DVD studio pro formats

[jonjonsson]

Hello everyone,

I have problems with DVD studio pro, which "I try" to use for the first time.
Here is my issue:

I import a video in mv2 format then an audio file in wav or aif. The manual says it accepts working with such format. But when I try to burn, it says the bitrate of the video is too high. But if I place an AC3 or mpg2 then it works fine.
My question are...can't I use wav an aif files with anytype of video ?
Do I have to convert AC3 eventhough I have a stereo mix ?

Thanks to help me with this !

[tom_lowe]

WAVs and AIFs work fine (DVD SP converts WAV to AIF anyway, so best to export as this format) but the reason you're having issues is the combined data rate of your audio and video is greater than the DVD spec allows - around 9Mbit/sec (Mbps)

AC-3 audio obviously brings you below this. If you encode your video with a max bit-rate of 6 or 7Mbps, you won't have issues using a single track of 16bit 48KHz PCM audio - if you have multiple audio tracks, this also will reduce the bit-rate of the video allowed, as 9Mbps (or so) is the maximum allowed regardless of how many tracks you have.

If you're finding the video looks a bit rubbish encoded at 6 or 7 Mbps, this would be because you're using compressor. Use a more effiecient encoder, such as BitVice or ProCoder (Windows only, but great), and you'll get decent looking video at around 4-5Mbps that looks better than anything you'll ever get out of Apple's Compressor/DVD Studio Pro encoder.

[neilwilkes]

@jonjonsson

First thing you really need to learn for DVD authoring is how to make a bit budget. DVD-Video allows you up to 9.8Mbps for a stream containing everything - video, audio, subtitles etc. You really don't want to go all the way to the limit though so it is generally a good idea to place a cap at 9.4Mbps (9400kbps).
You'll also need to work out what your priorities are - audio quality or video quality. If audio quality matters, then drop AC3/Dolby Digital from the equation.
Having just said that though, you will generally get away with Dolby Digital on a movie (although DTS is superior for surround by a fair distance) but for music DVD Dolby Digital really ought to be avoided.
Dolby Digital stereo is 192kbps.
Dolby Digital surround can be 384kbps or 448kbps - the gotchas are unidirectional encoding at over 10kHz with the 384 setting and at 15kHz with the 448kbps setting, and at both settings all your transients will be smeared to hell & gone.
LPCM audio is 16/48, although players optionally support up to 24/96 stereo. This is optional though, and there are many players out there that will truncate to 16 bits or resample to 48kHz (or both) on the fly no matter what the audio is.

Definitely go look for a bit budget spreadsheet though, or PM me for one.