resolution vs. bitrate

[jackedup]

Can someone tell me which is more important?

My standalone DVD recorder has a flexible recording mode that says it will record at the best quality possible given the time remainig on a DVD. I have experimented and found that anything over about 2 hours and 20-25 minutes drops the resolution to 352x480 and just wondered if it would be better to record at a higher resolution and sacrifice the bitrate or is it better to let the resolution fall and keep the bitrate higher.

Also when DVDShrink shrinks a video does it adjust the resolution, the bitrate or both?

Thanks

[sacajaweeda]

You won't notice the smaller frame size on playback but you will notice low bitrate. Go with the smaller frame size and keep the bitrate as high as possible. Bitrate is one of the biggest factors in regards to quality. Never compromise your bitrate for the sake of preserving full D1 resolution. That's just silly.

[Grimey]

bitrate is much more important. a high resolution with a low bitrate will result in terrible quality.

[lordsmurf]

View the bitrate graphs here:
http://www.digitalfaq.com/capture/avivsmpeg.htm

[gshelley61]

DVDShrink does not alter the resolution. It compresses by lowering the average bitrate.

[Capmaster]

Can someone tell me which is more important?

My standalone DVD recorder has a flexible recording mode that says it will record at the best quality possible given the time remainig on a DVD. I have experimented and found that anything over about 2 hours and 20-25 minutes drops the resolution to 352x480 and just wondered if it would be better to record at a higher resolution and sacrifice the bitrate or is it better to let the resolution fall and keep the bitrate higher.

Also when DVDShrink shrinks a video does it adjust the resolution, the bitrate or both?

Thanks

You have a Panasonic, right? The automatic res adjustment is defeatable. You might want it disabled if you're planning on possibly editing the recording. Otherwise most editing or authoring apps might just choke on it

[jackedup]

Can someone tell me which is more important?

My standalone DVD recorder has a flexible recording mode that says it will record at the best quality possible given the time remainig on a DVD. I have experimented and found that anything over about 2 hours and 20-25 minutes drops the resolution to 352x480 and just wondered if it would be better to record at a higher resolution and sacrifice the bitrate or is it better to let the resolution fall and keep the bitrate higher.

Also when DVDShrink shrinks a video does it adjust the resolution, the bitrate or both?

Thanks

You have a Panasonic, right? The automatic res adjustment is defeatable. You might want it disabled if you're planning on possibly editing the recording. Otherwise most editing or authoring apps might just choke on it

Could you explain what you mean or how you defeat it?

Thanks

[jackedup]

DVDShrink does not alter the resolution. It compresses by lowering the average bitrate.

So a person should then record in a lower resolution with a higher bit rate if the video has to be shrunk afterwards?

[gshelley61]

DVDShrink does not alter the resolution. It compresses by lowering the average bitrate.

So a person should then record in a lower resolution with a higher bit rate if the video has to be shrunk afterwards?

Whatever you can fit on a writeable DVD with your Panasonic recorder will not need to be compressed to fit on a DVD-R. Unless you are joining more than one recording together? I guess I'm not sure what you are doing. When I have something that runs longer than about 2 hours 20 minutes I split into two DVD-R's to keep bitrate high and resolution at full D1 (720x480 NTSC).

[Capmaster]

Can someone tell me which is more important?

My standalone DVD recorder has a flexible recording mode that says it will record at the best quality possible given the time remainig on a DVD. I have experimented and found that anything over about 2 hours and 20-25 minutes drops the resolution to 352x480 and just wondered if it would be better to record at a higher resolution and sacrifice the bitrate or is it better to let the resolution fall and keep the bitrate higher.

Also when DVDShrink shrinks a video does it adjust the resolution, the bitrate or both?

Thanks

You have a Panasonic, right? The automatic res adjustment is defeatable. You might want it disabled if you're planning on possibly editing the recording. Otherwise most editing or authoring apps might just choke on it

Could you explain what you mean or how you defeat it?

Thanks

If it's a Panasonic, open the menu and select video setup. Then go into "Hybrid VBR" and take it off automatic. This will still allow it to adjust the bitrate on the fly, but it'll keep it from dinking with the resolution

[jackedup]

Can someone tell me which is more important?

My standalone DVD recorder has a flexible recording mode that says it will record at the best quality possible given the time remainig on a DVD. I have experimented and found that anything over about 2 hours and 20-25 minutes drops the resolution to 352x480 and just wondered if it would be better to record at a higher resolution and sacrifice the bitrate or is it better to let the resolution fall and keep the bitrate higher.

Also when DVDShrink shrinks a video does it adjust the resolution, the bitrate or both?

Thanks

You have a Panasonic, right? The automatic res adjustment is defeatable. You might want it disabled if you're planning on possibly editing the recording. Otherwise most editing or authoring apps might just choke on it

Could you explain what you mean or how you defeat it?

Thanks

If it's a Panasonic, open the menu and select video setup. Then go into "Hybrid VBR" and take it off automatic. This will still allow it to adjust the bitrate on the fly, but it'll keep it from dinking with the resolution

So how is the resolution determined then?

[Capmaster]

Can someone tell me which is more important?

My standalone DVD recorder has a flexible recording mode that says it will record at the best quality possible given the time remainig on a DVD. I have experimented and found that anything over about 2 hours and 20-25 minutes drops the resolution to 352x480 and just wondered if it would be better to record at a higher resolution and sacrifice the bitrate or is it better to let the resolution fall and keep the bitrate higher.

Also when DVDShrink shrinks a video does it adjust the resolution, the bitrate or both?

Thanks

You have a Panasonic, right? The automatic res adjustment is defeatable. You might want it disabled if you're planning on possibly editing the recording. Otherwise most editing or authoring apps might just choke on it

Could you explain what you mean or how you defeat it?

Thanks

If it's a Panasonic, open the menu and select video setup. Then go into "Hybrid VBR" and take it off automatic. This will still allow it to adjust the bitrate on the fly, but it'll keep it from dinking with the resolution

So how is the resolution determined then?

The resolution defaults to standard DVD res (720x480NTSC or 720x576PAL). The Panny will drop the resolution to 1/2D1 and adjust the bitrate in the FR mode if it feels it needs to in order to squeeze your video on the disc. Your eye can't really tell that the resolution has changed when you view it later. Video editors will usually freeze or choke on MPEG files that change res partway through. They don't mind a fluctuating bitrate because most newer DVD stuff is variable bitrate anyways. Resolution is another animal though.

All the DVD resolutions are listed here:
https://www.videohelp.com/dvd