DVD Burning at DVinfo.net

Van Lam · October 1st, 2004, 05:41 PM

Hi.

I just finished editing a peice and want to burn it on DVD, but I don't have a DVD Burner, so I'm going to sent it to my frend who does.

What should I put the video in? Quicktime? MPEG2?

He's says that he's going to do it in iDVD, so does iDVD support MPEG2 importing?

Thanks.

-VL

Jeff Donald · October 1st, 2004, 06:12 PM

An uncompressed Quicktime would be the best and let iMovie do the encoding for DVD. iMovie does not have a very sophisticated import feature and you could run into trouble with bit rate etc. Best to bring in the Qt and let iMovie do it's thing.

Ray Echevers · October 3rd, 2004, 09:39 AM

Quote:

He's says that he's going to do it in iDVD, so does iDVD support MPEG2 importing?

I'm curious about this too, does iDVD support MPEG2?

Jeff Donald · October 3rd, 2004, 10:05 AM

iDVD will import any video ending in .mov I don't think it can import an .m2v file. iDVD creates standard DVD-R discs that support the mpg2 standard.

Peter TK Lee · October 13th, 2004, 07:46 PM

Hello Van,

Were you successful in burning your movie on your friend's iDVD?

cheers,
Peter

Van Lam · October 15th, 2004, 10:03 PM

Yeah, I ended up encoding my short film in Sor3, highest quality settings. DVD looked great, far better than VHS.

Peter TK Lee · October 15th, 2004, 10:09 PM

Hmm...

What did you edit in?

iDVD quite easily caters for all Apple video editing software.

Usually, if you needed to author and burn a DVD on another mac, you would export to a self-contained file.

cheers,
Peter

Alfred Okocha · October 15th, 2004, 10:48 PM

I've always wondered about these things too.. What IS the best quality setting to create a DVD? I usually make a selfcontained FCP file (best quality) and burn with iDVD. Somebody told me that you get a better result, ecodingwise, with DVD studio pro.
Is this true? (iDVD is kind of idiot proof while DVD studio pro isn't =( How do You do it?

Sorry to piggyback..

Thanks.

Peter TK Lee · October 15th, 2004, 11:05 PM

Hello Alfred,

A DVD movie is made by compressing your edited movie using mpeg2 compression. The amount of compression can vary depending on the "quality" setting you use in the authoring tool.

iDVD has two settings - best quality and best performance.

To my best knowledge, best performance uses a fixed compression rate or CBR (Constant Bit Rate). Best quality uses a variable compression rate or VBR (Variable Bit Rate).

The variable compression allows iDVD to work out optimal compression depending on how much information is presented in the movie. In other words, there is more compression used for static scenes and less compression for scenes with a lot of motion. Thus, quality of the overall movie is better with this option (obviously, encoding will take longer as it needs to decide the compression rate)

There is no way to control the actual bit rate for either settings in iDVD - hence an easy to use consumer product (or "idiot proof" as you say).

DVDSP on the other hand, allows you to control compression.

cheers,
Peter

Jeff Donald · October 15th, 2004, 11:09 PM

I think best quality varies with the length of the program also. I don't remember the specific times, but its on the order of under an hour is a higher bite rate and over an hour is lower bit rate.

Peter TK Lee · October 15th, 2004, 11:14 PM

Hello Jeff,

It makes sense to use a higher compression for longer movies, but if my memory serves, iDVD forces the user to select "best quality" for movies over an hour, while giving a choice between settings for movies under an hour (I could be wrong here - I've never bothered with Best Performance :)

cheers,
Peter

October 1st, 2004, 05:41 PM	#1
Van Lam Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Marin, CA Posts: 35	DVD Burning Hi. I just finished editing a peice and want to burn it on DVD, but I don't have a DVD Burner, so I'm going to sent it to my frend who does. What should I put the video in? Quicktime? MPEG2? He's says that he's going to do it in iDVD, so does iDVD support MPEG2 importing? Thanks. -VL

October 1st, 2004, 06:12 PM	#2
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	An uncompressed Quicktime would be the best and let iMovie do the encoding for DVD. iMovie does not have a very sophisticated import feature and you could run into trouble with bit rate etc. Best to bring in the Qt and let iMovie do it's thing. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

October 3rd, 2004, 10:05 AM	#4
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	iDVD will import any video ending in .mov I don't think it can import an .m2v file. iDVD creates standard DVD-R discs that support the mpg2 standard. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

October 15th, 2004, 11:09 PM	#10
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	I think best quality varies with the length of the program also. I don't remember the specific times, but its on the order of under an hour is a higher bite rate and over an hour is lower bit rate. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

October 13th, 2004, 07:46 PM	#5
Peter TK Lee Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Australia Posts: 39	Hello Van, Were you successful in burning your movie on your friend's iDVD? cheers, Peter

October 15th, 2004, 10:03 PM	#6
Van Lam Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Marin, CA Posts: 35	Yeah, I ended up encoding my short film in Sor3, highest quality settings. DVD looked great, far better than VHS.

October 15th, 2004, 10:09 PM	#7
Peter TK Lee Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Australia Posts: 39	Hmm... What did you edit in? iDVD quite easily caters for all Apple video editing software. Usually, if you needed to author and burn a DVD on another mac, you would export to a self-contained file. cheers, Peter

October 15th, 2004, 10:48 PM	#8
Alfred Okocha Major Player Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: London Posts: 427	I've always wondered about these things too.. What IS the best quality setting to create a DVD? I usually make a selfcontained FCP file (best quality) and burn with iDVD. Somebody told me that you get a better result, ecodingwise, with DVD studio pro. Is this true? (iDVD is kind of idiot proof while DVD studio pro isn't =( How do You do it? Sorry to piggyback.. Thanks.

October 15th, 2004, 11:05 PM	#9
Peter TK Lee Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Australia Posts: 39	Hello Alfred, A DVD movie is made by compressing your edited movie using mpeg2 compression. The amount of compression can vary depending on the "quality" setting you use in the authoring tool. iDVD has two settings - best quality and best performance. To my best knowledge, best performance uses a fixed compression rate or CBR (Constant Bit Rate). Best quality uses a variable compression rate or VBR (Variable Bit Rate). The variable compression allows iDVD to work out optimal compression depending on how much information is presented in the movie. In other words, there is more compression used for static scenes and less compression for scenes with a lot of motion. Thus, quality of the overall movie is better with this option (obviously, encoding will take longer as it needs to decide the compression rate) There is no way to control the actual bit rate for either settings in iDVD - hence an easy to use consumer product (or "idiot proof" as you say). DVDSP on the other hand, allows you to control compression. cheers, Peter

October 15th, 2004, 11:14 PM	#11
Peter TK Lee Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Australia Posts: 39	Hello Jeff, It makes sense to use a higher compression for longer movies, but if my memory serves, iDVD forces the user to select "best quality" for movies over an hour, while giving a choice between settings for movies under an hour (I could be wrong here - I've never bothered with Best Performance :) cheers, Peter