Is 352x480 compatible with all NTSC DVD players

[Idioteque74]

I was just wondering if ALL NTSC DVD players support 352x480 DVD resolution. I wanted to record some TV Episodes that I have onto a DVD+R and was just wondering if I was going to have any problems. And also, if there is anything special I have to do for 352x480 resolution to work on my DVD player. Thanks very much in advance for any help.

[wulf109]

352x480 is part of the DVD spec and should be supported by any NTSC DVD player.

[Gregg]

APEX AD800 does not support it for sure.

[sacajaweeda]

Keywords: should be

[SLK001]

Just remember that that resolution is for a MPEG2 encoded stream. MPEG1 is only 352x240.

[FulciLives]

I was just wondering if ALL NTSC DVD players support 352x480 DVD resolution. I wanted to record some TV Episodes that I have onto a DVD+R and was just wondering if I was going to have any problems. And also, if there is anything special I have to do for 352x480 resolution to work on my DVD player. Thanks very much in advance for any help.

As wulf108 said ... a resolution of 352x480 is completely safe to use as it is part of the official DVD spec.

As for Apex players ... they are crap ... lucky they work at all :P

As for making any changes for 352x480 ... not really. It is the same as using Full D1 resolution (720x480) except of course the benefit of using Half D1 resolution (352x480) is that it requires less bitrate to look good and despite the fact that the resolution is lower with Half D1 it can look nearly as good as Full D1 ... although if you compared them side by side you would notice that Half D1 was a bit "softer" looking then Full D1.

Anyways the one thing you should know about encoding for Half D1 is that it tends to hit the MAX bitrate at around 5000kbps whereas a DVD can have up to approximately 8000kbps for the video.

So I often do a CBR of 5000kbps if that bitrate can be used. If I'm doing something that is long enough that I can't use 5000kbps but need to go with a lower bitrate then I often will do a 2-pass or multi-pass encode.

Also you need to judge this yourself with some testing but in my opinion I don't like to go lower than 3500kbps (and when I go that low then 2500kbps is my AVG in a 2-pass/multi-pass encode). However I should point out that some users seem to think you can get away with a bitrate as low as 2500kbps and still get acceptable quality.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[FulciLives]

Just to set the record straight here is the NTSC DVD spec ... this is actually on this website if you look hard enough 8)

NTSC (NTSC Film) DVD Specs

Video:
Up to 9.8 Mbit/sec MPEG2 or up to 1.856 MBit/sec MPEG1 video
720 x 480 pixels MPEG2
704 x 480 pixels MPEG2
352 x 480 pixels MPEG2 (Same as the CVD Standard)
352 x 240 pixels MPEG2
352 x 240 pixels MPEG1 (Same as the VCD Standard)
29,97 fps (frames/second)
23,976 fps with 3:2 pulldown = 29,97 playback fps (NTSC Film, this is only supported by MPEG2 video)

Audio:
48000 Hz
32 - 1536 kbit/sec
Up to 8 audio tracks containing DD (Dolby Digital/AC3), DTS, PCM(uncompressed audio), MPEG-1 Layer2. One audio track must have DD or PCM Audio.

Only thing I should point out is that technically MPEG-1 Layer2 audio (aka MP2) is not really a part of the official NTSC DVD spec but most NTSC DVD players seem to be able to handle it (knock on wood). So in short you are better off using PCM WAV audio or AC-3 audio.

Oh one last thing ... only Full D1 resolution (720x480 and even 704x480) support 16x9 anamorphic encoding/decoding. So for instance you can't make 352x480 16x9 anamorphic and expect the DVD player to handle it properly.

Have Fun

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[SLK001]

MPEG-1 Layer2 audio (aka MP2)

MPEG1-LayerII audio is NOT MP2 audio.

[FulciLives]

MPEG-1 Layer2 audio (aka MP2)

MPEG1-LayerII audio is NOT MP2 audio.

HUH ?!?!?!

I think someone is confused and it is not me :P

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
Please note that I did say MP2 ... not MP3 which IS different.

[FOO]

OK so what is MP2 audio and why do various programs attach a
.MP2 extension to Mpeg 1 layer 2 audio ?

( We will ignore Pinnacle for using MP2 for MPEG2 )

[Idioteque74]

thanx very much for all the info...I have a Panasonic DVD-RV31 and not an Apex (got rid of it), so I should be ok. Thanx again!

[Beavis]

Just don't forget the 48 kHz sampling for your audio.

[indolikaa]

If the machine in question can't play Half-D1 resolution, it can't receive the 'DVD Logo' from the DVD Forum. Having read their licensing agreement (it's worse than Philips!) that's the conclusion I've drawn.

[D_Knife]

Except from http://www.tnt.uni-hannover.de/project/mpeg/audio/faq/

What is provided by MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and MPEG-7 Audio?

MPEG-1 (ISO/IEC 11172-3) provides

single-channel ('mono') and two-channel ('stereo' or 'dual mono') coding of digitized sound waves at 32, 44.1, and 48 kHz sampling rate. The predefined bitrates range from 32 to 448 kbit/s for Layer I, from 32 to 384 kbit/s for Layer II, and from 32 to 320 kbit/s for Layer III.
MPEG-2 BC (ISO/IEC 13818-3) provides

a backwards compatible (BC) multichannel extension to MPEG-1; up to 5 main channels plus a 'low frequent enhancement' (LFE) channel can be coded; the bitrate range is extended up to about 1 Mbit/s;
an extension of MPEG-1 towards lower sampling rates 16, 22.05, and 24 kHz for bitrates from 32 to 256 kbit/s (Layer I) and from 8 to 160 kbit/s (Layer II & Layer III).
MPEG-2 AAC (ISO/IEC 13818-7) provides

a very high-quality audio coding standard for 1 to 48 channels at sampling rates of 8 to 96 kHz, with multichannel, multilingual, and multiprogram capabilities. AAC works at bitrates from 8 kbit/s for a monophonic speech signal up to in excess of 160 kbit/s/channel for very-high-quality coding that permits multiple encode/decode cycles. Three profiles of AAC provide varying levels of complexity and scalability.

Mind you it doesn't mention what MP2 is though...

[indolikaa]

MP2 is the 'colloquial' DOS/Win32 filemane extension for MPEG-1 Layer II audio streams. The term 'MP2' was not standardized by either the IEC or MPEG, but was created to fit the 8.3 file structure.