export settings and DVD playback

[Dave Friend]

Ruby,

You can try holding back the burn speed to 1x when you create the disc. That sometimes helps make discs more compatible.

FWIW, I have a Toshiba (model # unknown) and it has a terrible time playing any DVD-R discs from any source. Heck, half the time is skips on brand-new store-bought Hollywood releases.

Dave

[Ruby Gold]

Thanks for the response Dave. I actually did burn it at 1x, so I don’t think that’s it. But your comment about the Toshiba makes me wonder…
The folks whose set-top it was said that it has no problems playing anythign generally, and I’ve tested other DVDs I’ve made (all DVD-Rs) on this same set-top and not had this problem. Hmmmm…

I’m wondering if anyone has any other thoughts on this…

thanks-
Ruby

[Eric Jurgenson]

I’d lower the data rate to 6 mb/s. Some DVD players will choke on high data rates. Other than that, I’d stick with the default parameters in the Adobe encoder. Use the NTSC DV 4×3 low quality 6Mb VBR 2 Pass preset.

[Ruby Gold]

Thanks Eric. I don’t really want to use a “low quality” setting though because this DVD needs to be the best quality it can be without making most players choke or stutter. So far I’ve only tested it on the two players, and am one for one, so I’m not so sure that my settings are too high. I’ve always only used the CBR setting, so maybe I can find out if there’s a VBR setting that would be appropriate for this production.

It’s a half-hour long, has a mixture of video clips and jpgs with motion effects on them. The video is predominantly talking heads, but has a handful of clips with larger movement in them. I need the video and audio to be high quality.

Any recommendations on CBR vs. VBR settings given these needs, particularly since I’m not very well versed on the VBR side?

thanks!

[Perry Cheng]

Some DVD players just not play well with certain home made DVD. Try burning it on a DVD+RW or -RW and see if the same happen to your other DVD player.

PC

[Redgum]

Ruby,
I would partly agree with Eric. Drop your data rate to 6mb/s but maintain the CBR setting. In principle, the VBR setting allows the software to make a frame by frame judgement on quality and subsequently produce better compression. With a half hour program this is not of concern to you. CBR will maintain your quality.
The problem with playback usually lays with the engineering quality of the playback machine and higher data rates can be seen as the ultimate test.
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