DVDSP: "Video Bitrate Too High"

[C_S]

Nonsense... I have three short [all under 1 minute] video clips that I rendered out to MPEG2s using both the QuickTime conversion option and Compressor from Final Cut Pro.

I used two pass, 6.5 - 7.5, motion: best in QT for all three... and the 60 min. High Quality Encode default for all three...

When I make my build in DVD Studio Pro, I get an error about "Video Bitrate Too High"...

But it clearly isn't.... The bitrates of the three videos are 6.1, 6.5, and 5.5...

I've read that this error can be caused from trying to use AIFFs instead of AC3 format audio... [I have four audio tracks...]

Is this true? Any help?

[pants]

you have 4 audio tracks for each video track? if so i'd try making all those ac3 192 kbps and you should be cool.

[C_S]

Actually, four audio tracks for just the one video track...

[The other two MPEG2s are merely for my two menu backgrounds...]

Annnnd: I just converted my AIFFs to AACs through Compressor [High Bit Rate, High Qual. Download setting]...

Same error.

~!?

UPDATE: I deleted all the audio from my tracks in DVDSP and did a test build... no errors... so it's definitely the audio. Maybe a different setting in Compressor?

UPDATE 2: It looks like as soon as I have a second audio track, DVDSP gives me the error... The individual audio files themselves are fine.

Lame. I guess I could just create four separate video tracks with their own individual audio tracks...? Pretty weak solution... I need to be able to have the multiple audio tracks on one video stream..

[pants]

wait you did aac audio? try it with ac3 audio by either apack or compressor depending on what versions you have.

[C_S]

Ah crap, I completely mixed up AAC and AC3 for a minute there... I thought I felt something was off... Let's see...

[terryj]

If you set your encoding in APack to create 2 channel
AC3 files, at 192KBps, -31 for normalization, and none for Compression setting, it should create decent audio files
that DVDSP won't flip out on.

And 6.1 and 6.5's are rather high...if the time average of all three of your clips was say 60 mins, then according to the handy BitRate Budget Calculator, You should have had a high of 9.0 and a low of 4.8, so a target of 4.8 would have worked.

Put the two together, should go fine into DVSP.

[lordsmurf]

I think a target of 6.1 to 6.5 Mb/s is good. Anything lower, especially in the 4's and 5's is pushing it, you'll start to notice artifacts. The max may be the problem. I don't know it QT is reliable to not exceed the max. Some PC software is known to exceed what you tell it, from time to time. Drag it through a bitrate reader and see if the max really is capped at 9, or if it goes higher or lower.

[terryj]

but Smurf, if a
BITRATE Calculator
says after he inputs his total (time) of video
and his ( KBPS) of audio, should he try to go higher
or lower than the BitRate Calcs setting for older
DVD Players?

I thought the accepted rule was to
not exceed 7.0MBPS ( 8.0 max, never 9.0)
for the maximum bitrate,
because DVD Players made from 1999-2002 couldn't handle
higher bitrates and freak out ( stutter, freeze, etc).
Or is this no longer the accepted rule/has been found to
be proven false...?

Both my standalones were made around this time period,
and I haven't made a disc higher than 7.0mbps,
average around 4 -5 mbps [because of this rule].

[lordsmurf]

Players don't start to give you any flack until combined bitrate exceeds 9000k. Technically, to be perfect to spec, they should all be able to handle the max on 10080k combined, but not everything is perfect. Video in the 8000s plus audio is generally a perfect settings, in terms of giving 720x480 a good bitrate.

[terryj]

OK, I got what your saying...
So then what I need to to do then is
author ( just doing quick fuzzy math in my head)
a project at length of roughly around 2 hours,
max mbps at 8.0, with low around 5.5 to 6.1
and see if my standalones can handle the HBR.

[lordsmurf]

For two hours of video, you can probably use 5.5Mb/s average, and a max of maybe 7.0Mb/s. Set minimum to like 1.0-2.0Mb/s

Not quite the same as the first poster. With 2 hours, instead of just a few minutes each, you're reaching the max a disc can do.

