DVD Studio Pro: Optimal Settings for 16:9 SDV Streaming?

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DVD Studio Pro: Optimal Settings for 16:9 SDV Streaming?

Hi folks!

Gotta question about video streaming rates and DVD authoring.

I understand, mainly from reading the forums, that jacking up the streaming bit rate for video makes a nicer quality image on the DVD, but it does so at the cost of compatibility with lower end or older DVD players. Understood.

However, I am a beginner so I have no idea what streaming rate to use (I think Apple suggests about 6). It's no good testing with my DVD player because I have a BlueRay player that seems to work with 7 (mbps?) just fine.

My project is being shot at 16:9 Standard DV format and edited in a 24p timeline. I'm looking to make a native 24p DVD at 16:9, SDV, non interlaced.

Does anyone have an "optimal" or "preferred" bit rate for streaming with this kind of format?

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

27" i7 iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.4), ATI 4850 HD video, 8GB RAM

Posted on May 19, 2011 11:31 AM

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Answer 1

Studio X

Level 7

27,229 points

May 19, 2011 11:35 AM in response to lsc9x

These days I run 7 mb/s CBR most of the time for encoding.

It keeps the artifacting down. Of course, the bit rate becomes an issue as your running time increases beyond an hour.

x

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Answer 2

lsc9x Author

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May 19, 2011 11:39 AM in response to lsc9x

Oh! Sorry, my bad.

I guess I should have explained "optimal settings" a bit better.

I'm looking for the best compatability for most DVD players without having to resort to "minimum" bitrate settings. Obviously, if I wanted the best compatability I could just slide the bitrate settings all the way to the bottom (left on the slider). But then that would lower my video quality to the lowest common denominator and maybe overkill on compatibility.

"Optimal" setting would be something in the middle, but that's only a guess on my part, hence this post.

Thanks again folks!

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Answer 3

lsc9x Author

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May 19, 2011 11:40 AM in response to Studio X

Ah! I didn't think about run time.

The runtime for the DVD would be (I think) about 130 minutes. Let's assume a 2 hour movie with maybe some brief footage for menus and such.

I am not sure about how much space to leave for DVD authoring assets...

thanks

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Answer 4

May 19, 2011 11:53 AM in response to lsc9x

In FCP go to File>Export>Quicktime Movie. Make sure that "Make movie self contained" is checked. Use this file as your full resolution "master". Import that into compressor and drop the 2 settings for "DVD: Best Quality 150 Minutes" onto your file. This will create the MPEG-2 and AC3 files that you can make your DVD with. This setting gives you a 2pass VBR with and average bitrate of 3.7 and a max of 7.5. Which should be fine for you unless this is an action movie. With this project you're more at the mercy of the length of it than anything else. Your other option would be to burn to a DVD-9 dual layer disc. Then you could up your average bit rate some.

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Answer 5

lsc9x Author

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May 19, 2011 12:01 PM in response to ToddNashville

Todd,

Perfect answer! That's exactly what I was looking for. Thank you.

Of course your response then begs the question: What settings would you use for an action movie?

I set my average bitrate down to I think 3.2 for a disc I burned last night and I was pretty happy with the results image wise so... I'm not really shooting an action movie, per se, but I will have some scenes with footage sped up or slowed down (all 24p after post).

Again, length at 130 minutes.

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Answer 6

May 19, 2011 12:12 PM in response to lsc9x

Trial and error of doing it until I could max out the bit rate and still fit it on the disc...and have it still play on various players. But for that length I'd burn a dual layer and be able to get a max close to 8 and an average between 5.5 and 6.

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Answer 7

May 19, 2011 1:41 PM in response to ToddNashville

BURNED Dual layer disks are problematic on many if not most dvdplayers. If you're replicating the project, this is not an issue.

Since you're project is 23.98 fps, you will be able to get better quality at a lower bitrate than you would with 29.97 fps material. I would try using the 120 min preset and see if the resulting files will fit on a single layer dvd. If not, you can lower the bitrate a bit without having to go to the 150 min preset.

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Answer 8

May 19, 2011 2:03 PM in response to Michael Grenadier

It's been a while since I've had to do a dual layer, but the only issues I recall having were with getting the break point to function properly. But once that was good never had problems with the playback.

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Answer 9

lsc9x Author

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May 19, 2011 4:17 PM in response to Michael Grenadier

Mike,

Definitely planning on DVD5 for the compatibility reason you mentioned and also because they are a heck of a lot cheaper to work with.

So, I did a burn of a 45 minute video, but set the average bit rate to 3.2 (gave me 130 minutes on DVD5) and I'm plenty happy with the resolution, and output file for video was 1.2GB or so. (I only had audio on select shots) It's mainly the other number, the max bit rate, that I'm not sure what to set it to.

Should I go for 8 for the max bit rate, or go more conservative at 7 for compatibility? Lower?

Let's put it this way:

This is for my "demo reel" and it has to look good, but more importantly it absolutely has to work with an average DVD player. I'm mainly concerned about max number over quality (average) number because I don't want to send a disc to someone (for business purposes) and then have it not play. If it doesn't play, I'm not only going to look like an ***, but if I only have one shot to get some financial backing for a project... well you get the picture.

Thanks again, (both of you guys)!

PS: I won't hold anyone but myself accountable, so no worries, I just want to get a feel for what you would be "comfortable" with that type of situation.

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Answer 10

May 19, 2011 7:17 PM in response to lsc9x

I can't tell you what's gonna work perfectly. Well i could tell you but it might not be the right answer. Try setting a max rate of 7 and see what it looks like. If you're happy with it, great. If not, up it til you're happy with it and then test it on a bunch of players. Take it to bestbuy and see if they'll let you try it on a few players. Try it on a few computers. Be sure and try it on some windows machines. Windows machines usually need to have a dvd player installed and the software players can be problematic. but nowadays, most machines won't have a problem with almost anything that dvdsp will allow you to burn.

I make my clients crazy, but I insist on testing on a bunch of machines. If you want to know why, let me know and I'll post the whole sorry story of my first dvdsp replicated project.

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Answer 11

lsc9x Author

Level 1

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May 19, 2011 9:53 PM in response to Michael Grenadier

Ha ha ha!

Mike, no need to post the whole story. I'm a computer professional by trade and we've had to reload the entire network after viruses etc. And try and restore all the data on each machine. And lock everything down again to try and make sure it doesn't happen again. I know all about really bad scenarios.

I think I will just try 7, and if it doesn't work, I'll lower it and see what happens. I could always preface it by saying "Hey, I'm a computer guy, not a studio engineer, so this may or may not work. Here's the address for my FTP server if you can't play the disc." =)

Peace.

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