Export as MPEG2 or MPEG2 for DVD?

[wetgate]

I'm exporting from Premiere Pro 1.5.1 for authoring in Encore DVD.
Premiere gives 2 MPEG options. Which one should I use and why?
thanks and hope this is the right forum for this question!
Mike

[mike909]

So, your using the 'adobe media encoder' to export. I don't recall by memory the differences, but I'm guessing one multiplexes the mpeg video stream w/ the audio stream of your choice (the mpeg2 for dvd option) and the other just exports an mpeg file as .m2v and the audio file as .mp2, or .ac3 or .wav. (the mpeg2 option). the latter leaves it up to your authoring program, encore dvd, to multiplex the streams from a timeline, while the first option they are allready multiplexed together. If noone answers your question better within an hour, I will be able to double check for sure when I can load it up and see.

[wetgate]

Okay that makes sense. I'm new to authoring. I'm and editor and usually I just let Premiere make the DVD. But, now I need more complexity to the DVd so I defaulted to Encore. Question: Should I make an AVI DV file of the movie first and let Encore make the MPEG files? Trying to get the least amount of generation loss.
Thanks,

[mike909]

encore includes an encoder also, but it is the same as adobe's...which is to say "mainconcept". It doesn't really matter which program you make the mpeg with, so you might as well use premier, and save the step of exporting as avi...not to mention, if you export as the wrong type of avi file, you will lose quality. (ie dv avi is not uncompressed.)
By the way...I just checked my premier output settings and I was wrong, both of them leave it up to you whether you want to multiplex or not. Far as I can tell, the mpeg2-dvd 'preset' is for standard definition video, where the mpeg2 'preset' is for high definition...allowing you to bring the bitrate way up (and out of standard dvd range) If you are outputting to a standard definition dvd (my guess is, you are) than go with mpeg2-dvd and set your bitrate accordingly.
EDIT: I just realized my use of the word 'preset' might be confusing, as in premier there are actuall "presets" within each format....so in this case I am speaking of course about the 'format' pulldown and not the 'preset'...sorry.

[mike909]

Wetgate,
I have a question for you...reason I couldn't remember the output settings, is because on my main machine I have been in the middle of a huge project for a while now and I don't want to upgrade to 1.5.1 in the middle of it, because I'm scared it will break something. The HD stuff is not in 1.5 so the 'mpeg' hd output isn't something I am used to seeing yet. Anyway...my question is this...do you use magic bullet editors and/or have you noticed that 1.5.1 fixes anything that was wrong with 1.5? Officially I think 1.5.1 was only released to add HD capability, and if that's all it does, I don't have any need to upgrade, but if it actually fixes some bugs I will.

[wetgate]

No , I don't use Magic Bullet but it looks great. I might just get it to see how well it works. I use After Effects for most of the special needs. And as far as I know 1.5.1 doesn't fix anything. It just gave me the HDV capability.(which I haven't used yet). Okay, so multiplexing mixes the audio and video. Leaving it alone separates the two, correct? I'm working on an hour long wedding that's done and I hope it fits on the DVD. It's 1 hr 3minutes and change long.
So, that's why I didn't know if I should let Encore do it so it would fit. Trial and error this will be.

[mike909]

wet,
Magic bullet editors plugin is real nice if you want to change the look of your dv footage. It has some nice presets which seem to go beyond using changing the 'tint' effect. I have yet to try to use After Effects. Yes, multiplexing mixes the audio/video and not multiplexing leaves it alone. Either way, you should use a bitrate calculator to see what the optimal bitrate is for to use to get the most out of a dvd. Even if you let Encore do it, you will have to choose your 'transcode settings'. I don't believe encore will calculate the max bit rate for you...but I may be wrong on that. Here is a link to a bitrate calculator.
https://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm

[wetgate]

Thanks for that! Also, I made a DVD image from Encore. It's an IMG file. Now can I just make a data DVD in Nero express and it will work in table top DVD players? I thought I was making a playable DVD file. But the PC DVD player doesn't recognize it. And, in Nero express when I chose "DVD Video Files" as the option it doesn't recognize IMG as a DVD file either. I realize these may be dumb questions but this is my first attempt authoring. What should I be doing. I'm done with the authoring process and want to burn the DVD. I also want to keep it on my pc for duplication.
Thanks!

[SLK001]

Use MPEG2 for DVD. A DVD uses a subset of the ISO/IEC 13818 MPEG2 specs and has bitrate limitations (9.8Mbps), GOP limitations (18 frames for NTSC), resolution restrictions (720x480, 352x288 - plus a few others), aspect ratio restrictions (4:3 and 16:9 ONLY), plus other restrictions.

Regular ISO/IEC 13818 MPEG2 has a larger range of these items available to the encoder.

[mike909]

what you did when you saved as an image file (.img) is half what you are trying to accomplish. Keep that image for further duplication. To burn a dvd that will play in dvd players choose the 'burn image' option from encore and point to your image file. If you didn't want to keep an image, you just burn directly from encore by selecting the make disc from the file menu.