Accuracy of DVD player bit rate meters?

Anyone know why different DVD players would display drastically different bit rates as a DVD is playing?
I have a 90-minute project (81 min. film and about 8 mins. of extras) authored w/ DVD Studio Pro to DVD-R, with the main film itself compressed using Compressor's "90 minute Best Quality" preset (average video bit rate of 6.2 Mbps and a maximum bit rate of 7.7 Mbps). However, when playing the burned DVD-R back on my home Pioneer tabletop DVD player (which displays bit-rate info superimposed on the TV screen), it shows the bit rate at the above levels but with occassional spikes as high as 8.8 Mbps (these spikes only last about a quarter second). So it sound like Compressor's "maximum" 7.7 setting really isn't maximum, unless the Pioneer's meter is wrong.
Now, really weird: when I play the very same disc on an older Toshiba DVD player which also has a bit rate meter, it shows average bit rates in the 8.5-9.8 range, with spikes as high as 10.0. I've tried playing the film back twice on the Toshiba and it has frozen twice, at different parts of the movie (and not during chapter breaks or markers). I've read that the max. bit rate for all DVD content (video, audio, subtitles, etc). is 10.08, and the max. for video is 9.8. The film I'm playing has no subtitle or other extra streams, just the single video and audio files.
I've played the film fine on 5 other DVD players, so maybe it's just the Toshiba. But the bit rate differences are puzzling.
My concern is that this disc play well on multiple players. As is, it fills 4.29 GB on the disc. Should I recompress the film at Compressor's 120 min. Best Quality setting to lower the bit rate?
Thanks.
Mike

Mike Boedicker wrote:
Anyone know why different DVD players would display drastically different
bit rates as a DVD is playing?
Any system measuring real-time performance is probably doing an estimate.
Doing an accurate measurement would take so much processing power that
the performance itself would be affected. So it's quite possible that
the numbers you're seeing are somewhat inaccurate.
That said, you seem to be pushing the limits of your test systems,
so maybe you should back off on your Compressor settings.
Check out hanumang's advice and silal's links here:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=5157012

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HD DVD (Muxer Bit Rate Too High) - Cannot Burn

I am trying to burn an HD DVD and have used the Compressor preset MPEG-2 setting. I have a Toshiba HD-A2 player and have already tried the .h264 and it didn't work (I know it is not supported). The file actually played though, just very slowly.
Anyway, I read up that the MPEG-2 works with the Toshibas, and have encoded the file into DVD-Studio Pro 4. It plays inside of the program fine under simulation, but when ever I try to either build or burn the disc, I get this:
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2/23/07 2:03:00 PM
Build Folder /Users/TheMatrix/Desktop
Starting DVD Build UNTITLED_DISC...
Compiler Initializing...
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0 Menu(s) will be created...
Compiling Menu PGCs...
Writing HV001M01.EVO
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Compiling VTS#1 (Track 1)...
Writing HV001M01.EVO
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Muxer Bitrate Too High
The error is in regards to the Muxer Bitrate. Any help? Thanks in advance.

Means the combination of video/audio stream is too high - did you encode outside of DVD SP using Compressor? You may want to try that (make a new HD MPEG setting) and knock the rates down.
Also FWIW, trying to get it to run on the Toshiba may be difficult at best - take a look for Toshiba HD and there seems to be issues with the newer versions of the firmware
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3737691&#3737691
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4069682&#4069682

Firewire DV video output for DVD player?

Hi everyone,
I am just wondering, does anyone know of any way to get the DVD player program to output NTSC DV via firewire like FCP allows for external monitors?
I would love a way to test my dvds without having to waste so many discs... Any suggestions?
-patrick

What is outputting DVD Player's signal to external monitor going to achieve?
The failure of DVDs burned is due either to the media used (the quality of DVD), the bit-rate settings used or more generally, the DVDSP workflow (you are burning via DVDSP and/or Compressor aren't you?) or the DVD player that the discs are being played on. (Different models cope with different variables, bit rates , brand of DVD used, how old the player is, whether the lens has been cleaned last - if at all...)
If it's a DVD burning issue, describe your workflow and post in the the relevant forum.
P.S. If I've misunderstood the question, please ignore the above...

