[New2Editing]

Hi! I am looking to take on a huge project which will see 30 hours worth of material, made using Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 video making software, being put onto DVD.

One thing really hampering me is that i dont know what the best settings are when beginning the project (i.e. resolution 1080i 24p, 1080i 50i, 720p 24p, etc) and what settings to use when exporting and encoding the video (i.e. MPEG-4, H.264, QuickTime, etc). And ive also been told that quality is highly dependant on the bit-rate settings. Does anyone know what would be the optimal bit-rate setting for me?

Many, many thanks!

[chrishull3]

Originally Posted by New2Editing

Hi! I am looking to take on a huge project which will see 30 hours worth of material, made using Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 video making software, being put onto DVD.

One thing really hampering me is that i dont know what the best settings are when beginning the project (i.e. resolution 1080i 24p, 1080i 50i, 720p 24p, etc) and what settings to use when exporting and encoding the video (i.e. MPEG-4, H.264, QuickTime, etc). And ive also been told that quality is highly dependant on the bit-rate settings. Does anyone know what would be the optimal bit-rate setting for me?

Many, many thanks!

If you are in pal area 1080i 50i has the most resolutionof the ones you mention 1920x1080 is technicaly higher, some people like Progressive and use 720p or 1920x1080p but editing is far more demanding with 1920x1080 and unless you have a top range semi pro cam it wont look as good as interlaced IMO, I hope it works out for you

[MarkE19]

I would inport the video in it's native resolution and keep it as such during all editing. Any conversion could result in a fair loss of quality so best avoided if possible.

When you have done all the editing you state that it will be going onto DVD's. Therefore you need to load the edited video into a DVD authoring program and let that make all the quality setting decisions. If each DVD will hold 1 hour of footage then the authoring program will set a higher bit rate, and therefore give better quality. Even up to 2 hours per DVD should still look very good. But being DVD it will be downconverted to SD (720x576 PAL or 720x480 NTSC) and the video will be converted to MPEG-2 as this is what a video DVD requires to play on a standard DVD player.

Mark.

[New2Editing]

Thanks alot guys. really appreciate the help.

I was actually hoping to get all 30 hours onto one DVD as i expect the whole file to amount to 16GB, which can be put onto a DVD-18.

Also the authoring will be done by the DVD-making company i hope to use. I am just clueless as to what the bit-rate should be when i export and encode it.

Also, ive been using 1280x720. will that be too big? need to move down to 720x480 to put it all onto a DVD? I thought 1280x720 would be better quality...

Thanks again!!!!

[MarkE19]

DVD's are standard definition and therefore you have no choice but to have 720x576/480 if you want it to play on all DVD players.

30 hours on 1 DL DVD is not going to happen without terrible picture quality, and that may not even play on a DVD player.
I have the full set of the TV program 24. This is 24 episodes lasting approx 45 minutes each and they only have 4 epsiodes per DVD. You could get more on a DL DVD than this, but not 30 hours IMO.

If you are getting a company to do the DVD authoring then I suggest you send them the footage in its native format. That will give them the best quality origional to work from.

Mark.

[chrishull3]

66 mins is the best quality for dvd on pc software, lower quality settings will allow more but you are never going to get what you want on one dvd, regarding editing DOWN conversion is the way to go ,mpeg 2 is far easier to edit with very little loss ,1 you are only making dvds ,2 editing 1920x1080 for most is very difficult ,when i owned a 1920x 1080 avchd cam i had to down convert even though my pc is a powerful quad core.

[New2Editing]

Thanks for the info.

Ye, i got a powerful pc too, but it still took 2 hours to export and encode a 5 minute clip. Also the file turned out to be alot bigger than i had set it through the bit-rate settings.

i was actually inspired to make this DVD after seeing another similar one. It managed 30 hours worth of material onto a single DVD.

Also, is it better to go with MPEG-2 than MPEG-4? And, whats the best resolution?

THANKS!

[MarkE19]

Originally Posted by New2Editing

Also, is it better to go with MPEG-2 than MPEG-4?

If you want it to play on ALL DVD players then you have no choice - it has GOT to be MPEG-2. MPEG-2 is the DVD standard, anything else will not play on the majority of DVD players.

Originally Posted by New2Editing

And, whats the best resolution?

