I've done some hunting on the forum and can't find an answer to this, so I apologize if this has been answered before.... I'm capturing video from an old Hi-8 tape on my Sony TRV-340 (Digital-8). The capture is fine - it results in an AVI file encoded in the "dvsd" codec. I'm using TMPG-Enc to convert it to an MPEG-2 file for DVD authoring. My question is, how do I figure out what the optimal bitrate for this conversion would be? I imagine that, since I'm working with footage that was originally analog video, the bitrate isn't very high, and that if I use a high bitrate in the encoding, it may make a bigger file without necessarily increasing the quality - is my logic sound?
No Matter what the Higher the Bitrate the Better the Quality also Analogue Video doesn"t have a Bitrate because it is analogue and Bitrate is a Purely the Property of digital Video/Audio..... Depending on the encoder you use and How much noise your Source Has and the Resolution you are encodeing to a Bitrate between 4000kbs and 6000kbs is generally Ideal for encodeing DV AVI to a DVD Compliant mpeg-2 file maybe even a Bit Higher if your Source is Really Noisy....You could also expect better quality if you use a Noise Filter to clean up the video but it will also makeing the encodeing take a Lot longer.... good Luck
Thanks - I realized later that bitrates don't apply to analog video! I went with a VBR encoding of around 4000kbps and compared it to a CBR 8000kbps encoding - didn't seem to be much better. I guess it's just trial and error. Thanks for the help!
Well you can Not really Compare CBR at 8000 and VBR at 4000 but if you didn"t notice the quality wasn"t any better with VBR then that is Good because VBR at 4000kbs will have a Much smaller File Size than CBR at 8000kbs and if the Quality is the Same than VBR is being much more efficient than CBR.... If you are going to encode useing VBR you should set the Max Bitrate to about 8000kbs and the Minimum to 2000kbs and then set the average to the Bitrate you want to use (4000kbs??).... I select My Bitrate Based on the Length of the Video as Opposed to what Quality it will produce as Long as the Bitrate is above a Certain Level as there is No Use setting the Bitrate really High if the encoded Video file is then to big to Fit on a DVD and you don"t want to set it really Low either and have it so you waste a Bunch of Space on a DVD..I usually set itso the Video will Completely Fill a DVD which Maximizes the Space on the DVD and lets you use the Highest Possible Bitrate without the Video getting to big to Fit on a DVD...... Cheers