Bit rate for all computer?

Hi all,
I'm burning a DVD in DVDSP 4, I burned and tried it in my MacBook Pro and on normal DVD player and It works perfect, the problem comes when I play it on some not so new PCs, in one of them the buttons (text and silver frame) in the menu seem to repeat in different positions, and in the other computer it plays fine but the audio doesn't work and sounds kind of static... does it have something to do with the encoding bit rate in DVDSP? maybe in Compressor??
HDV material / compressed with DVD best 90
SD DVD/PAL
Bit rate in DVDSP 5.0 Mbps
Max Bit rate 6.2
Appreciate your help!
Javier

Which Windows program was used to play the DVDs? Hopefully not Windows Media Player.
-DH

Can't install the Toshiba HD DVD Player for Windows 7 - 64 Bit

Notebook: Toshiba Qosmio G40 with windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
I can't install the HD DVD Player Driver from Toshiba for Windows 7 - 64 Bit 4.60.03 from 30/11/09 !
The installation will be cancel with information that the software can not be installed on this system.

Problem is that this file you have downloaded is not the player but just an update.
Usually you should be able to install player designed for Vista and later install this upgrade but, as I can see, Toshiba doesnt offer HD DVD player for Vista 64-bit.
I presume your notebook was delivered with Vista 32-bit only. Am I right about that?

DL DVD with 2 features at diff. bit rates?

I'm making a dual layer DVD with 2 movies; one is 2.5 hours long and one is 1 hour long. I found a layer break point and made the disc no problem. However the quality is not as good as I would have hoped. I created both movies in FCP and simply exported them as Current Settings Quicktime Movies. I set the DVD SP settings just about as high as I could.
I was considering re-exporting both movies through compressor, making the 2.5 hour movie a higher quality than the other, since the longer one is the more important one. However, the idea of working out the math to figure out what bit rates to make them each makes my head hurt. Am I correct in thinking that doing this would be one **** of a difficult task full of trial and error, hours of frustration and copious tears?

There are a bunch of ways I can think of.
1) Set the iPods to sync only "selected" playlists. For each playlist, add the songs with the proper bitrate. You can use Smart Playlists to use the bitrate of the songs.
2) Use separate libraries. 700 songs doesn't take very long to load.

Export Settings - Minimum Bit Rate Question (MPEG2-DVD)

Hi,
Curious...just came over recently from FCP and I don't remember Compressor giving me an option to adjust the MINIMUM bit rate when exporting HD projects for DVD. I figured I'd just leave it where the preset has it (at 2.8mbps minimum)...BUT...then I hovered over it and saw an interesting popup/explanation of what it does which kind of confuses me. It says:
Higher values set a higher minimum quality, but reduce quality of more difficult scenes.
The first part makes sense so I figured I'd raise it...but then the second part makes me think I should keep it low. Sort of confuses me. Any thoughts??? FYI: My projects are Weddings with a fair amount of action, etc.
Normally, these are my settings depending unless I can't fit the project onto the disc in which case I adjust:
DVD
CBR at 7.5mbps
...or...
VBR 2pass
Target Bit Rate: About 6.8 or 7mbps
Max Bit Rate: Usually 8mbps
BLURAY
VBR 2pass
Target Bit Rate: 25mbps
Max Bit Rate: 30mbps
Unless someone tells me that I should raise these settings higher for better quality output (if the project size allows of course) these are what I've been using to get maximum quality out of my videos without jepordizing playback due to bit rate max for each media (which I think I read was 10mb and 40 or 50mbps respectively. I was just thrown by the minimum bit rate description above.
Thank you in advance for your help!

