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MPEG-1 for DVD?
Hello everyone,
I have a rather specific problem with authoring a DVD from MPEG-1 files. I have shot some “footage” with the video function of my small digital camera which takes videos in “MPEG1 Muxed, 320 x 240” format. The work I’m doing is emphasizing the noisy and lossiness of such a lo-fi camera. The issue that I’m having is that editing and authoring software want to change this file type into MPEG-2, which tends to wipe out a lot of the noise and pixelation that my camera does (which is basically the meat of the whole project).
I know that it is possible to make a DVD from MPEG1, in a 352×240 pixel size. Is there any way to change the size of my clips so that they will be recognized by DVD Studio Pro without compressing/changing the format of the video? I’ve even tried the “MPEG1 for DVD” function on Compressor, but that seems to alter the appearance of the original clips quite substantially as well.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks a lot
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5 Replies
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DVD requires mpeg2 – you can make a VideoCD with MPEG1. Most programs just re-encode your mpeg1 to mpeg2 because that what the DVD spec wants.
You could make a take your 320 x 240 footage and import into a NLE or AE or something – keep the size the same and export an mpeg2 compliant stream. Your footage will have black borders all around but it will be the same pixel size – is this what you want?
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Really? MPEG1 doesn’t work for DVD? Mmmmm, why does Compressor have a “MPEG1 for DVD” setting? Is that mabye just a Video CD setting? I seem to remember reading somewhere that MPEG1 at 352×240 works for DVD, but maybe I misinterpeted that…
Anyways, the size is not the issue so much. I just want to keep the clips looking the same and get them onto a DVD. The important thing is that the pixelation and noise from my camera remains as it was in the original clips. Here’s a sample of what I’m talking about:
https://www.vimeo.com/clip=18555 (original MPEG1 file)
I want to keep all those little dots and squares that are dancin’ around on the screen, but conversions/compressions tend to flatten most of this out into black. This is the big issue for me.
Thanks for your help though, and if you (or anybody) can think of anything else, that would be great.
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Mpeg1 is an accepted dvd format. You can’t exceed 1.856 Mbps. Obviously at low bitrates such as this the quality will suffer, but it (mpeg1) is indeed a part of the dvd specs.
Jim
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Graham5000,
Make sure your mpeg1 files are elementary streams–unmuxed/separate audio and video streams. If you import a muxed/combined file, I think DVDSP will convert it (not sure since I’ve never done that). I have imported and used mpeg1 files in DVDSP and it won’t convert them if they are compliant files.
Jim
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Hi Jim,
Thanks for your response. I have demuxed the files, but DVDSP still doesn’t like them, which I think is an issue with the “size” of the video (i.e. it’s 320×240 instead of 352×240 pixels). If there were a way to add a little strip of black in place of the missing pixels, this might help…but I don’t know if that’s going to require a conversion or something.
Thanks again…
Graham
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