6 Hour DVD - MPEG1 vs MPEG2

[NiVZ]

Hi all,

It's been a while since I've done some VHS to DVD conversion and for my latest project I want to put 3 films onto one DVD.

The last time I did this I had already captured the footage at VCD quality (352x288) and I set my authoring program up to do a MPEG-1 DVD

Since then I've done a few MPEG2 (352x576) conversions and burned these to DVD so I was thinking of doing that - are there any real benefits of MPEG2 over MPEG1 at this resolution?

I know I'll have to keep the bit-rate way down (about 1.70 or less) but I just wanted to double check that it's possible to get 6 hours of MPEG2 (352x576) onto a single 4.7GB DVD?

Cheers,

NiVZ.

[jimmalenko]

I know I'll have to keep the bit-rate way down (about 1.70 or less) but I just wanted to double check that it's possible to get 6 hours of MPEG2 (352x576) onto a single 4.7GB DVD?

Certainly possible, but IMO 1.7MBits ain't gonna cut it quality-wise for Half D1, especially by the time you take out 192 or 224 for audio, even with a Multi-Pass VBR (which is what I assume you would be doing). My preference for Half D1 would be at least 2500kbps for video. I'd stick to VCD res for this project, as 1500kbps will be adequate @ CBR IMO.

[lordsmurf]

Films? IVTC it down to 352x240 MPEG2 with 1.6 VBR

[NiVZ]

Hi Lordsmurf,

Sorry, it's 3 VHS movies I want to put on - not Film (my bad).

Would I get away with 352x288 (since it's PAL) at MPEG2 and still get the 6 hours onto the one disc?

Thanks,

NiVZ.

[lordsmurf]

Can you capture INTERLACED 352x288 ... you may be able to get away with it.

[jimmalenko]

The 6 hours is going to be totally reliant on the bitrate (video 1500, audio 192 will fit, just). As long as you choose a suitable bitrate, any time (within reason) can fit. As for how it will look, well VCD is 1150 MPEG-1, so if you know how VCDs look, use this as your reference point.

[NiVZ]

Not sure about the interlacing (I always get confused) I'vegot an ATI AIW Radeon 75, and I've got ATI MMC and Virtual Dub installed for capturing.

The last time I did this I captured 352x288 Using VirtualDub then made it VCD quality MPEG1 using TMPGENC and loaded it into DVDIt PE as a MPEG1 project and that worked.

NiVZ

[rhegedus]

VCD encoded with VBR - I got 10 episodes of ER on a DVD this way.

Be prepared for some blockyness during action scenes even with VBR - it's a compromise between quality and quantity.

Only you can judge if it is worth it

[BJ_M]

at 50cents a disk -- why not just use 3 disks .. i really dont see the point

[rhegedus]

at 50cents a disk -- why not just use 3 disks .. i really dont see the point

Either can't be arsed to get off the sofa or 3 disks is 3x the shelf space