 2: Select Write your movie to file on your disk.
Step 3: On the next dialog press the Advanced Renderer... button and a new dialog will pop up.
Step 4: Under Save as type: select MainConcept MPEG-2 (*.mpg)
Step 5: Under Template select DVD NTSC or DVD PAL depending on which side of the big pond you live on.
Step 6: Press the Custom... button and a new multi-tabbed dialog will appear

On the Video tab of this dialog you can select Constant bit rate (bps): to change the fixed bitrate, or you can select Variable bit rate and change the Maximum (bps):, Average (bps):, and Minimum (bps):.

Try lowering the Maximum and Average to get more video on a disk.

~jr

JohnnyRoy, I followed yor instructions and got the following:

In Screenblast, the [custom] button is "grayed out" so I can't use it. So I tried VF2.0 and when I hit the [custom] button, it says, "Customizing MPEG-2 templates is only available in the professional MPEG plug-in. To purchase this plug-in....etc..."

I have the MPEG-2 plug-in for VF2.0, so I don't know what they are getting at. Further, and more important, why would the [custom] button in Screenblast be "grayed out"???

I find in Screenblast when I change it to MPEG-1, the [custom] button is no longer grayed out and I can edit things. Changing it back to MPEG-2 grays it out again. What's up with that??

Ouch! My mistake. Sorry. :-(

I have Vegas installed also which includes the professional MPEG2 plugin so that’s why I get the customize button and you don’t. The add-on MPEG2 plugin for VideoFactory for $29 and the one that’s included with Screenblast MovieStudio do not allow you to customize the encoding parameters. That would require the $99 pro plugin. I’m sorry to have misslead you on this one. (never mind)

~jr

Thanks JohnnyRoy! Now I've searched all over the Screenblast website and can't find mention of this elusive "$99 Pro MPEG-2" plug-in. Is this plug-in for Screenblast? I have the $29 upgrade MPEG-2 in VideoFactory already. If you know of the link to find it, I'd appreciate it. Thanks again.

MPEG Pro allows users to make custom templates. At some point someone decided Screenblast users would probably not want MPEG Pro and greyed out the Custom button. The plug-in costs more than the app so I can see the logic.

With other apps the button is available and when you go to use it a window pops up saying "You need to buy Pro" (I'm paraphrasing). Vegas comes with Pro.

There is an upgrade from Standard MPEG 1 & 2 to Pro for $70 (99-29) but you'd need to contact Customer Service. I'm not even sure how to upgrade MPEG if Movie Studio is all you've installed but I'm guessing it is possible. Customer Service would know.

You may find you don't really want to spend $70 on Pro (if you ever did). Read this first: http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/products/showproduct.asp?PID=614
Then this:
http://download.sonypictures.com/manuals/mpeg_overview.pdf


Hope this helps,

Suzan

Rejig is a small, fast and free utility that will shrink an MPEG2 video to either a specified size or by a specified percentage. I tried reducing a VF produced MPEG to 70% and the quality was fine. That said, it was a wedding video, so any movement was fairly sedate - YMMV!

A possible problem is that the video is output as an elementary stream - I don't know if MyDVD can handle that.

Ian G.

Ian, I just tried Rejig on your advice and it seems to work fine in the compression department. However, what do I now do with the file created as myfile_Rejig.m2v ?

It doesn't play on it's own, and when I put it into DVD-Lab, there doesn't appear to be an audio track.

Thanks, Gerry

Gerry - myfile_Rejig.m2v is only the video. If you add myfile.mpg to DVDLab it will demux it into the uncompressed video (which you can ignore) and the missing audio. Given the sort of stuff I produce I don't think I'll ever need to use Rejig in anger, but it's handy to know about it!

Ian G.