Compression Rates for DVD

Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

Compression Rates for DVD

Posted by David Mayer on April 4, 2010 at 7:24 pm

I’m compressing an 80-minute video for DVD (Final Cut to Compressor to DVD Studio Pro). Older versions of Final Cut let you set the MPEG-2 bit rate so that you got a big file – around 4 GB – no matter how long or short the video was. (You ramped it up to a higher bitrate for a shorter video to create a larger file.) Compressor has the 60-minute and 90-minute options, etc. for MPEG-2 files. I searched the manual for the old, manual adjustment option but could not find anything. Are we stuck with these choices as far as MPEG-2 files?

Thanks,
Dave

iMac 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7, 8 GB
OS 10.6.2
Final Cut Pro 7.0

John Fishback replied 16 years, 1 month ago 2 Members · 3 Replies
3 Replies

John Fishback
April 4, 2010 at 10:21 pm

Those settings are in the Encoder tab (I think that’s what it’s called) in the Inspector. Just beware of maxing out the data rate too much. Once the audio + video data rate exceeds 8 Mbps many DVD players start to choke. The maximum rate allowed by the spec is around 10 Mbps.

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz 8 GB RAM OS 10.5.8 QT7.6.4 Kona 3 Dual Cinema 23 ATI Radeon HD 3870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 3 (FCP 7.0.2, Motion 4.0.2, Comp 3.5.2, DVDSP 4.2.2, Color 1.5.2)

Pro Tools HD w SYNC IO & 192 Digital I/O, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec Monitors, PrimaLT ISDN
David Mayer
April 4, 2010 at 10:32 pm

Cool. I think the rule I used to use was don’t go over 7. Maybe it is still the same (or maybe I’m a little more conservative than you).
Thanks, John.
Dave

iMac 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7, 8 GB
OS 10.6.2
Final Cut Pro 7.0
John Fishback
April 4, 2010 at 10:42 pm

7 is a good max. If you encode your audio as ac3 its data rate is only 192 kbps compared to about 1500 kbps for aiff audio. Using ac3 allows you to pump up the video data rate higher and still be safe.

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz 8 GB RAM OS 10.5.8 QT7.6.4 Kona 3 Dual Cinema 23 ATI Radeon HD 3870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 3 (FCP 7.0.2, Motion 4.0.2, Comp 3.5.2, DVDSP 4.2.2, Color 1.5.2)

Pro Tools HD w SYNC IO & 192 Digital I/O, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec Monitors, PrimaLT ISDN

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