[stavrosh]

I ran to a similar problem lately (DVDSP3) and I HAVE VERIFIED that the cause of the error is the form of the audio file and not the video.
The best thing to do is to convert succesfully the PCM audio to AIFF using the suggestions by TERRYJ above. The choice of 192 kbs is CRUCIAL as other data rates seems to trash APACK and obviouslty DVDSP-3.

[Hans de Bijl]

Solution:

Hi All,

This may be more information than you need, but you might find it helpful:

This guide is to be used to maximize the available space on a DVD-R so your program will looks it’s best. After running through the guide a few times it will feel like a natural progression of events; FCP for editing, A.Pack for audio compression, QuickTime to determine the bitrate of your file, Compressor to maximize quality, DVDSP to author, DVD Player to test. If you feel more comfortable using a Compressor preset rather than creating a custom preset a lot of what this guide describes will not apply to you.

After setting your completely rendering and setting your chapter markers in FCP:

1.) Open your FCP timeline and Export your audio first as a 48k 16 bit .aif.

2.) Open A.Pack. Select 2/0 (L,R). I use a quality setting of 192kbps. Change no other setting. Drag your .aif file you exported from your FCP project to the 'Left' box and 'Right' box. Click on Encode. It's beneficial to run audio through A.Pack for two reasons: The space taken by A.Pack encoded audio is much smaller, which leaves more space for video, which means a higher bitrate, which means better quality. Also, A.Pack encoded audio, being smaller and operating at a lower bit rate, means that the overall total bitrate for audio and video combined will be lower. This can lead to better compatibility with DVD players that may choke on higher bitrates causing stuttering, freezes and pixelization.


3.) Back in FCP4, again with your timeline open, go to Export > Using QuickTime Conversion > MPEG2. Uncheck Export Audio. Open the Quality tab. For now you can disregard all settings except the Target bitrate. Subtract the A.Pack audio file size from 4.1gb. Use the resulting file size as a guide to set the target bitrate. For example, your a.pack audio file is 200mb, so adjust the target bitrate slider until it says 3.9gb. This will leave you a 200mb cushion for menu data, since the total amount of usable space on a DVD-R is just over 4.3gb. Write down or remember the Target bitrate settings and Cancel your way out of the Export window. (Compressor doesn't show you what the estimated file size will be for any given bitrate, but when encoding through QuickTime you get an estimate.)
* Special note on shorter programs: Never go above a 8mbps Target bitrate. A good setting for anything that won't fill the disc is a Target Bitrate of 6.5 and a Maximum Bitrate of 8.0.

4.) If you'd like to keep editing while Compressor is encoding you should export a reference or self-contained movie with DVDSP Markers attached rather than compress right off the FCP timeline. This allows Compressor to be a standalone app and you can stay productive on another project in FCP while Compressor encodes in the background.

5.) Open Compressor. Drag your FCP self-contained or reference movie into Compressor and select Presets.

6.) You're going to create a new preset. Open the file called 'MPEG-2 90 min High Quality Encode' and select 'MPEG-2 90 min High Quality Encode' from within that file.

7.) Select Encoder > Quality. Set the Target and Max Bit Rate to the settings you determined earlier in QuickTime. The Mode should default to Two pass VBR Best.

8.) The following step is optional, but I consider it mandatory for my programs. Apple's MPEG-2 encoder will raise your black level to 7.5 ire. There is no way to turn that off. It will make the program looked washed out compared to what you've seen in FCP, which sets the black ire at 0. To compensate go to Filters > Gamma Correction and set it to 1.1. To see the difference go to the Batch window, highlight the wedding movie, and select Preview. When you change the Gamma setting to anything but 0 a line will appear in the Preview movie. The left side is before the adjustment, the right side is after. You can move the line across the image to see what effect the change in gamma has. I set it at 1.1, but 1.2 is a little more dramatic. With either setting the blacks and colors are richer, but do a test and view the results on a properly adjusted NTSC monitor to make the sure the blacks aren't crushed and to see if the your project will benefit from a different gamma setting.

9.) In the Preset window click the box with the '+' on it. You're saving your preset. Select MPEG-2 from the menu. You can name the preset what ever you want. That will be your starting point for later projects.

10.) In the Batch window hit the blue box with the small triangles next to it under ‘Preset’. Select the preset you just made.

11.) Make sure you’ve set the Destination to a drive that has enough space for the encoded file.

12.) Hit Submit. On my computer (dual 2gHz G5) a 2 hour program takes less than 4 hours to encode. On a 733mHz G4 it took 23 hours.


A tip on creating :30 dvd menus:

1. Drag and drop a sequence that contains a section you'd like to use for a menu to the Viewer
2. Set in and out points in the Viewer to make a :30 second clip
3. Create a new sequence for that clip and place fades to either black or white at the beginning and end. The color of the fade depends on what DVDSP template you’re using.
4. Export that as a self contained movie (video only).
5. Import that movie into DVDSP2
6. Drag and drop the movie on to a menu drop zone.


In DVDSP2:
(This is a very general guide without much detail yet.)

1. Open DVDSP and create a New project
2. Choose a Template
3. Label and place the buttons to match your chapter markers, including one that says Play Movie, or something similar.
4. Before you import any assets save this template as a Custom Template (Templates > Custom > Create). This will be your starting point for future projects that have the same design.
5. Import your assets: Your main .M2V and .AC3 files, your :30 drop zone menu movie(s) and also your :30 section(s) of music for the menu(s).
6. From DVDSP's Assets browser select both your main .m2v and .AC3 files at the same time and drag them to your 'Play Movie' button. A window will pop up. Select 'Select Asset and Create Track' *.
7. Control Click on your other buttons to assign their respective chapter markers: Target > Tracks and Stories > [Name or your .m2v file] > Appropriate Chapter Marker for that button.
8. Save your project.
9. By holding your pointer over the button you will see the button number, the asset it is connected to and the chapter marker that has been assigned. Check that all the chapter markers are correct.
10. Drag and drop your menus and menu audio to the template.
11. Select Simulator. Test your project.
11. Select 'Build'. Make sure there is enough space available on the drive you are sending the file to, which can be as much as 4.38gb. Create a folder for the build.
12. Quit DVDSP and open the DVD Player. (Never have DVDSP and DVD Player open at the same time.)
13. Choose DVD Player > File > Open VIDEO_TS folder and navigate to your new DVDSP build. Select the VIDEO_TS folder. Test your project.

* A special note about the reported size of your completed DVD: DVDSP2’s meter that displays how much data your project is going to contain is based on a DVD-R capacity of 4.7gb, not 4.3+gb, which is how your assets are represented outside of DVDSP. The difference is a caused by a mathematical inconsistency in the way data is totaled. So when you add your assets outside of DVDSP you’re shooting for a total, with menus and formatting, or 4.38gb, but the meter in DVDSP will top out at 4.7gb. The following link provides more information on this confusing situation:

http://www.wiebetech.com/pressreleases/BillionEqualBillion.pdf



A tip on the benefits of encoding files for projects that still exist on an FCP timeline:
Making the DVD when the project is self-contained or reference movie from a FCP timeline is a very good step towards the overall quality of your DVD. When you Export your project from FCP with DVDSP markers you are including a 'compression' marker at every transition and fade. This tells DVDSP to pay extra attention to these spots when it comes to allocating encoding resources. By taking a project to tape and then bringing it back in you lose all those invisible compression markers that DVDSP uses to create the best possible quality. It is possible to replace those compression markers, should you need to, but this is a tedious process. I’ve also read that you can achieve even higher quality if you encode through Compressor as a direct export from the FCP timeline. The reasoning is that you sidestep a codec rendering cycle and go directly from the source footage to MPEG2, but I haven’t tested this yet to affirm the benefit. This process ties up FCP while the encoding is taking place. Also, some effects, like those created by BorisFX, will not render correctly or at all when going from FCP directly to Compressor.
DP 2gHz G5, OS10.3.2, QT6.5, FCP 4.1, 2 x 160gb SATA, 10 x FWHD, 23" LCD

Joel Peregrine
Peregrine Video Productions
Whitefish Bay WI
www.RememberTheFeeling.com