VOB to iPod H.264 Video Bitrate Error

[meisryan]

Hi there. I've been trying for days to convert a certain episode of a TV show, but the result always comes out wrong.

The settings are for a 16:9 widescreen frame, 368 by 208. Framerate is 29.97 per second. The problem is, even though I've set the video bitrate to be at 290 kbit/s, the video bitrate comes out at 1952 kb/s. I've tried lowering the video bitrate settings by 5 kbit/s at a time, but the resulting bitrate is still too high for an iPod. Only when the set bitrate is somewhere in the red range (ie. too low), that the resulting bitrate corresponds with the set bitrate.

I'm really puzzled. Is this a bug? The previous episodes are fine, with file sizes of approx. 130 MB each at identical settings, but this episode comes out at approx. 650 MB.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[rumplestiltskin]

What preset and other settings are you using?

[meisryan]

I begin by selecting the iPod H.264 preset, then tweak the settings to the following:

Video: x264 h264, 368x208, 290 kbps, 29.97 fps, no crop
Audio: aac, 44100 Hz, 128 kbps (stereo, cbr)

Is there any other information you need? Thanks.

[rumplestiltskin]

I use 48000 Hz for H264 but I doubt this is causing the issue you describe. Can you split off a small section of the file and post it somewhere so I might DL it and give it a try here?

[meisryan]

Hmm... I'm not too sure if I could find a place to put the file.

I decided to change the resolution from 368x208 to 352x192, and the resulting bitrate now corresponds to that selected in the settings. It may be at a smaller resolution, but I think it should be alright.

Thanks anyways.