Bitrate recommendations for videos from 8mm analog to DVD?

[DigitalMan43]

I'm starting a project to burn all our old NTSC analog 8mm camcorder tapes to DVD. I'm using TMPGENC to convert the captured AVI DV format files to MPEG2 for DVD authoring. I have been trying different bitrates to see what looks good, but it's a long process to keep testing different bitrates.

So, could someone give me some recommendations of what you have found works good for you? I need to know both what bitrates looked good for you, and if you encoded with with CBR(Constant Bit Rate), or VBR(Variable Bit Rate).

Thanks,
DigitalMan

[FulciLives]

I'm starting a project to burn all our old NTSC analog 8mm camcorder tapes to DVD. I'm using TMPGENC to convert the captured AVI DV format files to MPEG2 for DVD authoring. I have been trying different bitrates to see what looks good, but it's a long process to keep testing different bitrates.

So, could someone give me some recommendations of what you have found works good for you? I need to know both what bitrates looked good for you, and if you encoded with with CBR(Constant Bit Rate), or VBR(Variable Bit Rate).

Thanks,
DigitalMan

This all depends on how much you want to get onto a single DVD-R disc.

For the absolute BEST quality do a CBR MPEG-2 encode with TMPGEnc with a bitrate of 8000kbps and use LPCM audio. Make sure you use 10-bit for the DC COMPONENT PRECISION and for MOTION SEARCH PRECISION use HIGH QUALITY (SLOW). There is one higher setting for the MOTION SEARCH PRECISION called HIGHEST QUALITY (VERY SLOW) but it increases your encode time LIKE MAD so unless you have a VERY fast computer it really isn't worth doing. Most of the TMPGEnc encoding experts claim that the human eye really cannot see a difference anyways so no reason to pain yourself using the highest setting as it really does increase the encode time LIKE MAD.

However ... if you use those settings you will only be able to get approximately 60 minutes (maybe 65 tops) on a single DVD-R disc.

So if you want to fit more than 60 minutes onto a DVD-R you have to lower the bitrate. For instance if you want to put about 2 hours on a DVD and use LPCM audio then you would have to lower the bitrate to approximately 3200kbps but that is REALLY low so what to do?

LPCM audio takes up a HUGE amount of space on a DVD. One way of making more room on the DVD is to use AC-3 audio. For instance a 2 channel or 2.0 AC-3 with a bitrate of 224kbps will sound just as good (for the most part) as using LPCM audio but LPCM audio uses a bitrate of 1536kbps ... that is a BIG difference.

So going back to our example if you do a CBR of 8000kbps for the VIDEO (which is about the best you can do for the video) and you use 2.0 AC-3 at 224kbps instead of LPCM audio you can now fit at least 70 maybe as much as 75 minutes on the same DVD. So you just gained 10 minutes of time by using 2.0 AC-3 instead of LPCM audio and you really will not be able to hear the difference unless you are BEYOND anal. Even then you would be hard pressed to tell the difference.

So if you need more than 1 hour use 2.0 AC-3 at 224kbps and do a 2-pass VBR

Set your MIN to 2000kbps
Set your MAX to 8000kbps
Set your AVG to whatever you need to make it fit.

For example a 90 minute video with 2.0 AC-3 224kbps audio would need an AVG bitrate of approximately 6150kbps

A 120 minute video with 2.0 AC-3 224kbps audio would need an AVG bitrate of approximately 4550kbps

Since a Hi8 video tape is usually no longer than 120 minutes I would stop there. No use going over 2 hours on a single DVD-R ... not if you want EXCELLENT quality anyways.

As for 2-pass VBR VS CBR ...

Since 8000kbps is the MAX bitrate and if that is also to be your AVG then just do a CBR
But if you want to fit more than 60 minutes on a disc you have to use a bitrate less then 8000kbps

That is why you THEN do the 2-pass VBR as it will maximize quality for the GIVEN size you are shooting for (be it 90 minutes per DVD or 120 minutes per DVD or whatever).

Hope this makes sense. Let me know if you have more questions.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman