Best File Type Settings for different needs

AJ T

Newbie Joined: Sep 16, 2018 17:29 Messages: 16 Offline

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Oct 25, 2019 18:01

I'm trying to determine which is the best option to get the best quality for my different needs...

For DVDs, is it best to use the create Disc option? For DVD's, I understand that the highest quality is 720x480 using MPEG-2. I assume since that is the highest quality it wouldn't matter if I first produced my video as a MPEG-2 file at 1920x1080 and burned that file to a DVD. Is that correct?

If I am just sharing the digital file (not for streaming but for playing on other computers), looking for the best quality am I better off using H.264 or H.265? The footage was shot in 2K, playing on a 4K TV so does it matter if I select MPEG-4 4K when choosing the quality?

Any guidance would be helpful as I'm new to all this.

tomasc

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 25, 2011 12:33 Messages: 6464 Offline

Oct 25, 2019 18:36

1. Yes, no difference at all. Did you ever investigate the use of avchd discs back in May of this year?

2. The best quality is the original 2k footage. Producing at 4k creates larger files with less quality and producing them at 4k h.265 could means that an older or cheap computer won'tbe able to play the footage smoothly.

JL_JL

Senior Contributor Location: Arizona, USA Joined: Oct 01, 2006 20:01 Messages: 6091 Offline

Oct 25, 2019 19:04

Quote For DVDs, is it best to use the create Disc option? For DVD's, I understand that the highest quality is 720x480 using MPEG-2. I assume since that is the highest quality it wouldn't matter if I first produced my video as a MPEG-2 file at 1920x1080 and burned that file to a DVD. Is that correct?

That is the correct resultion of DVD for NTSC regions. However, since you quote the source is 2K, presumable 2048×1080 then, it's usually not a good idea to encode to 1920x1080 and then create a 720x480 DVD from that. Basically, each encoding process adds some noise, so loss in clarity. By creating the intermediate file needlessly, you can suffer some quality loss. Maybe consider a BD instead of DVD.

Quote If I am just sharing the digital file (not for streaming but for playing on other computers), looking for the best quality am I better off using H.264 or H.265? The footage was shot in 2K, playing on a 4K TV so does it matter if I select MPEG-4 4K when choosing the quality?

H.265 is more intensive to decode (as well as encode) so for playback the computer needs a little more capability than H.264 playback. Encoding 2K at 4K is no real advantage, it will not make the file size any larger if both are encoded at the same bitrate. So, a H.264 2K/30p 40Mbps profile will have the same file size as 4K/30p 40Mbps profile. For most eyes and typical video footage scenes, encoding above 50mbps often offers very little additional clarity. I'd actually keep frame size and bitrate very close to source for best display. Do a properties of a source file in the media library or use MediaInfo to gain insight.

H.265 offers better compression, most view this as about a 20% benefit or so in the 50mbps region. Therefore, a 2K 50mbps H.264 video is usually on par with a 2K 40mbps H.265 encoding. If your source is H.264 which it probably is, I would probably just stick with that unless you really need smaller files for the same quality.

Jeff