Exporting from SCOPE format to DVD format

[vgtah]

Hello,

i must do a dvd.

My file is a 126 minutes movie - 1920/818 - pixel 1:1 - 50p

do i have to encode first my movie ?

what do you advise to get the best quality,

i guess i will print on a 9 go dvd (double couche)

thanks
jt

[BernH]

Hello,

i must do a dvd.

My file is a 126 minutes movie - 1920/818 - pixel 1:1 - 50p

do i have to encode first my movie ?

what do you advise to get the best quality,

i guess i will print on a 9 go dvd (double couche)

thanks
jt

Video for a DVD has to be in either 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratios. You will need to encode the 1920x818 video so that it has letterboxing to fit in the 4:3 or 16:9 frame. I would recommend 16:9 since you hardly ever see a 4:3 display any more.

The recommendation for any burned DVD is to not exceed around 7Mbps for the maximum bitrate and about a 90% fill on the disc.

Personally, I would still use a single layer disc for that duration. Depending on the content, a single layer disc can hold about 80 to 90 minutes using a 2 pass VBR encode with bitrates around 5-6Mbps average and 7Mbps Maximum. Going beyond that requires reducing the average, so the average for 126 minutes would probably be down in 4Mbps to 4.5Mbps area. I would normally go closer to the 4Mbps area to allow for the 90% fill rule. Maybe 4.2Mbps as a starting point to test.

Here are some DVD bitrate calculators to show you target bitrates. I would reduce the Average bitrate from them by 5% to 10%, as these are just estimates to begin with.

https://www.createspace.com/pub/l/bit_budget.do?rewrite=true&

http://dvd-hq.info/bitrate_calculator.php

You can use a double layer disc, but you will have a layer break/change that will likely cause a slight pause in the playback at that point. Also a double layer disc is not as compatible with DVD players as a single layer DVD-R would be, so you could have a higher rejection rate.

[vgtah]

Video for a DVD has to be in either 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratios. You will need to encode the 1920x818 video so that it has letterboxing to fit in the 4:3 or 16:9 frame. I would recommend 16:9 since you hardly ever see a 4:3 display any more.

The recommendation for any burned DVD is to not exceed around 7Mbps for the maximum bitrate and about a 90% fill on the disc.

Personally, I would still use a single layer disc for that duration. Depending on the content, a single layer disc can hold about 80 to 90 minutes using a 2 pass VBR encode with bitrates around 5-6Mbps average and 7Mbps Maximum. Going beyond that requires reducing the average, so the average for 126 minutes would probably be down in 4Mbps to 4.5Mbps area. I would normally go closer to the 4Mbps area to allow for the 90% fill rule. Maybe 4.2Mbps as a starting point to test.

Here are some DVD bitrate calculators to show you target bitrates. I would reduce the Average bitrate from them by 5% to 10%, as these are just estimates to begin with.

https://www.createspace.com/pub/l/bit_budget.do?rewrite=true&

http://dvd-hq.info/bitrate_calculator.php

You can use a double layer disc, but you will have a layer break/change that will likely cause a slight pause in the playback at that point. Also a double layer disc is not as compatible with DVD players as a single layer DVD-R would be, so you could have a higher rejection rate.

thanks a lot, which software would you use to encode it, edius or
an external one ?

4 mbits frightens me because it's so low...

thnaks for support

jt

[BernH]

thanks a lot, which software would you use to encode it, edius or
an external one ?

4 mbits frightens me because it's so low...

thnaks for support

jt

4Mbps is a little low for DVD bit it is also standard definition, so there is a lot less data to encode in that bitrate. The best suggestion is to try a test encode to see if the quality is acceptable.

If you have ever watched an SD satellite broadcast, they were often in the 3.5Mbps area, so when compared to that, 4Mbps to 4.5Mbps is really not that low.

For making DVD using a 2 pass vbr encode, which is the key point to retain quality, I would use something other than Edius, since 2 pass is not an option in Edius unless you have the TMPGEnc MPEG2 export plugin. The idea of the 2 pass vbr is that there is an analysis pass to plant the optimum bitrate to use based on content, and the vbr allows that bitrate to fluctuate, giving more where it is needed and less where it isn't, so you can actually get more video on a disc at about the same quality of a cbr encode.

