DVD Standard vs High Quality (going over an hour)

John Reno

Newbie Joined: Aug 28, 2009 20:58 Messages: 9 Offline

Solved by

Aug 28, 2009 21:09

If I understand it right, the quality of a DVD (DVD-HQ) starts to drop as you go over the 1 hour mark (on a single layer DVD).

I'm working on a project right now in the 90 minute range and I'm wondering if I should shorten it down to 60 minutes, or if the quality of a 90 minute DVD on a 4.7GB disk wouldn't look that much different?

Has anyone every compared something like this? And, I'm talking about what it would look like on a larger (32" and up) LCD.

Thanks!

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Aug 28, 2009 21:35

Hi John -

If you look at the description in the Produce module, you'll see the difference is in the bitrate - 8.0 MBps (HQ) compared to 3.4 MBps (Standard). I guess it comes down to how much you want to sacrifice quality... how important is it?

If it mattered to me, I'd burn it in DVDHQ on a dual layer disc.

Cheers - Tony

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John Reno

Newbie Joined: Aug 28, 2009 20:58 Messages: 9 Offline

Aug 28, 2009 22:34

Yeah the problem is dual layer disks are priced so high. I'm also using an injecet printer with a CD/DVD tray for a nice top. Inkjet DVD's actually do look photo quality. It's very nice for family projects.

$38.99 for a 20 stack of daul layer Injet Printable
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817130997

$17.99 for a 50 stack of single layer injet Printable
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817130991

Normal blanks are really just as different. You can get more than 100 single layer blanks for the price of 20 dual layer blanks. It's crazy.

BarryTheCrab

Senior Contributor Location: USA Joined: Nov 06, 2008 22:18 Messages: 6240 Offline

Aug 29, 2009 07:33

Burn the single-layer disc using the Smartfit setting.
This will adjust the bitrate exactly to fit the disc.
The longer you go over the preferred disc capacity, the lower the bitrate.
You will have to sacrifice a disc to see if the quality is reduced too far.

I also inkjet-print my discs, using an HP 5280. I'll never use a sticky label again.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Aug 29. 2009 07:34

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James W

Senior Contributor Location: Lakeland, FL USA Joined: Aug 18, 2008 10:36 Messages: 911 Offline

Aug 29, 2009 08:45

I would just get a DVDRW and give it a try. If you don't like it you can just reformat the disk. Q9300 2.5 GHz
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John Reno

Newbie Joined: Aug 28, 2009 20:58 Messages: 9 Offline

Aug 29, 2009 10:05

It looks like really ~71 minutes of DVD-HQ will fit on single layer. If smart-fix really decreases the bit rate "smartley" that should mean there's some threshold where the difference would not be noticable.

Like for a standard definition project ona 50" LCD. If your project was 82 minutes would a human actually be able to see the difference in a 71 minute DVD-HQ?

I'll have to make myself experiment when I get more of the trimming done.

Con_K

Newbie Joined: Feb 10, 2008 19:19 Messages: 31 Offline

Aug 30, 2009 02:39

Hi John,

Whilst a lot will depend on how much you value the optimal image (as per Tonys' post) you may find that a bitrate of around 6.2 Mbps might get you the result you want without any discernible loss of quality.

I have burned several videos using a lower bitrate (between 6 and 7 Mbps) with excellent results. If the source video is clean, it is hard to tell the difference sometimes.

Alternatively, if you try to reduce the video footage from 90 to 70 minutes, it could take you hours and hours and this may be a more painful compromise than dropping the bitrate.

Cheers
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