Encoding @ 1480kbps: MPEG-1 or MPEG-2?

[DRP]

I'm making a DVD of a TV series and I need to use a bitrate of 1480kbps to fit it on one disc. This is not as bad as it sounds because the source material is quite poor quality and 1480kbps is going to be more than enough to get the best out it.

My question is what would produce the best quality? MPEG-2 @ 300<1480<2500 (min<avg<high) bitrate or MPEG-1 @ 300<1480>1856 bitrate.

Encoding is by TMPGEnc Plus 2.5. Resolution is 480x288 (don't ask, I know it's non-standard but trust me it works. I've done the test encodes to prove it) with an active pixel area of 360x288 (4:3 display on 16:9 screen - I want the black bars because plasma screen has non-adjustable grey background).

All other options are the same. 8 bit precision, sharpening filters etc. etc.

Thanks.

[guns1inger]

As a general rule, mpeg1 handles low bitrates better than mpeg2. However, there are always exceptions. Low quality often requires more bitrate because it is often

1. Noisy
2. Unstable
3. Full of motion

If your footage falls into this category, you may be better off using mpeg2 for the higher maximum. As always, the best option is to encode a representative sample using each method, and test for yourself.

[DRP]

Thanks for that, yeah what you say is right I think. My source material is very noisy. I've done a sample encode of both and watched them. My gut feeling is that the MPEG-2 version is nicer to look at and there is less obvious macroblocking in it (which surprised me I must admit). I then tested the actual bitrates of both and TMPGEnc produced a significantly lower average bitrate and lower peak for the MPEG-1 than it did the MPEG-2 so perhaps this has something to do with the quality difference as well. Either way I think I'll stick with MPEG-2 in this case even though it's below my 1600kbps rule of thumb for MPEG-2 use.

The 1150-1600 bitrate range is a bit of a grey area and it's not so obvious which algorithm is the better one to use.

[guns1inger]

It is also worth considering some noise reduction filters as well. Both avisynth and virtualdub have some good ones. They can help you better allocate bitrate by removing wasteful noise.