Bitrate and audio format to match DVD standalone recorder

[chris1379]

I'm creating some DVD's from camcorder cassettes. I finally got my capturing right and I can convert to MPEG2 with TMPGEnc. I thought I might try to match the bitrates of standalone DVD recorders for compatibility but I can't find the info anywhere. What bitrates do DVD recorders use and what audio format at what bitrate? Do they use AC3 audio? If anyone has a better suggestion or link to a guide, let me know.

[wulf109]

NTSC DVD supports ac3 and PCM audio. MP2 can also be used,MP2 is not part of the NTSC spec,but is in PAL land. I've been thru dozens of NTSC DVD players and I've never found one that did not play MP2. AC3 and MP2 bitrates are 192 to 448,those two bitrates are found on all retail DVD's. PCM is un-compressed and uses a lot MB's,about 7 times ac3. AC3 and MP2 use the MB's given the same bitrate.

[chris1379]

Well, I did some studying and it looks like a constant bitrate of 8000 and PCM audio will give me good quality and about 1 hour per disc. That is also the recommended setting for DVD from TMPGEnc. I also have tried MP2 but I want to roll with the standards. I've seen alot of programs that will convert to AC-3 but also seen alot of posts that say certain AC-3 conversions worked on one DVD player but not another. That's what I don't want

[guns1inger]

If you want surety in AC3 conversions, then you need to look at certified encoders. Sony have one for Vegas and Sound Forge. Sonic Foundry (before they sold everything to Sony) had a good one called softencode. They discontinued work on it sometime ago, and some consider it abondonware - a legally grey area. Surcode also produce AC3 and DTS encoders of high quality. Pegasys (distributors of Tmpgenc etc) have a 2.0 channel AC3 encoder for US$29 (at least, it used to be around that price). For most home video work, 2 channels is enough.

The freeware encoders are not certified, and are therefore a more risky proposition, however many of the bugs have been ironed out, and many seem to have success with them.

[ronnylov]

The 8000 kbit/s CBR video and PCM audio is also the setting I use and recommend when converting camcorder video to DVD. Then I do not compress the audio at all and the video still looks good. And it is more than enough with one hour per disc for my home videos.