The 'right' bit rate for DVD's

[rbelisle]

To keep my hard drive as uncluttered as possible, I rip some shows to DVD for long term storage. I use Nero to burn and the most frustrating this is the speed at which the 'transcode' happens during the prep for burning.

My question is, does anyone know the bit rate of a DVD? I am thinking that if I set my default bit rate in GBPVR to a constant bit rate that matched what a DVD and Nero are looking for, then the program would not take the time it takes to be transcoded before it gets burned. I don't know for sure if this is the case or if there is some other remedy, but if anyone has ideas, any help would be appreciated.

[pBS]

Try Showburner...http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Utility/ShowBurner
make them as small as you want, it'll burn without re-compression with menus..
just updated for .98.8+ with full title/subtitle/ descriptions and built in comskips..
it uses nero to do the burn, and you have that so shouldn't be a problem..
everything else is included...
[works from transcode menu in video library]

[nitrogen_widget]

I usually use a variable bit-rate of 3500 to 4500 with a res of 352x480 when archiving shows to DVD+RW's that are going to be re-used.
I can get about 6 or 7 30 min. episodes of shows minus commercials with menues.

For movies I go higher.
4000 to 4700 & I have no problems fitting a standard length movie with menus.

I use an old version of TMPGEnc DVD Source Creator to create the vob files & menus (very primitive).

Since I keep the bitrates somewhat moderate there is usually no need for transcoding the the files to smaller bit-rates.

[Braklet]

Try Showburner...http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Utility/ShowBurner
make them as small as you want, it'll burn without re-compression with menus.

Interesting updates, I used to ignore Showburner due to the 4 show limit.

Do you know if Showburner can be modified to generate a DVD ISO image instead of burning via Nero? I've little to no experience with the tools it uses to generate the VOBs.

[TomV]

Go to the options in nero and choose "custom bitrate", none of the automatic stuff. You can find out the bitrate of your recordings with something like Media Player Classic, by just right clicking the file and going to properties, where it will show full details of the file. Then just set nero custom bitrate to match.

[colin]

rbelisle: What capture card do you use? The Hauppage PVR cards should produce DVD compliant mpg2 files.

Cheers,

[pBS]

sure it can....iso generation not a problem, just add mkisofs.exe instead of nero...i could have made it pipe right into mkisofs.exe to save time but would require re-write, and this way not too much extra time to make iso...
[about 10 extra mins on fast machine]
i don't have the mkisofs params handy but i'm sure they're all over the web somewhere..
the files it does produce are saved so you could just leave cdburner empty and use mkisofs on temp files...
i seem to remember a way to play the files within gbpvr,not sure if it was with daemon tools or not tho..[without making iso first]

[rbelisle]

I use a PVR150, but it seems that DVD's are expecting a constant bit rate, or else the MPG file is transcoded before you can write it. I have it set to VBR for medium setting which is the default when you record.

What I was hoping for is that someone would say 'Oh yeah, DVD's record at 8000 bits/sec'. Then I could set the 'High' setting in GBPVR to Constant 8000 and when I am recording something I know I will be burning, it would go faster and I would just have to live with the transcoding on the VBR files if I decided later to burn them.

[nitrogen_widget]

Check this out.
http://www.videohelp.com/calc

It helps you figure out what bitrate to set after you decide how many hrs of video you want on a DVD.

[Pioneer4x4]

My question is, does anyone know the bit rate of a DVD?

Basically DVDs support a very wide range of bitrates up to about 9800kbits/sec, with 5000-7000 being more common. I don't know if there is a low end, but SVCD is about 2500 so I guess it would be about there.

There is no standard "DVD Bitrate".

Anthing recorded from a typical mpeg2 capture card (Huappauge 150...) at 720x480 is dvd compliant as is. You need to use a DVD compilation program that either leaves the files alone, or has that option.

Personally,
I record at 4000kbs. (After cutting commercials 3 1hr shows fit a 4.3 gig disk)
Use "TMPGEnc DVD Author" to create the DVD file structure. It leaves files as is.
If the DVD is too big for a disk, I use DVD Shrink to make it 4.3 gig.
I use Nero to burn to disk. (Only to burn, nothing else)