As I have already stated - a PAL DVD will be 720x576 and an NTSC DVD will be 720x480. These are the PAL & NTSC resolutions and there is no others that can be put on a DVD video.

Mark.

ps, I still think 30 hours on a DL DVD is unrealistic.

[mmace]

no one's mentioned it yet, but there's no such thing as DVD-18, there's DVD-9 (DVD DL) which holds just over 8Gb
if someone got over 30 hours on a DVD then it was to only play on a computer and the bitrate (and probably the resolution) will have been very low

[New2Editing]

Hi!

The company who i hope will do the authoring for me confirmed that they can put the video onto a single DVD using a DVD-18. Im no whizz, but apparently according to wikipedia the DVD-18 holds 17.08GB. However, i have started considering just sticking it all onto a box-set rather than one DVD.

Also, i took your advice MarkE19 and have started using the 720x576 PAL settings, but the quality has become really poor. The titles are pixelated and the images dont look sharp. Is there anything i can do to improve this?

Thanks again!

[A n d r e w]

Originally Posted by New2Editing

Also, i took your advice MarkE19 and have started using the 720x576 PAL settings, but the quality has become really poor. The titles are pixelated and the images dont look sharp. Is there anything i can do to improve this?

Have you set the timeline in your editing programme to PAL resolution? If so, don't. You should edit with the highest resolution your system can handle, and output at the highest resolution the authoring company can accept. Let them do the down-conversion.

P.S. I assume your source footage in high definition, though I've looked through the posts and haven't seen this information stated.

[New2Editing]

Thanks Andrew.

Ye, since i have started using the 720x576 PAL settings, i have been editing using these resolution settings (i.e. adding titles with 720x576 settings). Should i add titles with 1280x1080/720 instead?

Im not sure what you mean by source footage. I am making the video from scratch. importing images and adding titles.

[chrishull3]

Audrew meens what type of cam are you using, you are doing the right thing in making a box set how they got 30 hrs on one dvdstandard dvd from mpeg 2 should be better than you are getting and very difficult to distinguish from mini dv quality.

[senu]

Originally Posted by New2Editing

Hi!

The company who i hope will do the authoring for me confirmed that they can put the video onto a single DVD using a DVD-18. Im no whizz, but apparently according to wikipedia the DVD-18 holds 17.08GB

Ive never seen one, TBH
And even if it exists, i don't know any burners which support it or players which will recognise it
At any rate , like everybody else has said above
I dont think more than 2 hrs on a Standard DVD or 4 on a DVD-9 is worth pursuing

Also, i took your advice MarkE19 and have started using the 720x576 PAL settings, but the quality has become really poor. The titles are pixelated and the images dont look sharp. Is there anything i can do to improve this?

Using a 720x 576 pixel sie at 25 fps (PAL) is ine half of the story. Varying the encoding bitrate to variable, 2 pass and setting minimum ad maximum rates will give te best compression quality ratio
For Standard DVD using any format other than mpg2 wil result in a non compatible DVD video disc
4 hrs , let alone 18 on one disc is a bit much
Even BD rom disc which have 25Gb capacity dont aspire for that much footage

[DVD_fan]

DVD18 Is probably two DVD9. I have not seen one either. The only company that makes reliable DVD9 is Verbatim. And as far as I know they do not make two sided DVD9. There ways to put more video on a single DVD with reduced video resolution you can fit around 5 hrs on single DVD 5. But to be honest I don’t see a reason to try and fit so much video on one DVD. With blank DVD prices being so low (17 p for single DVD5 or 90p for DVD9). Does authoring company charges you per DVD?

I think that if you are brave enough to edit your video you will be better off authoring it yourself. If you do not want multiple audio tracks/chapters/menus most programs that encode video will create VIDEO_TS that you can burn on DVD.

You also need to consider duplication costs. DVD 5 are the chipset and most reliable ones to duplicate.

Hope it helps.

[New2Editing]

Thanks for the response guys. its really really helpful

I will take everyones advice and not stick it all onto one DVD.

I dont know if i made this clear earlier, but i am not making a home video onto DVD, nor anything from a camcorder. I am making a new video from scratch using Adobe video making software, which is just making use of images from the internet and i will add titles.

