Could someone offer a difinitive answer on rendering?

[Stephen Crye]

I always use the 25 Mbps option, under the hypothesis that higher bit rate gives higher quality. I don’t have videos so long that they might not fit on a BD.

I also render the .ac3 pro audio separate from the video .m2v and then let DVDA combine them.

Steve

Win7 Pro X64 on Dell T7500, MultiTB SATA, 8GB RAM, nVidia Quadro 2000, Vegas 12, 11, 10, 9 DVDA 6.0 & 5.2(build 135) Sony HDR-CX550V, Panasonic GH3 with LUMIX G X VARIO 12-35mm / F2.8 ASPH, LUMIX G X VARIO 35-100mm / F2.8

[Dave Haynie]

The best is MainConcept AVC at 25Mb/s…. you didn’t list that.

Rule of thumb is that a good AVC encoder will have twice the coding efficiency of a good MPEG-2 encoder. So that 16Mb/s Sony AVC will compare to 32Mb/s MPEG-2.

Another rule of thumb: all MPEG-2 encoders are good. Some AVC encoders are less than good. AVC got better every year for about a decade… at some point being good enough that an encoder chip on a portable camera could crunch HD in realtime. Those first, not so good, today, we don’t think about it. So in short, the AVC at 16Mb/s may not always beat out your MPEG-2… you really have to evaluate the two, on a good television or monitor.

Another one: your mileage may vary. Video compression is basically a means of using math tricks to make our brains believe that a 1/2 oz of beer is actually a 2-litre stein. Sometimes the content (video, not beer) isn’t well dealt with with that particular bag of tricks. In short, you have to watch it. The video, I mean. Lots, on different screens.

That may be a thing starting to get lost in today’s tech, because things usually, pretty much judt work. When I mix an audio project, I probably listen to each song 100 or more times before it’s done. That’s in my computer room, in the car, the gym, at work,,, crap, need -3dB on the bass, repeat. Stop listening for a week, come back, try to hear what I missed, etc. Modt of the time, either of these CODECS will be just dandy… but give it the critical eye, just in case.

-Dave

[Norman Black]

[Bob Moyer] “For the BEST results, should this be rendered as”

BEST is a variable term with little meaning.
Your eyes are always the BEST and true judge of quality.

Higher bitrate gives higher quality but it does not make any sense to go to higher bitrates than your source material. A bitrate comparison only works if your source and output are the same codec. AVC to AVC. It’s more complicated otherwise.

You can use Sony AVC and customize the template to a higher bitrate than the 16Mbps in the predefined template. Sony AVC is capped at 26Mbps.

if a higher bitrate is not too big for the disc then why not use it. Within reason and Blu-ray spec limitations of course.

[Bob Moyer]

Stephen: I have always followed your hypothesis also about the higher bit rate, however, I have seen quite a few posts recently stating that for Bluray you should be using the Sony AVC/MVC render option.

Dave: I didn’t mention the MainConcept AVC because the only option I have (VegasPro 10) is for iPod devices (320×240 video & 640×480 video).

“Rule of thumb is that a good AVC encoder will have twice the coding efficiency of a good MPEG-2 encoder. So that 16Mb/s Sony AVC will compare to 32Mb/s MPEG-2.”

If this is really true then I have been wasting my time rendering to “MainConcept MPEG-2(.mpg .m2v .m2t mpa) – Blu-ray 1920×1080-60i, 25 Mbps video stream”

To further muddy the waters, if I check the ‘clip’ properties within Vegas, it just says that it is an Mpeg2 transport stream.

The ‘clip’ properties within Win7 explorer identify the same clip as an AVCHD video.

Thank you both very much for taking the time to answer.

Bob

[Dave Haynie]

[Bob Moyer] “If this is really true then I have been wasting my time rendering to “MainConcept MPEG-2(.mpg .m2v .m2t mpa) – Blu-ray 1920×1080-60i, 25 Mbps video stream” “

I use AVC. And yeah, the older Main Concept was not recommended for BD. Tge version in Vegas 12 is new.

[Bob Moyer] “To further muddy the waters, if I check the ‘clip’ properties within Vegas, it just says that it is an Mpeg2 transport stream.”

.ts, .m2t, .m2ts, etc are MPEG-2 Transport Stream files. That’s the container format… like .avi, .webm, .mov, or .mp4. AVCHD, Blu-ray, ATSC and DBV broadcast standards, and most cable/satellite systems use TS streams to contain video and audio in various formats.

-Dave

[Stephen Crye]

Hmmm… I guess I will have to burn through some blank BDs and test all this.

Thanks to all for the new info!

Steve

Win7 Pro X64 on Dell T7500, MultiTB SATA, 8GB RAM, nVidia Quadro 2000, Vegas 12, 11, 10, 9 DVDA 6.0 & 5.2(build 135) Sony HDR-CX550V, Panasonic GH3 with LUMIX G X VARIO 12-35mm / F2.8 ASPH, LUMIX G X VARIO 35-100mm / F2.8

[Thayalan Paramasawam]

hi Sir (Dave Haynie )

So…..what is differend MainConcept AVC and Sony AVC.Which is better?
I am always use SONY AVC 16Mbps.

System Details:
Custom Built
Working Station 1) – Motherboard – Asus M4A78 Plus,Processor – Amd Phenom llx4 945 Black Edition,Ram – 4GB,Graphic Card – Ati Radeon HD 5990,Dvd Writer – Plextor PX-890SA,Operating system – Window 7 Pro 32 bit and Editing Programe -Sony Vegas Pro 10

Working Station 2) – Motherboard – Asus M4A88T-V-EVO Series,Processor – Amd Phenom llx4 955 3.2GHZ Black Edition,Ram – 16 GB,Graphic Card – Asus HD 6770 1GB DDR 5,Blu Ray Writer – Plextor PX-B950SA,Operating System – Window 7 Pro 64 Bit and Editing Programe – Sony Vegas Pro 11

Working Station 3) – Motherboard – Asus M5A99X-EVO,Processor – Amd FX 8350 4.0/4.2 GHZ,Ram – 16 GB,Graphic Card – Asus Gtx 650 1GB DDR 5,Blu Ray Writer – Plextor PX-B950SA,Operating System – Window 7 Pro 64 Bit and Editing Programe – Sony Vegas Pro 12

[Bob Moyer]

I loaded a sample file into “MediaInfo” and it reported that the “Maximum Overall bit rate: 28.0 Mbps”.

Then at the bottom of the screen it reported that the “first video stream was 23.5 Mbps”.

So if I customize the Sony AVC, increasing it from the default 16 Mbps, can I/should I increase it to the maximum of 26 Mbps.?

I really don’t mean to beat this topic to death, I just want my family videos to look as good as possible.

Thanks,

Bob