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Recommended settings for export to DVD
Good evening everyone:
What are the recommended settings for exporting an mpg 2 file from Sony Vegas for import into Sony DVD Architect?
I have HD video shot on a Canon 5D, 1920 x 1080. It looks quite beautiful and razorsharp in Vegas (it is also huge, 10 GB). But then when I send it to Architect, it is flattened and all the high definition resolution is gone. I tried a couple of different settings, from the standard to exporting just the video separately with the highest resolution available, but the results are unconvincing. I noticed, by the way, that the total file size is down to approximately 300 MB. Surely there must be something wrong, as a DVD can hold 4.7 GB of data? Why compress it so much?
Disclaimer: I am really ignorant when it comes to video formats, I’m a music / audio guy.
Many thanks!
Peter
https://www.summeroflovemusic.com
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2039241 -
12 Replies
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The Outline
You want to see all that lovely HD resolution? OK, you will need BluRay. You will need BR Discs; you will need a BR Player; BR rendering and that all important HD TV. Period.
Government Heal Warning: A DVD player will not play a BR Disc. DVD technology is based on the Red Laser technology and BluRay is based on, well Blue Laser technology.
“Red”, DVD laser wavelengths are BIGGER than the “Blue”, BluRay Laser wavelengths. Utilizing this smaller laser wavelength, you can get far more information on a same sized platter – here, that platter means a BluRay disc.
Things ain’t what they first appear, or seem . . .
You can NOT expect to get all that lovely HD info onto a DVD disc and see it on screen. It wont happen . . . . HOWEVER! There is a thing called “Upscaling” – yeah, I know, you’re hearing a contradiction coming your way – and this is a kind of voodoo or halfway house for those of us that still produce DVDs and have them play on say my SONY HD 42″ TV from a SONY Upscaling DVD (note that’s a DVD player!) and the output IS quite stunning. And here is a quote I’ve nicked:“Even on a 40″ 1080p HDTV about 25% of consumers see NO difference between Blu-ray and DVD (and another 30% don’t feel the difference is worth paying more for)“
As to getting a very small file from going to DVD template, I’ll let others chime in.
OK, I really do hope my ramblings above have given you a bit more clarity on what has been, for the past 10 years, a veritable minefield of misunderstanding and frustration.
Grazie
Video Content Creator and Potter
PC 7 64-bit 16gb * Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core 3.40GHz * 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti
Cameras: Canon XF300 and two elderly XM2s -
Ha ha — that is a hilarious response. 😉
I have a blu ray player myself, and an HD TV, and I can appreciate the difference in definition between DVD and blu ray, but I need to crank out a DVD that can be played on DVD players, not just blue ray players.
Just looking for the best export settings.
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[Peter Roos] “Just looking for the best export settings.”
You didn’t say how long your video is. The best export settings would be to use the DVD Architect NTSC Widescreen video stream template and edit it and set it to Constant bit rate (bps) with a bit rate of 8,500,000. That’s as far as I would push it although the spec allows 9,500,000. If the file it produces fits on a DVD then you’re done. If not, you should stick with Variable bit rate and just increase the Average (bps) as close to 8,500,000 as you can without going over the size limit of a DVD.
As Graham said, DVD’s have 5 times less resolution than HD so don’t expect it to look anything close to your original footage. The upscalers in most modern DVD players (those with HDMI output) will make it look a bit better than an older DVD player without an HD upscaler. It will never look like a Hollywood DVD because they spend months encoding each scene with different settings to maximize the bit rate of each and every frame (not a one-click render).
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
[Graham Bernard] “”Even on a 40″ 1080p HDTV about 25% of consumers see NO difference between Blu-ray and DVD (and another 30% don’t feel the difference is worth paying more for)””
I resemble that remark. We have maybe a handful of Blu-ray titles at my house even though I’ve had a Blu-ray player since 2007. I bought the 2nd Pirates of the Caribbean movie on Blu-ray and it didn’t look any different than the first one on DVD so I bought the 3rd one on DVD and I swear I can’t tell the difference between the three. I think it’s because Hollywood over processes the film so much that it’s just mush by the time they get done with it. The only thing that looks better on Blu-ray are the Discovery Channel series that shoot HD video. Anything from film looks about the same on Blu-ray and DVD to my eyes so we stopped buying Blu-ray discs. I mean I could tell the difference side-by-side but if you don’t put the disc in the player and say, “oh yea that’s incredible” like you did when DVD replaced VHS, then I’m not paying more money for the same movie on Blu-ray… and that’s where Hollywood went wrong. Charging more money for somethings that isn’t visibly superior to the average person. If they want Blu-ray to replace DVD it needs to cost the same as DVD. Here we are 5 years later and Blu-ray is still floundering and DVD’s are still around and going strong.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
[John Rofrano] “ven on a 40″ 1080p HDTV about 25% of consumers see NO difference between Blu-ray and DVD (and another 30% don’t feel the difference is worth paying more for)””
Hmmm…when I watched my first bluray movie, “Spiderman 2″ (I think) on Blu-ray, there was this scene outdoors on a bridge with the main character with his squeeze. The detail of the leaves in the background was unnerving to the point of distraction. Then again, it could have been the 46” Sony TV.
