I'm having the chance to work with DVD- SP 1.5 and when i go to build disc i get an error claiming data rate to high. What am I doing wrong ? I've converted to small files (30 sec clips) using the QT mpeg 2 encoder at the highest setting. With a Pict file as the menu.
Thanks for any info

10.2.6 QT 6.2

Found my answer in the manual.

What was the answer?

I had the bit rate set to 9.8 for the clips which i guess was too much when i exportes to mpeg2. I re-encoded at 8.5 and everything was fine.

Thats still really high. You should try and keep it under 7 really. The better the encoder the lower you can drop the bitrate and still keep the quality, sometimes as low as 3-3.5 when using 2-pass VBR. Also if you run your PCM audio through A.Pack and use the AC-3 dolby streams you'll free up a lot of bandwidth.

QT encoder isn't that good(and CBR regardless of what they tell you) but Compressor(comes with FCPro 4) is very good and I haven't used a avg. bitrate higher than 5.5. It was set to 2-pass VBR Best but great looking. BitVice(innobits) is also a step-up from QT and on the PC Procoder(Canopus) is very good. But you can spend big bucks on hardware options.

If you're using dvd-r especially you can cause playback issues on set-top players, computers and laptops when you max out the bandwidth like that.

Jake

Thanks for the info Jake. Is the Qt encoder better than the built iDVD encoder? Is it possible to set a vbr with the QT encoder ? My dilemma is I've encoded a 75 minute dance recital on iDVD and the quality is so-so. What would be the best DVDSP bit rate setting and still be able to fit on 4.7GB DVD-R. Also Can i export mpeg2 out of FCP 3 and still retain chapter markers or do i need to first export FCP movie then export that to mpeg2?

thanks for any info

Ok vbr with QT. It's suppose to be vbr but when you multiplex in dvdsp the blue line hardly moves. It in-fact moves so little you might as well call it cbr, as many do. This becomes apparent as soon as you get you're hands on a true vbr encoder. You see peaks and troughs all over the place as you'd expect.

QT is the encoder not dvdsp. The best bitrate is the one you, your client, audience etc etc are happy with with. Sorry no magic number. You wont see much difference, depending on the footage, between 5-7.5Mbps when using QT export. When I used to use it I would add colour to the footage as it QT tends to wash it out a bit. Also I'd try and not go below a bitrate of 5 when using QT.

4.37GB is what you've got to play with on a 4.7GB dvd-r but I'd say don't fill it up if you can help it. Shouldn't be that much of a worry with 75mins but playback issues can come in if dvd-r gets too hot, spin too long continuously.

You can export chapter markers for dvdsp from fcpro 3 from the timeline. After you've added the markers on the timeline, labeled them etc. File>export>QT. Then in the QT options choose mpeg-2.

Jake

Thanks for the info Jake!