Help Compressing MP4 for Blu Ray Burning

[Batmaniac]

Edit: With the help of other members, I've discovered that one solution to my problem might be to re-render with PowerDirector 10 using a lower bitrate. Does anyone know how to lower PD 10's allowable bit rate to below the 13000 limit? Thanks.

Hi, I’m a noob that desperately needs some help. This mightbe a somewhat long post, as I’m not sure exactly what information is importantto finding a solution to my problem. Ifanyone can help, I’d greatly appreciate it. Ok, so here goes.
I recently purchased aSamsung blu ray burner and have begun a project in which I’m trying to burn ablu ray disk with some favorite movies on them. These movies are of the Batman Arkham games, and all of the clips weredownloaded from YouTube. The firstmovie, Arkham Asylum, is in HD, was left unedited by me, and is in its originalform as downloaded from YouTube. It is01:59:18 (1 hour, 59 minutes, 18 seconds) in length and is a 2.18 GB file. The second movie, Arkham City, was edited byme to include all of the extraneous scenes. All of the clips were are also HD.
Before I created themovie, the individual clips composing the movie totaled about 17 GB worth ofdata. I mixed the clips and renderedthem using CyberLink Media Suite 10’s PowerDirector 10. The settings I chose were to render the videoin MPEG-4 format, with best quality profile, and using SVRT fast-renderingtechnology. I believe this is theprogram’s default profile type and I didn’t change any of the othersettings. When the movie rendered, it produceda complete movie file weighing in at 06:28:42 in duration and a hefty 35.4GB. The movie retained its HD qualityand looks and sounds beautiful. However,the blu ray disks hold a maximum of 25 GB.
I began researchingways to compress the video and heard that Quick Time Pro could export MP4 intoa file about half the size of the original, so I tried that. On the newer computer that I had used torender the movie, QT continued to freeze at 8%. I researched and learned that QT had some problems with hyperthreadingon newer processors (have no idea what this means). However, I began exporting it on my oldercomp, and it worked. It took 48 hours,but it did export it into a 1.6 GB file. Unfortunately, it had dropped all of the video off the file. I researched this and discovered that QT willdrop video if the original had a resloution incompatible with QT, or if QTdidn’t support the original file’s codec. I tried to export the Arkham Asylum movie, which has the same resolutionas the Arkham City movie, and the same format as the original unrendered movieI had downloaded off of YouTube. Thismovie exported and retained the video and audio, and cut the file size in half,but the video quality was atrocious.
At this point, I needto cut the Arkham City movie size down below 22 GB but don’t want to lose thequality. I believe this can be donebecause the Arkham Asylum movie is the same quality, but is only a 2 GB fileeven though it’s 2 hours in duration. That’s about 1 GB of data for each hour of HD video. By comparison, it seems like I should be ableto get the Arkham City file size well below my 22 GB max without sacrificingquality.
If anyone can tell mewhy I lost video exporting it in QT, and how to preserve the video quality,please do! If not, does anyone knowanother program I can use? Also, doesanyone know why PowerDirector 10 renders such enormous files when the originalclips were only about 17 GB before compiling them together? Finally, I want to create a Blu Ray disk that’sfairly universally compatible with most players (I currently own only PS3s, butwould like it to play in most players), so what video formats are compatible withBlu Ray players (i.e., H.264 AVC, AV, MP4…)? Please help, I really want these movies on bluray, but I’m running out of my own solutions! Thanks!
P.S. Here are thecomplete details for each movie.


ArkhamAsylum

FileType: MP4

Video

VideoType: H.264 AVC

FileSize: 2.18 GB

Duration:01:59:18

Resolution:1920 X 1080

DataRate: 2424 kbps

TotalBitrate: 2616 kbps

FrameRate: 29 frames/second

FrameType: Progressive

AspectRatio: 16:9

Audio

AudioType: AAC

Bitrate:192 kbps

Channels:2

AudioSample Rate: 44 kHz



ArkhamCity

FileType: MP4

Video

VideoType: H.264 AVC

FileSize: 35.4 GB

Duration:06:28:42

Resolution:1920 X 1080

DataRate: 12851 kbps

TotalBitrate: 13048 kbps

FrameRate: 29 frames/second

FrameType: Progressive

AspectRatio: 16:9

Audio

AudioType: AAC

Bitrate:196 kbps

Channels:2

AudioSample Rate: 48 kHz

[aedipuss]

you might give multiAVCHD a try. it's free. click it's name in the post to go to it's tool listing here on this site.

[Batmaniac]

Aedipuss, thanks. But what would I do with that tool? Should I export or convert it to a new format? Which one? Any suggestion for data/bit rate to compress the file while keeping quality? And does that tool leave any logo imprint on the video? Thanks again.

[DB83]

It appears to me that your basic understanding of how video works is sadly lacking. In posting those two reports the issue should have hit you straight between the eyes.

If you just learn one thing that should be 'filesize = run length * bitrate'. Using your two examples, if you could encode at the bitrate of the first then the second would come out at approx 8 gig. I say 'could' because I doubt if that is possible in the software you are using or if it can then you will have to learn how to use it properly and not rely on presets and other defaults.

If you want specific help on this program you would have to word your topic in such a way as the users of PowerDirector would find it. Eg. "How can I use PowerDirector to encode my project to fit on a Blu Ray"

As for multAVCHD it is a totally free program and will not leave any logo imprint. On the download page you will see links for guides of how to use it.

You might care to try it first on the 2 gig file before wasting your time on anything else. The program does insist on compatable files. To check on compatabily, read 'What is a Blu Ray' on the left of the screen where you read this reply.

[Batmaniac]

DB83, ya I have practically no knowledge/experience with video. I knew that formula before but wasn't sure how it would effect quality. And you're right about using the software; PowerDirector 10 seems to impose a minimal bitrate of 13000 on files. I'm new to this, but it seems prohibitively high given the much lower bit rate of the other movie I'm working with. I appreciate your assistance and I'll try to edit this post title to attract some fluent users of PD 10. And if you know any, please steer them my way. Thanks!

[Batmaniac]

Thanks everyone, I changed the resolution and was able to drop the bit rate down to 6000, so I re-rendered and got a file size of 16.6 GB, which is what I need. I'm having a new problem tho, but I'll post another topic thread for it. Conisder this one closed!

[DB83]

If you are encoding for Blu Ray the 13000 is small. It is only because of the type of video you are using - Anime - you can get away with much lower bitrate.

If you insist on having that 6 hour epic on one 25 gig disk - if you could split it then there is no issue - I suggest you try other software.

One possible option is Xmedia Recode. You might also be able to try Handbrake or Avidemux

[DB83]

I see you have now posted again. Reducing the resolution may not help if you you want to create a Blu Ray. What resolution have you changed to ?

[Batmaniac]

Hey DB83, I dropped it to 1280 X 720. I'd at least like to be able to burn the disk and judge the video quality and then maybe re-evaluate, but I can't even get that far. I've reposted my new issue, but basically, PowerDirector 10 is saying the movie is an incompatible format for making blu ray, even tho it has the exact same profile as another movie that it will allow on the disk. Check out my new post for further details. Again, I'd at least like to burn it and judge the quality before deciding whether or not to break it up into multiple disks. But at this point I'm totally stumped...

[DB83]

I'll continue in this thread.

I do not author to blu ray so can only generally help you here. I told you to check out "What is a blu ray". There you will see the video and audio that is supported. If one of these is wrong then you will get incompatability issues.