I often buy the dual DVD/bluray sets and play both. Bluray content is stunning. I has delivered a couple of weddings on bluray. The in-laws get the DVD, the couple keeps the BD!
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Many thanks for the feedback. My video is about 5 minutes long. I should perhaps also mention that I have Sony Vegas Studio Platinum, not the pro version. I edited the movie on Avid and exported an uncompressed Quicktime file (or rather than uncompressed, used the same compression as the orginal footage, w/o using any of the Avid codecs).
When I use the ‘make a movie’ button, there is no option to choose the bitrate it seems — should I ‘render’ the audio and video separately?
The other thing is the type of file — I thought that MPEG-2 was the only format, but that comes in a couple of different flavors it seems — like m2v, and m2t? Within the options of m2t there are higher resolutions available, eg HDV 1080-60i.
I spent half the day yesterday trying to figure out the best export settings, and discovering that some formats do not work at all for DVD, it was all a bit frustrating. But I’m beginning to see a bit of light right now.
I can do some experiments but I’d rather not have to burn through 100 DVDs to figure out the best settings. 😉
ps Off topic but a beautiful blu ray is “Planet Earth” by the BBC, quality is really stunning (also beautifully edited, and VO by Richard Attenborough, music etc). Obviously that’s not what I am trying to achieve but as good as possible would be nice.
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I use DVD-RW platters – that is ReWritable DVDs – to test formats. No need to make “Coasters”.
Video Content Creator and Potter
PC 7 64-bit 16gb * Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core 3.40GHz * 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti
Cameras: Canon XF300 and two elderly XM2s -
[Peter Roos] “I should perhaps also mention that I have Sony Vegas Studio Platinum, not the pro version.”
Then using the DVD templates that you get under Make Movie is as good as it gets.
[Peter Roos] “The other thing is the type of file — I thought that MPEG-2 was the only format, but that comes in a couple of different flavors it seems — like m2v, and m2t? Within the options of m2t there are higher resolutions available, eg HDV 1080-60i.”
Don’t get SD MPEG-2 confused with HD MPEG-2. DVD’s are SD only. Follow the prompts in the Make Movie wizard for making DVD’s. If you want to tweak for highest quality possible then you need to buy the Pro version.
[Peter Roos] “I can do some experiments but I’d rather not have to burn through 100 DVDs to figure out the best settings. ;-)”
When I said experiment, I meant that if you are making this for yourself and you want to push the bit-rate beyond what I suggested you need to experiment with what your DVD player can handle. No one can tell you what that is. I already told you what to use for maximum quality but since you have the Movie Studio version you need to be happy with the DVD template that Sony gives you, which BTW, is the template that I use even for the Pro version.
[Peter Roos] “ps Off topic but a beautiful blu ray is “Planet Earth” by the BBC, quality is really stunning (also beautifully edited, and VO by Richard Attenborough, music etc).”
Yea, that’s the kind of stuff I was refering to when I said “Discovery Channel”. I forgot the BCC did that one. Planet Earth is absolutely better on Blu-ray than DVD. Too bad I can’t say the same for most Hollywood movies.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Thanks again for the feedback – I didn’t even know that not all DVD players are the same, and that some might not be able to play back certain formats. Learning something new every day …
Well, for what it’s worth, I experimented a little and found a format that looks really nice, much better than my earlier attempts. It’s m2t extension, the video being 1440 x 1080 x 32, MPEG-2. The template I used was HDV 1080-60i.
This plays back fine on my Playstation 3 player.
I’m going to burn a blu ray disc as well, let’s see if the difference is significant. The delivery format is DVD but it’s interesting to see if there are any differences.
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Hm — I tried to burn a blu ray disc, but when I inserted it into my Playstation 3, it said “data disk”, with several file folders (BDMV and CERTIFICATE).
What’s that all about?
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