Personally I use Adobe Encore for DVD authoring, so I often just let that do the 2 pass encode. I have recently purchased the TMPGEnc plugin, but was not pleased by my first attempt to use it. I will explore it further to see if I can tweak the settings to get a better result.

[vgtah]

4Mbps is a little low for DVD bit it is also standard definition, so there is a lot less data to encode in that bitrate. The best suggestion is to try a test encode to see if the quality is acceptable.

If you have ever watched an SD satellite broadcast, they were often in the 3.5Mbps area, so when compared to that, 4Mbps to 4.5Mbps is really not that low.

For making DVD using a 2 pass vbr encode, which is the key point to retain quality, I would use something other than Edius, since 2 pass is not an option in Edius unless you have the TMPGEnc MPEG2 export plugin. The idea of the 2 pass vbr is that there is an analysis pass to plant the optimum bitrate to use based on content, and the vbr allows that bitrate to fluctuate, giving more where it is needed and less where it isn't, so you can actually get more video on a disc at about the same quality of a cbr encode.

Personally I use Adobe Encore for DVD authoring, so I often just let that do the 2 pass encode. I have recently purchased the TMPGEnc plugin, but was not pleased by my first attempt to use it. I will explore it further to see if I can tweak the settings to get a better result.

ok thanks, but i dont know Premiere, i would like to use a good external software. i have tmpegenc but you right, there is no the 2pass vbr option...

[BernH]

ok thanks, but i dont know Premiere, i would like to use a good external software. i have tmpegenc but you right, there is no the 2pass vbr option...

What are you using for DVD authoring? The DVD burner in Edius is not really designed for proper authoring.

I'm pretty sure the TMPGEnc MPEG2 plugin does have a 2 pass vbr. It is the Edius native exporter that doesn't. I will confirm when I get home later.

[BernH]

Confirmed. The TMPGEnc MPEG2 plugin does have an option for 2 pass vbr.

I will try it again on my next DVD build to see id I can get better results, ast there are some settings in there that may improve quality. My first test just used all the default values.

[BernH]

ok thanks, but i dont know Premiere, i would like to use a good external software. i have tmpegenc but you right, there is no the 2pass vbr option...

If you don't own an authoring software, I would recommend either Magix DVD Architect https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/us/dvd-architect/ or Mediachance DVD Lab (3 versions to choose from with different feature sets) https://mediachance.com/dvdlab/index.html

DVD Architect can convert files to MPEG2 for DVD, but DVD Lab, when I tried it originally required an external encoder to make the mpeg2 files if I recall correctly, although I may be getting confused with the old Sonic Scenerist. I originally looked at all of these in the late 90's or early 2000's, but ended up with Encore when it was still being made.

It has been many years since I have used either one of them and then it was only the Pro version of DVD lab I tried, and as such I can't remember the precise pros and cons of each one, but from what I recall DVD Lab Pro has a lot more professional style features for DVD scripting and such. DVD Architect can also do some scripting, but can also do Blu-Ray, which is something DVD Lab Pro can't do. I wouldn't worry too much about the scripting features though, as most of the time you don't need them unless you are doing really complicated DVD's. I would probably lean toward DVD Architect right now, since it does include the Blu-Ray capabilities.

[Thor]

...What are you using for DVD authoring? The DVD burner in Edius is not really designed for proper authoring...

I always use the Disc Burner utility within Edius (V.6), and write to folders for both Blu-ray and DVD. Then use Nero or ImageBurn to make the discs. I've found the video quality to be good. I don't think that most people could tell any difference in video quality in most circumstances, IMHO.

[BernH]

I always use the Disc Burner utility within Edius (V.6), and write to folders for both Blu-ray and DVD. Then use Nero or ImageBurn to make the discs. I've found the video quality to be good. I don't think that most people could tell any difference in video quality in most circumstances, IMHO.

It's so much not about the quality of the video. It's about the options in authoring the disc menus and links. You can get a lot fancier and/or complicated if you use an actual authoring package. You can have chapters without buttons, more complicated linking and/or playlisting, menu transitions, custom menu timings and auto activations, restricted functions over previews or splash animations, etc.

The disc burner in Edius does not have a lot of the more advanced features you see in professionally authored discs.

[Thor]

I totally agree! My business is just capturing old video tapes and movie film for clients. For my application, the limited menus in Disc Burner are just fine.