The whole notion of a minimum bitrate is crazy unless you have specific broadcast requirements that require you to pad out video to keep the connection alive.
If the encoder can express the image with zero loss in less than the minimum bitrate why would you pad it with zeros to get the bitrate high enough to meet the min?
The idea of a nominal/average bitrate is easy to understand.
The Maximum bitrate is often misunderstood though.
On some encoders the max rate sets the wiggle room (max - average) that can be used if there is a burst of required information.
On other encoders it sets the maximum rate at which the video buffer is allowed to fill as per the specifications. eg Blu-ray is capped at 40Mbps. The Video encode itself MAY EXCEED THAT 40Mbps for a split second but will only LOAD into the video buffer at up to 40Mbps.
For example, if you set constant bitrate at 20Mbps and no Maximum rate when the video first starts loading from the blu-ray disc to the video buffer it loads faster than the blu-ray maximum of 40Mbps. Thus you MUST have a maximum rate defined (for blu-ray compliance) even though it's a constant bitrate. Some encoders do this for you but some leave it up to the user to get right (and thus should provide a max slider and constant slider to set both).
Jeff- absolutely agree. It's very rare that you need to use all 40Mbps available to you. 20 and 30 can look great (depending on the detail in the sceen and how much motion there is).
VBR 2-pass does have value if you're trying to get down to lower rates like 10Mbps to fit a long title on a disc. If you don't action shots with sceen cuts will leave artifacts as they are bit starved.
I'm actually a big fan of Constant _Quality_ (CQ) vs CBR or VBR. You then know what quality you're going to get on every frame and from experience will know how big it will come out to be. CQ is also considerably faster to render because you have no rate control computations to do. x264pro has a CQ option for this very reason.
hope that helps.

Best workflow for footage in 1440x1080 and vid rate 23.98fps going to a PAL DVD player in europe

I am new at this and still getting a grasp of the technical details. I've made several trips to Germany over the last three years and each time have shot using different settings. Right now I am editing the footage from the first year where I shot 1080i and 24p (Canon XHA1). I've already sent some DVDs with films I edited from this trip, but not sure I've achieved the best result that I can in terms of image quality. What i think i've been doing so far is to edit in the original NTSC, and then when i get ready to burn the DVD to send to my relatives in Germany, I have set the Project Info settings in iDVD to PAL. But from reading the boards I am getting the sense that there are multiple ways to do this, each with varying results. Obviously, I'd like to have my German viewers view a DVD with the best quality picture, and am wondering what is the best way to go about this. I've also read on the boards that most PAL dvd players will play NTSC, which makes me wonder if burning the DVD with iDVD set to PAL is necessary. I've already been told by one of my relatives who has viewed the same film here in america (burned as NTSC) and in Germany (one I sent burned as PAL), that the PAL versions did not have as good a picture quality. Any suggestions?
Also, if you knew that your primary audience was going to be PAL viewers, and you are shooting with an NTSC camera, what would the ideal settings be? On my canon xha1, my frame rate options are 60i, 30f, and 24f. My 'comp out' options are 480i and 080i/480i. My understanding is 1080i50 would be better for PAL, but 25fps is not an option on my camera.
Thanks,
Paul

Well it must be 24 over 29.97 then because it is working with it. I have been able to create timelines and export quicktime movies, etc. The item properties (in FCE Browser) of the clips definitely say 23.98fps-- as I would expect because I know I had the camera set to 24p. However, the frame rate of the sequences i've been editing on say 29.97. This is without me having made any conscious effort to manipulate any settings for the sequences at the outset-- I didn't even know the sequences had settings for this when i started. I just began dragging and dropping footage out of the browser and it must have automatically set the sequence to 29.97. Who knows what I had the Easy Set up set to when i brought the footage over from my camera two years ago. I knew even less then. Are the settings on Easy Set up critical when bringing the footage onto your computer from your camera? What processes are the Easy set up settings governing?
Even with all of that said, you would recommend burning the DVD as an NTSC? An NTSC in a new PAL DVD player will look better than an NTSC burned as a PAL? I suppose I could send them both versions and see which one looks better.
Thanks for you help Tom.
P.S.
On the true 24p issue, I did find this:
There are many posts out there about the Canon XH A1 not having "true 24p".
I think much of that misinformation out there maybe stemmed from (correct me if I'm wrong):
Canon Frame Mode on the standard DV cams was a "simulation: of the 24 frame look.
The Canon HDV 24p actually records each single frame progressively, but using an interlaced method.

