120 min or fast encode

[Pash]

I made a video on my DVX 100, edited in FCP 4.0,I have Compressor 1.0 and DVD Pro 1.5. The video is only 30 min. long so I want to compress it as little as possible in order to maintain the best quality and make a DVD. Would 120 min. or fast encode be the best or should I encode using Quicktime Mpeg 2.

Thanks
Pash

 

[tommysixtoes]

I would use the 60min high quality encode to compress it the least. It's my understanding that the "60min" refers to the approximate size of the finished DVD, meaning that if you have an hour and a half video and you compress it with the 60 min setting, it won't fit on the DVD. I'm not 100% on this but I think that's how it works. So add up the total time of video you want on the DVD and then you know what setting will give you the best quality, at least that's what I've been doing.

 

[ullanta]

I would use the 60min high quality encode to compress it the least. It's my understanding that the "60min" refers to the approximate size of the finished DVD, meaning that if you have an hour and a half video and you compress it with the 60 min setting, it won't fit on the DVD. I'm not 100% on this but I think that's how it works. So add up the total time of video you want on the DVD and then you know what setting will give you the best quality, at least that's what I've been doing.

That's right. The settings in Compressor 1 are for amount of time to fit onto a 4.7GB disc with uncompressed audio. (Compressor 2 presets, btw, assume compressed audio in the names, and uncompressed audio in the "Quality" box. Weird...)

 

[sebastian]

I know nothing about Compressor, but DVD specification tells that total bitrate (video + audio) has to be less than 9800kb/s. So if you use uncompressed (PCM) audio, then video must be <8000kb/s. If compressed audio (let's say 192kb/s AC3) then video can be 9300kb/s - much better quality. In both cases you can record max. 60 min to 4,7GB disc.
As you see there's good reason to use slight compression in audio.