simpler terms-settings please!

drb wrote on 10/31/2004, 7:05 PM
can somebody please let me know (in simple steps) to get the best home DVD out. I have captured video from my miniDV. I have captured the clips. Need to render them as mpeg2. I see lots of options once I click 'render as'.

Can somebody please let me know the best setting (probably a new template?) to do the rendering?

(i am a really a novice in video stuff. just started learning. but quite anxious to get my home videos of my baby in the best possible video as a DVD).

thanks.

drb

Comments

johnmeyer wrote on 10/31/2004, 7:12 PM
Do NOT use the default template. Use one of the DVD Architect templates and keep the average bitrate above 6,000,000.
B.Verlik wrote on 11/1/2004, 12:30 AM
I have to base my answer on my VV4.0 and DVD-A1.0. When you render your .avi, choose 'mainconcept mpeg2', then choose 'custom' tab. When the custom template opens to the project page make Video rendering quality 'Best', then go to the 'video' tab. On the video page put video quality slider on 'high' (31) choose 'Variable bit rate'. Set your Max (bps) to 7,500,000 - Average (bps) to 6,000,000 and Min (bps) to 2,000,000 (there are many variables here and somebody is probably going to chirp in after me, on this.) If you're not going to tweak your ac3 audio separately, all the other settings should be good enough, then put a new "Title" to this setting in the 'Template' window at top and hit save icon to right of that window. From here on out, when you make an mpeg2, look for this new title you named and choose it, it will bring up this new setting. When you make the DVD, bring in the newly made mpeg2 and DVD-A will rerender the sound, automatically to ac3 and then make the DVD. Once you've done a few of these, you can learn to tweak everything. If you have VV5 and DVD-A2 then you could probably lower the Average (bps) and the Minimum (bps) and use 2 pass encode. But the above settings should give you pretty good quality. If you need 1 and 1/2 hours on DVD than lower the Min. (bps) to 192,000. There are numerous opinions on what 'Best' DVD quality is. Use search for 'mpeg2 settings' after your fairly comfortable with making DVDs
drb wrote on 11/1/2004, 6:24 AM
thanks a lot for the input.
One time when I did use Vegas, (but used default template), the audio volume was quite low when I played in the DVD player. I had to increase the volume to several notches up than the traditional hollywood DVDs. Is there a way to increase the volume?
TheHappyFriar wrote on 11/1/2004, 6:30 AM
Just increase the volume of the audio in the project. That's the only way (you can apply a normalize to everything if you wanted, but i'd recomend just adjust each audio level individuatly)
drb wrote on 11/1/2004, 8:12 AM
Wow!. There is a considerable difference between the default template the one suggested above. However, the file size also increased. For a 3 min clip i got 145 MB. That means 4.3 GB for 90 min. Which is pretty close to finish a DVD-R.

So that is the maximum possible quality I can get right, because of the size limitation in the DVD-R?

Please let me know.,

thanks,

drb
jetdv wrote on 11/1/2004, 9:28 AM
drb,

You have to change the bitrate to match the length of your video. I have this all explained in one of my newsletters and include a bitrate chart for you.
B.Verlik wrote on 11/1/2004, 10:18 AM
Yeah. About the limit. It depends on how complex the original video is. That's why I said you may have to lower the minimum bps. 4.3G is the max, the rest of the room is needed for encoding the disc. To really Max out your volume, you'll need to go to the ac3 column (search for Volume)and learn how to pre-render your ac3 and then use that instead of letting DVD-A do it for you. Figure you're going to have to make a few DVDs before this all sets in.
drb wrote on 11/1/2004, 11:26 AM
Can I change the size of the video-default shows 720 by 480? will that be fully visible in a standard 27" TV?

And how about Frame rate and I/B frames?

Recently I saw a clip with in DivX format. It really looked better than mpeg2. I cannot make Divx formatted DVD's. Right? Even if I can, I don't think my sony DVP-NC665P plays that format. I couldn't find in manual. Any suggestions?

thanks,
drb
B.Verlik wrote on 11/1/2004, 8:08 PM
I gave you a good short cut, without lessons. From here, you have to study.
720 by 480 is for normal TV screens, but there's always a bit of picture that doesn't show up around the edges. You'll see it in your preview monitor of Vegas though
Frame rate: 29.970 is normal for video, if you're using film to video 23.97 is norm

forget about I/B until you understand. Try videohelp dot com

Can't comment on DivX. If it looks better on the computer screen, it may look worse on your TV. I believe it's an internet format, since I can't seem to find out anything about it either and I can't stand watching video on computer screens.
From here on out, you're going to have to get out your manual and visit a lot of forums. There are so many opinions on what's best and most of them are so marginal, you don't know who's right. Just ask about best audio cards, video cards, mpeg settings, best anything and their's 9 million opinions, even the guy's you respect most, have different opinions. Only time will let you differentiate.