2.5 Hours onto DVD-Quality???
by dpetto
on
Jan 25, 2007 at 7:36:50 pm
If I lower the bitrate down in Vegas to get 2.5 hours of a 22 year old VHS wedding tape onto a DVD will the quality suck or can I get away with it? The tape picture quality is still fairly decent although it does jump a bit upon playing.
Also when I go by the bitrate chart in the newletter it always seems like my mpeg2 file size is bigger than it should be and I usually need the re-render it again at a lower rate--any ideas why?
Re: 2.5 Hours onto DVD-Quality??? by Mike Kujbida on Jan 25, 2007 at 8:17:02 pm
If you were starting with much higher quality source material, I'd say go ahead but with VHS (in my opinion), the quality will suck.
My bitrate calc says a CBR of 3700 or a VBR of 6600, 3700, 2200.
Try doing a short (5 min.) clip with these settings and see what you think. You may find it acceptable.
If you don't have a dual layer burner, you could try splitting it over 2 discs to maximize quality.
This way I get a CBR of 7700 or a VBR of 8000, 7700, 3800.
Either way, do a 2-pass encode to help clean things up.
Re: 2.5 Hours onto DVD-Quality??? by George W. on Jan 25, 2007 at 8:44:01 pm
[dpetto]"If I lower the bitrate down in Vegas to get 2.5 hours of a 22 year old VHS wedding tape onto a DVD will the quality suck or can I get away with it? The tape picture quality is still fairly decent although it does jump a bit upon playing.
Also when I go by the bitrate chart in the newletter it always seems like my mpeg2 file size is bigger than it should be and I usually need the re-render it again at a lower rate--any ideas why?"
How did you capture the VHS to your computer? What devices were used, and what format are they? I'd be tempted to go Half-D1 resolution considering your source is VHS and the low bitrate you will be using (but that depends on how you made the original transfer/capture).
If your mpegs are larger than expected, is it possible you are using LPCM audio (vs. Dolby Digital audio)? Or are you setting the bitrates properly (Min/Avg/Max)?
Re: 2.5 Hours onto DVD-Quality??? by Gary Kleiner on Jan 26, 2007 at 1:26:56 am
Low quality sources with a low signal-to-noise ratio such as VHS actually wind up as bigger files for a given bitrate because the noise is seen as more information that needs to be encoded.
Re: 2.5 Hours onto DVD-Quality??? by Mike Kujbida on Jan 26, 2007 at 11:49:20 am
Dave, half D-1 is 352 x 240 and is a valid DVD (and DVD Architect) image resolution.
Since the Canopus doesn't allow it during capture, you'd have to do this size conversion (preferably to DV-AVI) after you've captured the original footage. Select your usual DVDA template and then customize it to alter the size.
Here's the link to the bitrate calculator I use. Be advised that the link is to a zipped file, not a web site.
Re: 2.5 Hours onto DVD-Quality??? by George W. on Jan 26, 2007 at 1:40:00 pm
[Mike Kujbida]"Dave, half D-1 is 352 x 240 and is a valid DVD (and DVD Architect) image resolution."
Actually, Half-D1 for NTSC is 352x480 (Pal=352x576). Try doing a few scenes at both resolutions (using the same low bitrate you intend to use on the final dvd), and see if either looks better when played on your TV.
Re: 2.5 Hours onto DVD-Quality??? by Jay Allen on Jan 28, 2007 at 3:12:15 pm
I have been mastering 3.5 hr DVDs for a classroom lecture. Have done over 100 DVDs with 3.5 hrs, and the footage looks better than i ever expected. I use Vegas to render the mpg2 file @ a bit rate of Variable 4 high 2 medium and a 2 low. At these settings, i can get the quality i need and don't have to re render in DVD architect.
J.
Re: 2.5 Hours onto DVD-Quality??? by Allen Zagel on Jan 29, 2007 at 10:56:11 am
Hi Jay
Hmmmm, that's very interesting. But your doing classroom lectures. Not much motion. I shoot a lot of fast moving trains and lots of motion and best I ever did was 2'20" Didn't like the render so cut it down to 2'5". That one came out pretty good.
I think it has to do with how much motion, fast of slow or "talking head".
Allen