What is the maximum bit rate for a short NTSC standard def DVD?

I have about 30 minutes of content from FCP that I want to put on a DVD.
At first I tried iDVD and had problems with burning (although I did somehow make one DVD). So I built the project on DVD SP and made a DVD. However, the iDVD version looked much better. I checked out the file sizes and saw that there was 2 gigs on iDVD and only 1.6 DVD SP. Then I discovered the encoding options on DVD SP and I was curious what is the recommended average and maximum bit rate should be for the highest quality, yet still works in most DVD players?
Thanks.

DVD Bandwidth
The rate is not based on running time.
Some thoughts on rates
7.2 - 8.0 seems to be the general consensus for discs from computers. I play more conservative for the reasson listed in that link

Best average bit rate & max bit rate for DVDs playing on laptops...

I encode and burn many DVDs for use in regular DVD players....usually in the half hour range and have been encoding with Compressor 3 using these specs:
6.6 average bit rate
7.8 max bit rate
Those same DVDs, which play flawlessly in the DVD players, can occasionally hiccup when played from a laptop. Should I change the max bit rate from 7.8 to 7.7. or lower? Is that the biggest part of the equasion that may affect a laptop's ability to play without choking?
Many thanks,
John

Thanks for all your help, David S, but the point is
that I have tried many different bit rates, from 4.0
to 7.0, and I don't have time to waste all day trying
different bit rates for an 8-minute project.
My main question is: Why would it work fine on all
of my other short projects, including the 8-minute
one, and then when I cut out 20 seconds of that same
project, it starts screwing up!?!
I am going to try trashing my preferences. It is
starting to seem like a corrupt pref file to me.
It turned out to be a corrupt pref file, as I thought. Thanks for your many, many questions, David S.

Exporting sound for dvd studio 4. Studio 4 is only accepting ac3, saying bit rate too high in ALL other formats. However, aa3 auto levels the sound, which is not wanted, and it also drops the volume by about 40%, also not wanted. How do I get around this.

I have successfully used various formats and bit rates of sound in DVD Pro 4 with no problems, AIFF, WAVE, (obviously preferable as they give a good quality of sound as intended). However, of late, DVD Pro 4 refuses AIFF, WAVE, and anything higher than the lowest ac3 bit rate/format. This is rendering an aweful sound, auto volume leveled - which gives a very unprofessional fluctuation in volume and making a ionsense of careful sound editing. It also renders the volume at about 30% - 40% lower than the original master requiring huge increase in amplifier volume settings to get a decent volume.I have tried every format and bit rate, but FCP and DVD Pro 4 will only accept the lowest ac3 setting.
I have customers awaiting video of their concerts, can not deliver with this sound issue.
very much appreciate some assistance here.
Phil TP

I suggest posting this in the Final Cut Studio forum where regular users of DVDSP are more likely to see your post and respond. When you do, I would expect someone will ask why you arent using Compressor in your workflow…)
Good luck.
Russ

Bit Rate Too High error message when I try to burn 3 minute DVD

I imported a Quicktime Mov from FCP, and when I try to burn to DVD, I get this message.
This has me worried, becuase this 3 minute part is only 1/3 of the whole piece that I am trying to run as a test to check contrast, color balance etc.
I'm not sure what the bit rate is, how to change it or what to change it to.
I don't know if I need to do this in FCP or in DVDSP.
Any help would be appreciated.
J.

