Data Rate Too High?

[untamed_aggression]

Okay, I'm trying to increase the picture quality on the DVDs I'm encoding. Angry and Moist doesn't look too bad, but the Killer Sandwich flicks, since they're shot on MiniDV, look pretty shitty.

I'm encoding the MPEGs using Cleaner for Mac and creating the disc in DVD Studio Pro 1.5. Thing is, if I increase the data rate, when I'm building the disc image it tells me the data rate is too high.

Any way to rectify this?

[Xendar]

I'm not familiar with the Mac software you're using but as a general rule I encode all my MPEG2 at 8Mb/s. If you go higher than that many DVD players will struggle to play the DVD as the data rate is too high. Also make sure you use constant bit rate instead of variable bit rate. Constant tends to playback without any problems. At 8Mb/s you should get around 1 hour of video on a DVD.

Won't DVD Studio Pro encode the MPEG2 for you? I would have thought that it would do a better job of the encoding than Cleaner. Also, I last used Cleaner on a PC and it was crap. I don't know if it's any better on the Mac but if possible it might be worth not using Cleaner at all. Hope that helps.

[miker]

iDVD'06 does all I've wanted in a DVD authoring app. By default it uses a data rate to get 1 hour on a DVD5 (4.7gb), but then changes it to suit two hours if you go over. It won't do DVD9 (dual layer) IIRC.

What sort of problems are you getting with the encoding? Artefacting?

[untamed_aggression]

Originally posted by Xendar:
I'm not familiar with the Mac software you're using but as a general rule I encode all my MPEG2 at 8Mb/s. If you go higher than that many DVD players will struggle to play the DVD as the data rate is too high. Also make sure you use constant bit rate instead of variable bit rate. Constant tends to playback without any problems. At 8Mb/s you should get around 1 hour of video on a DVD.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah, I encode everything at constant bit rate. I can't remember what rate it was at, but I got around 90 minutes of video on a 4.7gb disc. I got a vastly improved picture at 6mb/s, but I'll try it at 8mb/s.

Originally posted by Xendar:
Won't DVD Studio Pro encode the MPEG2 for you?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Nah... you have to make the menus and media seperately, then import it all into a DVD Studio project and link up all the buttons, video and audio. Then it builds the DVD image.

My mate uses Cleaner and he can create some snazzy looking video... but he's a slipperly, slippery bastard to get hold of so I can't get what settings he's using...

Originally posted by miker:
iDVD'06 does all I've wanted in a DVD authoring app.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah, but I've got an external burner, so I dunno if iDVD 6 is compatible. Either way, my Mac is getting on a bit now, so I probably can't update it that far.

Originally posted by miker:
What sort of problems are you getting with the encoding? Artefacting?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah, pretty much. Occassionally, pixels around lettering/credits, but it's mostly lots of pixelation during moments of high movement.

Cheers guys.

[Xendar]

Hi,

I've found even with fairly good MPEG2 encoders such as in Avid Liquid and at 8Mb/s I still get artefacting on some stuff. Unless you've got access to some expensive encoding software or hardware it's probably something you're going to have to live with. Don't forget you'll even get arefacts on Mini-DV with certain shots.