Since switching to the 720x576 PAL settings, the titles look pixelated. It looks pixelated while making the video. I havent exported and encoded it yet. Im surprised the quality is so poor given that these are the settings for DVDs.

Im sure i must be doing something wrong

[deefadog]

Have you considered using Adobe Flash for this project? Would be easier i would have thought (assuming you know how to use flash).

[A n d r e w]

Originally Posted by New2Editing

Since switching to the 720x576 PAL settings, the titles look pixelated. It looks pixelated while making the video. I havent exported and encoded it yet. Im surprised the quality is so poor given that these are the settings for DVDs.

Just to reiterate my earlier point: your timeline settings should match the resolution of the source clips. If the resolution of the clips isn't standard (i.e., they use different resolutions and / or codecs) then you'll have to pick one. Don't downscale to PAL resolution until you've finished editing. In fact, you're best bet is to export using the same resolution you edit with, and let the DVD authoring software do the downscaling. If the clips you're downloading from the internet aren't 720x576 resolution, then don't set your timeline to use that resolution.

It's not clear whether you're making the titles yourself and adding them to your video, or whether the titles are already part of the clips you're downloading.

The other factor that will influence how sharp your titles look is the codec used by your editing software when converting the source material to something editable. Any step which involves a conversion, whether you change the resolution or not, will degrade sharpness. Conversion always takes something away.

Do you know what codec your editing software is using when you import the video clips?

[senu]

Originally Posted by New2Editing

Thanks for the response guys. its really really helpful

I will take everyones advice and not stick it all onto one DVD.

I dont know if i made this clear earlier, but i am not making a home video onto DVD, nor anything from a camcorder. I am making a new video from scratch using Adobe video making software, which is just making use of images from the internet and i will add titles.

Since switching to the 720x576 PAL settings, the titles look pixelated. It looks pixelated while making the video. I havent exported and encoded it yet. Im surprised the quality is so poor given that these are the settings for DVDs.

Im sure i must be doing something wrong

I can only assume that your source material is low resolution such that using a SD DVD PAL mpeg2 resolution of 25fps at 720x 576 is upscaling
This
If your material is are from the internet it is not unlikely to have been compresed a lot for webuploading or be lower res mp4/ divx/xvid
For instance using flash videos or thr like from You tube will never result in a decent DVD video compared to material from a camcorder
Even if you are using stills , they woulld have to be say 2Mp or more inorder to look very good
It is possble to crate a data DVD with smaller video files ( such as you woud put MP3 on a CD audio)
While some DVD players can read these, many other wont and it wont be a standard DVD video

[New2Editing]

Hi!

I am not importing any video clips. The videos are being created from nothing. I am just importing still images and then adding titles myself using the Adobe video making software.

Are you saying i should make the video at a high resolution and give them to the authoring company as it is, and let them deal with placing it onto a DVD?

What do you mean by conversion? Is that when i am importing material onto the video? or exporting and encoding it? I am not importing any video. Only importing images (aswell as audio, although that is not a problem).

i know that, when i export it, the codec setting is at 24 bit

[New2Editing]

Hi Senu, I think theres something wrong with my settings, because even when i do not have any video clips or images, and just add titles using the Adobe software, the titles look pixelated.

I need help making the tieles look better

[senu]

I see , you are using stills: although they should also be of a decent resolution, Im quite puzzles your tiltles ( whccih are generated in Adobe are pixellated)
What is your template for starting projects?

[New2Editing]

Since i changed to 720x576 PAL settings, my Project starts as:

For editing with IEEE1394 (FireWire/i.LINK) DV equipment.
Standard PAL video (4:3 interlaced).
48kHz (16 bit) audio.


General
Editing mode: DV PAL
Timebase: 25.00fps

Video Settings
Frame size: 720h 576v (1.0940)
Frame rate: 25.00 frames/second
Pixel Aspect Ratio: D1/DV PAL (1.0940)
Fields: Lower Field First

Audio Settings
Sample rate: 48000 samples/second



Hope that helps

[MarkE19]

A few suggestions on setting changes:

Most TV's are now 16:9 rather than 4:3 so you might be better off creating a 16:9 (widescreen) DVD
If not using any video then you could create a progressive (non interlaced) project that might help with the pixelated titles or set field order to 'upper field first' to see if that helps.

Mark.