Advanced Capture to DVD + Ulead DVD Workshop 2 vs new VideoStudio 10.0 Plus

[c627627]

When there is plenty of DVD space to fit a shorter capture, what video bit rate should be set for compatibility with most DVD players?

Setting it too high above 8000 kbps is not recommended for this reason but how high is too high?



EDIT: The DVD specification says that the maximum multiplexed bitrate of a video/audio stream must be no greater than 10.08 Mbps (10080 kbps), so:

10080 kbps - 1536 kbps if LPCM wav audio is used = 8544 kbps for video bitrate.

About 500 kbps should account for most video bitrate fluctuations so about 8000 kbps should be selected as Constant Video Bitrate for 60 minutes or less.


Use Dolby Digital AC3 audio to allow for higher Video Bitrates to be used.
This is because Dolby Digital audio is compressed without significant decrease in sound quality and is compatible with DVD players whereas MPEG audio is compatible with some, but not all DVD players.


10080 kbps - 448 kbps (if 448 kbps Dolby Digital AC3 audio is used) = 9632 kbps for video bitrate.

About 500 kbps should account for most video bitrate fluctuations so about 9100 kbps should be selected as Constant Video Bitrate. This can be lowered to be on the safe side, because once the video bitrate approaches 9000 kbps, it is more difficult to notice the differences in video quality.


Use bitrate calculators to reduce video and/or AC3 audio bitrate to fit videos longer than 60 minutes on one single layer DVD.


Note that some software that does not thoroughly analyze the capture, such as Sony DVD Architect 3 may incorrectly report video bitrate of the captured file being too high.

[c627627]

Second question: For capturing to output to a DVD, I set AUDIO to MPEG (not LPCM) Stereo 224 kbps or 256 kbps so that I can set a higher Video bit rate.

What if a music concert is being captured where the AUDIO quality is more important than Video? I should then try to set it to LPCM, hoping it won't take too much space .


How do I calculate video bit rate that can fit on one DVD if LPCM Audio is used (Bitrate Calculator page only has MPEG Audio calculations)?


EDIT: MPEG audio is compatible with some, but not all DVD players. Dolby Digital AC3 audio on the other hand, is compatible with DVD players so it should be used instead of MPEG audio. AC3 audio is compressed without significant loss of quality. Most DVD players are compatible up to 448 kbps AC3.

Bitrate Calculator page https://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm has an option for 1536 kbit/s which is what LPCM audio is. It also has an Advanced mode.

[c627627]

On the topic of software, what software is good nowadays, I mean if you could choose top few if cost was no object (just for information purposes) what would you rate as good and I don't mean as far a advanced settings go but as far as capturing from DVR, VHS, MiniDV and converting to DVD?

EDIT: Depends on what capture card you have. ATi software is best for captures using ATi cards.

Canopus ProCoder 1.5 is an excellent MPEG-2 encoder. It may be better than the follow up version 2.0

[c627627]

I can finalize an hour and a half of captured video+audio to a VIDEO_TS DVD folder in under 9 minutes (and I have an older computer system) however, newer Ulead VideoStudio 10.0 Plus takes two hours to finalize an hour and a half of captured video+audio no matter what I do.

The same system, same software settings using Ulead DVD Workshop 2, captures both MPEG as well as LPCM just fine.


EDIT: Figured out the answer: Correctly captured DVD compliant MPEG-2 files can be converted to DVD quickly (in a few minutes) with Ulead software as long as options are set to match captured files and to treat them as DVD compliant:


• Ulead VideoStudio 10.0 Plus •

1. Tools > Create Disc...

2. Click on Add video files icon (top left)

3. UNCHECK Create menu, if making a DVD that directly plays the file without a menu

4. Click on "i" icon (lower left) to see the audio/video properties of the captured file

5. Press ALT+J or click on Project settings (gear icon, second from lower left)

6. Click on Change MPEG Settings... > Customize...
to set ALL settings in both General TAB and Compression TAB equal to properties of captured file > OK

7. CHECK: Do not convert compliant MPEG files
UNCHECK: Treat MPEG audio as non-DVD compliant
UNCHECK: Auto repeat when disc playback ends

> OK > Next > Next

8. UNCHECK: Create to disc
CHECK: Create DVD Folders and click on a yellow folder to the right to select location of DVD folder

9. Click on Burn
to convert the captured file to a DVD folder.


[You can actually burn a DVD disc using any burning software later (after testing the DVD folder) or
you can make a DVD disc directly in step 8. by leaving Create to disc option CHECKED.]


===========


• Ulead VideoStudio 9 •

1. Tools > Create Disc...

2. Add Video

3. UNCHECK Create menu if making a DVD that directly plays the file without a menu > Next > Next

4. Click on "i" icon (middle right) to see the audio/video properties of captured file

5. Press ALT+J or click on Project settings (gear icon, second from lower left)

6. Click on Change MPEG Settings... > Customize...
to set ALL settings in both General TAB and Compression TAB equal to properties of captured file > OK

7. CHECK: Do not convert compliant MPEG files
UNCHECK: Treat MPEG audio as non-DVD compliant
UNCHECK: Auto repeat when disc playback ends

> OK > Next > Next

8. UNCHECK: Burn to disc
CHECK: Create DVD Folders and click on a yellow folder to the right to select location of DVD folder.

9. Click on Burn
to convert the captured file to a DVD folder.


[You can actually burn a DVD disc using any burning software later (after testing the DVD folder) or
you can make a DVD disc directly in step 8. by leaving Burn to disc option CHECKED.]


===========


• Ulead DVD Workshop 2 •

1. Start TAB > New Project > Project Name and location > Select: DVD > OK

2. Capture TAB > Next to Video-General, click on the open folder "Load Video File" icon
> Browse to captured file > Open
> Right click on the thumbnail of the captured file > Add to Title List

3. Finish TAB > Burn Project to Disc (top right button) >

SELECT Working directory: (click on ... in upper left corner)
UNCHECK: Burn to Disc
CHECK: Create DVD Folders

Advanced Settings TAB > UNCHECK: Add converted files to library

4. Click on Burn
to convert the captured file to a DVD folder.


[You can actually burn a DVD disc using any burning software later (after testing the DVD folder) or
you can make a DVD disc directly in step 3. by leaving Burn to Disc option CHECKED.]

[c627627]

Thanks for everyone giving me advice that lead me to figure out all these questions