Half D1 bitrate

[gilhoy]

Hi.
I'm looking to capture an hour long TV show at 352x480.
Can anyone tell me what's the lowest I would want to go with the bitrate when converting to MPEG2 for DVD?
Also, on the high end, at what bitrate (again for half D1) does it become unessecary to go any higher?

Thanks

[Gazorgan]

Treat it like SVCD. Say 300 minimum and 2500 max? 4000 max is about all the bitrate it can possibly use. 3000 max works very well, it depends on your source material (action versus talking heads).

Do some test captures at 2000/2500/3000/3500 of commercials or something flashy (lots of actions). 30 seconds at each rate should be enough. Look for pixelization.

[gilhoy]

Thank you.

I did the first episode at 6000 and was sure it was overkill.
I'll probably go with 4000 and see if I can fit 3 episodes on one DVD.

[energy80s]

For half D1 on a DVDR disc, use 4000 max and 2000 min. This will give great results without macroblocking.