Encoding 2 hour Doc

DVD Authoring

Encoding 2 hour Doc

Posted by Lauren Petty on February 2, 2011 at 6:14 pm

Hi-

Does anyone have a suggestion for an inexpensive encoding option to fit a 2 hour doc on a 4.7gb DVD at acceptable quality?

I usually just use FCP>Compressor>Studio Pro but am never happy with the quality once the program gets over 90 minutes. The lower data rates in Compressor just look so awful to me…

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

Matt Stoddart replied 15 years, 3 months ago 4 Members · 6 Replies
6 Replies

Michael Slowe
February 2, 2011 at 10:28 pm

I keep saying that in my opinion BitVice is a better encoder than Compressor. Try it and experiment with different bit rates, both CBR and VBR (generally better).

Michael Slowe
Matt Stoddart
February 11, 2011 at 11:55 am

You can try loads of different encoders and some will be slightly better at the lower bitrate encodes but there is no escaping the fact that you have to encode at a lower rate to fit 2 hours on a 4.7.
Whack all “quality” setting to best , go for a 2 pass VBR encode with your minimum bitrate set to the same as your target and always keep you max at 9.
Eric Pautsch
February 14, 2011 at 11:34 pm

Thats poor advice. You never want a high bitrate that high. Spike will often occur even in the best high end encoders. Plus many players will balk at high bitrates.
Matt Stoddart
February 15, 2011 at 1:01 pm

Sorry, I didn’t mean have your target rate at 9Mbps, you would never fit two hours onto a 4.7 disc. For two hours I would set my encoder to a 2 pass VBR encode with the setting as
Video
Mimimum Bitrate : 4.6 Mbps
Target Bitrate : 4.6 Mbps
Maximum Bitrate : 9 Mbps

audio : 192kbps

Have all the “quality” setting set to max/best, it might add time to the encode but it should give you a better end result.
With the video bitrate max allowed of 9.8Mbits/sec, 9mbps still has a reasonable amount of headroom (@9%) for any stray spikes.
I believe you will get more consumer complaints if you lower your maximum rate than from consumers suffering from spikes(I’ve never had a spike complaint in 14+ years) . If their player can’t keep up with the occasional spike then they should either retire their 10+ years old player or buy another one but spend more that $30 / £20 on their next one.
Eric Pautsch
February 15, 2011 at 10:23 pm

Yeah I know what you meant

All my years as a studio level compressionist and author, there’s not a single person Ive met which would agree with you but whatever…
Matt Stoddart
February 15, 2011 at 11:10 pm

Now there are two curious people out there wanting to know the answer to the best settings for 2 hours of material on a 4.7, the original poster (Lauren Petty) and myself, what would you suggest?
Thanks

Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up

Creative Communities of the World Forums