x264 Command Line Settings For Downconverting HD To SD For DVD Playback

[LouieChuckyMerry]

Happy Friday , and thanks in advance for any help (and my apologies if I posted in the wrong forum; this seemed like the proper place) . With the kind help of many here and at Doom9, I've learned how to rip my Blu-rays and and DVD's then encode them with AviSynth for playback on an HDTV using an HDMI cable from my laptop. Now I'm wanting to rip some of my Blu-rays then encode them with AviSynth and burn them to DVD for playback on a DVD (not Blu-ray) player, but for the life of me I can't find a list of the x264 settings necessary for compatibility with a DVD player. I found this for Blu-ray players, but several days of searching have left me without the equivalent for a DVD player. If anyone could point me to a guide or chart or anything that lists these setting requirements for a DVD player then I'd be much obliged. Thank you!

[davejavu]

Are you planning to burn them as a data DVD disc with video files, or do you mean you want to create a proper DVD video disc?

[LouieChuckyMerry]

I'd like to create a disc that can be played on a standalone DVD (not Blu-ray) player.

[davejavu]

Which type of disc you create depends on the capabilities of your DVD player. Most should accept video files on USB or disc but some won't be able to play x264 (AVC - Advanced Video Codec) files or will be limited to SD x264, some will only be able to play the older h.263 Mpeg-4 files, normally Xvid or Divx and only SD, so you won't be able to use x264 to encode the videos. You will need to check what type of files your player can handle and encode files accordingly if you want to use this method.

The only way to guarantee you can play them on a DVD player is to author a proper DVD video disc, just like the commercial DVD's you can buy, but this will be limited to SD Mpeg-2 video, so you can't use x264, and must be properly authored. A lot of people on this forum recommend AVS2DVD for converting video files to DVD, but you must make sure you select the correct video standard output, either PAL or NTSC, depending on what your country uses, and the correct output size for either a single or double layer disc depending on what type you will be using. The quality will vary and will be influenced by the running time of the video and the output size, and the quality of the video you start with.

[hello_hello]

For a DVD player you probably can't expect much more than Xvid/AVI support for standalone files burned to disc as data files. For DVD video disc compliance it's mpeg2 and as has been mentioned, a program such as AVS2DVD is probably easiest. You can feed it all sorts of video and it'll resize and encode for DVD compliance.

[jagabo]

for the life of me I can't find a list of the x264 settings necessary for compatibility with a DVD player.

That's because DVD players can't play h.264 video. They play MPEG 2 video. Some can play Divx/Xvid as long as the resolution doesn't exceed DVD frame sizes. If you want a disc that will play in virtually all DVD players you need to encode with Mpeg 2 with AC3 audio. All with DVD compatible settings. Then you need to properly author the disc. Try something like AVStoDVD.

https://www.videohelp.com/software/AVStoDVD

[LouieChuckyMerry]

davejavu; hello_hello; jagabo:

Thank you all very much for enlightening me; I really appreciate it . When I get to where I'm going I'll check out the player and proceed accordingly. Be well.