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DVD froze during screening
We had two DVD’s freeze every 5 minutes
for about 2 seconds during a screening.
(almost the worst thing that can happen)Process:
Compressed it to mpeg2 with Compressor
(avg. bitrate might have been slightly higher than 6.5, but by no means over 7.0)Authoring:
my average bitrate on
DVD Studio Pro was set to 6.5 and max to 8.1.
I was using traxdata DVD-R discs.
after that, I did as follows:
DVDSP 4 – build – burn TS folders with Toast Titanium.All I can think of is that the bitrate for the DVD player at that cinema was too high.
There were no problems trying it on a PC.
few questions:
-Does DVDSP 4 override the bitrate set when encoded in Compressor?
-What’s the difference setting the bitrates in Compressor and DVDSP 4?
-Any idea what else it could be?
-or…were my bitrates just simply too high for an old DVD player?Another DVD encoded with a different computer & software played back fine at the screening.
And just to save you the trouble, -yes I do acknowledge that it is always a good idea to do a test-run at the venue!
(I was summoned to do the encoding 2 hours before the gig…)Thanks in advance!
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8 Replies
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[Taku Suzuki] ” and max to 8.1.”
That is a problem, the max should never be over 7 (some go to 7.5) but to push it to 8 is just asking for trouble.
[Taku Suzuki] “-or…were my bitrates just simply too high for an old DVD player?”
your bitrates are too high for ANY player.You also do not list how your audio was encoded but even with ac3 @ .192Mbps you are too high.
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Thanks for the input Michael.
Well I had Compressor presets to give me some perspective in the beginning, so I looked around and thought 8.1 would still be fine.
(there are people on the net who say 9.8 is pushing it..!)Compressor 3.5.3 “DVD 90 minutes at best quality” gives me a maximum bitrate of 7.7 and for Audio 192kbps (ac3)
My audio was exactly that, so I thought it would be “safe” to say the least.
What would you recommend for avg & max video bitrate & audio bitrate to stay on the safe side?
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I don’t like using Compressor for encoding. A far better software for this is BitVice,and by the way, if you are downscaling from HD for an SD DVD, BitVice does this better than any method I’ve tried.
I disagree with the man who wrote that the max bit rate should be low. I always have mine at 9, with an average of 7.5 for a double pass VBR. My ac3 audio is prepared within BitVice at 256.kbps. Never, ever had a DVD stutter or freeze on me. I encode with BitVice, format in DVDSP 4 and burn in Toast. I also use the high quality Verbatim DVD-R Printable discs.
Michael Slowe
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Well Michael, you are can disagree with me but my answer stands for Compressor. It does a great job at high bitrates and I have used if for your, I have BitVice but prefer Compressor but that is not want the post was about.
Also high bitrates VBR are a waste of time (I’m talking with regards to Compressor here). If you can encode over 6.5 Mbps you should be using CBR, it will be a ton faster and almost always give you a better encode. I don’t like Apple’s preset’s because of their spends in bitrates.
Taku, your average is determined by the need, but never go over 7.5 Mbps on the Max. You normally want about a 2 Mbps different between your average and max. So if you average can be over 6 Mbps (but for sure on 6.5 and above) over to CBR.
THe other Michael adds an important point, always use high quality DVD media.
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I guess it all boils down to how things look on the screen and optimizing for that. I never want to see my DVD freeze again.
On a side note, I can’t wait to get rid of the whole medium.
The technology reminds me that of a gramophone and its 2011.Meanwhile, I just want to learn from the mistakes since it looks like our beloved DVD’s are going to be around for a couple of years more.
Will look into BitVice as well and carve the right settings into stone for future stress-free screenings. Plus get them good quality DVD’s.
Any brands that come to mind and how to tell the difference?Thanks guys!
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There is nothing that delivers the quality of SD as easily or as cheaply as a DVD. There is nothing archaic about the format. If you need HD then you have Bluray or cheap video players. But once about there is nothing that comes close to the quality of a disc for distribution.
In this case the problem was not the medium but your lack of knowledge in how to prepare your disc.
There are options out there already but you need to know what a particular venue can accept.
As for brands, the stuff to stay away from is most of the stuff sold at retail stores especially their store brands. Ordering in bulk from a media vender is cheaper for quality media.
I use Maxell Plus Series but Verbatim and Taiyo Yuden are also highly regarded. I recommend getting 8x vs 16x for burning in DVDSP. With good media, proper bitrate limits and ac3 audio MOST of the playback issue will go away.
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I’d say a likely candidate for the freezing is the brand of media used, and the speed at which it was burned. This could have easily caused the freezing problems you experienced, and would also explain the freezing on the standard player and not the PC (PC drives usually have better error correction and fault tolerance).
Use a good brand of media like Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden (now JVC). Do not burn faster than 6x (8x is pushing it). Despite the discs and drives supporting higher speeds, doing so greatly increasing the chances of errors being burned to the disc.
Jon Geddes
http://www.precomposed.com -
I’ll second (or third or fourth or wherever we are) the idea of using Taiyo Yuden (now JVC) or other high quality DVD-Rs.
There isn’t any chance you put a paper label on the DVD is there? That also plays havoc with some players.
Have fun!
Rob
Rob Neidig
R&R Media Productions
Eugene, Oregon
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