What resolution render to get a decent dvd quaity ?

Wiew wrote on 12/20/2022, 12:26 PM

Ok here I am , made a vacation Halloween in Disney Paris movie.

75 minutes (fireworks and parade is the half of the movie)

Shot at 4K , did the render in HD1080 mp4 to bring it down (still 7gb)

Did a watch with the famiy and now the family wants it on dvd

I saw this you tube movie about dvd architect

Render it as a mpeg2 and do a seperate render for the audio

put it in dvd a and burn it

but it looks like sh*t

How can I get some decent quality on a dvd ?

I have tried a lot of programs and burned a lot of dvd's for the garbage they all look crap

Every hollywood movie is burned on a dvd with good quality and those files are much , much bigger !!!

Comments

fr0sty wrote on 12/20/2022, 12:40 PM

DVD Max resolution is 720x480. Your best bet is to render using one of the NTSC Widescree DVD Architect presets, progressive scan. It's going to be losing 25x the resolution of the original 4k source (double that if you render it interlaced)... but that's a limitation of the DVD format.

Bitrate is also important. you want variable bitrate, 8000mbps max, 6000 average, 4000 minimum, that should fit your video onto a DVD and still have the best quality DVD can support. If that doesn't fit, you can also compress the audio to AC3, and that should free up enough room to fit at that bitrate.

Musicvid wrote on 12/20/2022, 12:53 PM

Keep in mind that you are throwing away 96% of your 4k resolution at DVD dimensions. Nothing can be done to get that back.

720x480 / 3840x2160 = ?

3POINT wrote on 12/20/2022, 1:48 PM

Forget about DVD/Blu-ray. Today's TV's and computer screens have no problem to show high resolution videos directly from USB-sticks or videostreams from YouTube etc.

Wiew wrote on 12/20/2022, 1:59 PM

@fr0sty thanks trying your tips at this moment

@3POINT I know , I do it like you say , but there are still (older) people that want that little disc to put in the player

3POINT wrote on 12/20/2022, 2:04 PM

@fr0sty thanks trying your tips at this moment

@3POINT I know , I do it like you say , but there are still (older) people that want that little disc to put in the player

Those (older) people probably also don't see the quality difference anymore...

EricLNZ wrote on 12/20/2022, 3:50 PM

Every hollywood movie is burned on a dvd with good quality and those files are much , much bigger !!!

They don't burn, commercial discs are usually pressed. I read once that they also use very expensive software and probably spend time and resources.

Musicvid wrote on 12/20/2022, 4:41 PM

The piece of glass in front of a commercial cinema camera is the price of a small house.

fr0sty wrote on 12/20/2022, 10:27 PM

Yeah, burning a DVD shot by a $150k camera and edited on millions worth of gear will always look better than something we shot on a DVD regardless, but if your video is grainy/has a lot of compression artifacts, you can improve that by increasing bitrate. That's about your best bet with DVD, as 720x480 is your highest resolution.

3POINT wrote on 12/20/2022, 10:58 PM

Again, forget about DVD/Blu-ray production and other ancient techniques (like reel to reel or videotape just because some users still live in that world).

fr0sty wrote on 12/20/2022, 11:11 PM

I actually had to drop some clients because they kept insisting that I make them dozens of DVDs each year, and all my DVD burning, printing, and production gear and software no longer works as it should... so burning them has become more of a pain than it is worth, and I'm not trying to go buy new, expensive, hard to find gear to replace the stuff that broke (like disc printers, those are getting tricky to find, and get expensive when you do).

Reyfox wrote on 12/21/2022, 6:23 AM

...but @Wiew is talking about family...

Musicvid wrote on 12/21/2022, 6:34 AM

@Wiew One important thing in DVD Architect templates, and it has always been the case, is the default Minimum Bitrate. It has always been too low, and 192,000 Kbps always produces garbage.

Set your Minimum at 2,000,000, Average 6,000,000, and Maximum 8,500,000 Two Pass as a starting point, which will almost always produce acceptable results. Don't cheat on bitrate to fit more material on a disc. It will come back to bite you.

Dexcon wrote on 12/21/2022, 6:49 AM

Just a suggestion if USB memory sticks etc are not an option .. burn it as Blu-Ray (4 times better quality than DVD) and make a Christmas gift of a Blu-Ray player to your family. BD players also play DVD and they are dirt cheap these days. BD render in Vegas Pro can easily be done at 1920x1080 with Mbps at up to nearly 40,000 - and the disc size for BD is up to 25 GB for a single layer BD disc (4.7 GB for DVD discs). And easily done in DVD Architect (v6.0 in my case).

DMT3 wrote on 12/21/2022, 7:53 AM

Remember when they said vinyl was dead? I still burn blurays and DVDs. I don't watch them on my computer and my TVs don't have usb ports for video.

walter-i. wrote on 12/21/2022, 7:55 AM

Just a suggestion if USB memory sticks etc are not an option .. burn it as Blu-Ray (4 times better quality than DVD) and make a Christmas gift of a Blu-Ray player to your family.

@Dexcon
You should have been a diplomat😁

walter-i. wrote on 12/21/2022, 8:01 AM

Remember when they said vinyl was dead?

I have both a record player and a jukebox in the living room.
For visitors, always a pleasure to select and play the old records in the jukebox - often immediately grab the partner and spin around - just like back then.
Also for my grandchildren there is nothing more beautiful.
But we're getting off topic.
On with the stuff.

Musicvid wrote on 12/21/2022, 8:10 AM

And film cameras are making a comeback. A new model was just released. Just after our last custom lab in Denver closed the doors after 46 years in business. I spent two decades in the industry.

Can't wait for someone to open a 2" tape recording studio...

3POINT wrote on 12/21/2022, 9:18 AM

Remember when they said vinyl was dead?

I just sold my brothers complete vinyl archive (almost 1000 albums) before all vinyl lovers are dead. I just kept some unique/rare albums like Bob Marley's "Catch a Fire" with the Zippo lighter sleeve...😁

Grazie wrote on 12/21/2022, 9:31 AM

Nostalgia, it’s not what it used to be.

Musicvid wrote on 12/21/2022, 9:35 AM

😄 @Grazie

rraud wrote on 12/21/2022, 9:53 AM

There used to be a DVD bitrate calculator app but I forget the the actual name of it. As I recall, it calculated the max MPEG-2 bitrate based on the length and the audio format (PCM or AC-3).

I also used 'DVD Shrink' a few times (long ago) which worked decently, but the source files were only 1280x720 to begin with.

Howard-Vigorita wrote on 12/21/2022, 10:48 AM

Here's an online calculator that looks pretty comprehensive: https://dvd-hq.info/bitrate_calculator.php

But you might still have to do a few successive approximation renders if you want to nail it.

Musicvid wrote on 12/21/2022, 10:54 AM

Scroll down:

https://www.videohelp.com/software/sections/bitrate-calculators

Wiew wrote on 12/21/2022, 10:58 AM

Thank you all, for the tips and the nostalgia.
I cranked up the bitrate of DVDA as you suggested.
And it does indeed produce better results.
It's not as good as the original but acceptable.
I burned a DVD and delivered it to the family, saying that if they want better quality, they have to do it with a USB stick.

As for nostalgia , I still have a turntable that I regularly use to listen to Pink Floyd and other bands ;-) .
I recently received a super 8 camera with projector and mounting installation, maybe I shouldn't put it in the attic yet ?