http://dvdstepbystep.com/faqs_3.php
Then
http://dvdstepbystep.com/fasttrackover.php to A.Pack Dolby the audio (when you scroll to the bottom there is a link to a movie showing all the steps, about 1 minute or so in you will see Compressor, you can download and scroll to that pint to bypass the Final Cut section)
And make sure to compress the movie outside of DVD SP in Compressor
Basically there is only so high the bitrate can go, regardless of running time of video. If you use one of the presets in Compressor you should be okay as long as you use the A.Pack/AC3 and not the audio

Correct Bit Rate To Fit 2 Hr DV Movie To DVD

Hello Board,
Is there a set bit rate number one can use to be able to fit a 2-hr DV movie (29:97) onto a standard DVD-R while maintaining a decent level of quality?
Thanks,
CR

Can you detail what is leading you to ask this question? I mean, has the Compressor 2 preset for 120 minutes (DVD: Best Quality 120 Minutes - 4:3) not worked well for you? If you have gone that route, can you mention what you unhappy about in terms of the encoding quality?
Also, can you mention the exact method of getting to Compressor? That is, are you sending directly from FCP (File > Export > Using Compressor) or are you exporting a QuickTime Movie?
Finally, at this stage in the game, are you working off of a single, complete QT movie, or is your timeline composed of the original cuts? (it does matter)

Multi-platform delivery of Adaptive Bit Rate Video Streaming Utilizing Captivate Video Player

We are leveraging SCORM for our Learning Management System. In as much, we are delivering content to 7,000+ individuals using both iOS and Android/PC; as well as desktop, laptop, tablet, phablet, and smart phone. The question is this, because the internet speed and bandwidth vary we have to leverage Adaptive Bit Rate Streaming. Currently we're using Amazon Web Services Adobe Media Server to Stream our files however if we upload differing bit rates we aren't able to enter in a URL/URI/HTTP with the xml manifest file instructing the player to determine A; if the content is for iOS or Android/Microsoft and B; it's not determining a specific file, put simply whatever we upload is streamed as flash, using RTMP protocol which doesn't work with any Hand-held device because it uses flash (not available on phones) which means that we need to utilize HTTP, but it doesn't matter what I enter into captivate, the streaming service is still utilizing flash. Anyway, moving forward. Here is the solution we need and we've been asking for months now but no one seems to have any idea how to explain the limitations of captivate, or the workaround, or the proper way to leverage captivate to this purpose.
So, how, using Adobe Captivate 8, can I stream a video, using Adaptive Bit Rate Transcoding/Encoding (without using YouTube) to deliver my training to ANY device?
While the adobe media server is great there is no clear instruction on how you create one file extension/address that will link to either F4V, MPEG4, or m3u8. (HDV, HDL respectively)
Secondly, how do we get this to utilize the Adaptive Bit Rate - being that it is the sole purpose we purchased the not so inexpensive Adobe Media Server?
Need an answer to this as soon as possible as this is completely and totally killing our work flow and LMS development and frankly, the Captivate videos, tutorials, and PDF manual do little discuss this in any technical fashion. Looking forward to your response. Many thanks

I do not know much about captivate...But i will let you k now AMS perspective( I hope it adds value)
if your end users are on PC/desktop they can use Flash player and hence rtmp streaming for AMS would suffice the needs...
All you mobile users are much likely to be consuming http streaming content and hence you must use Adobe media servers HDS/HLS streaming service.
Same stream can be used for http as well as rtmp streaming...albeit in case of live stream, the http will have some delay(about 30 seconds in thedefault setup)) as compared to rtmp.
As for adaptive bit rate streaming, it can be done both on rtmp as well as http connection and they are (configuring them is) separate and independent of each other. There are sections on Adobe help on how to configure adaptive but rate streaming in Adobe media server.

Dvd studio says bit rate too high

I have created a video from motion and used compressor, best quality 90 min, my audio is ac3 dvd studio says bit rate too high, any ideas?

It's probably telling you the truth. If the only thing on your track is a single video assett and a single audio assett, try the 120 min setting or manually reduce the avg & max bitrate in the inspector.
~D

Accuracy of DVD player bit rate meters?

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