Compressor bit rate question

I put together a 28 minute bike video and I am having some dvd playback issuses (for some dvd players, not all). For some reason the video pauses and skips in the middle of the video. Is there a recommended bit rate to export using compressor? I just export with the default setting on 120 min, 4.0 - 7.5 bit rate at best quality. I read somewhere you take a risk if your bit rate is over 7.0. Any thoughts?

When we first started supplying DVDs to the public we had quite a few issues with some dvds not being compatible. It was never very logical but the rule was that the more expensive the machine the more likely it would not play. In fact some clients actually prefaced their enquiry with the words "I am afraid it was a very expensive machine and we have been told it can be a problem"! Often also they were Sonys.
However I have to say that we have not had this problem for a couple of years now and had just assumed that everything is much more compatible now. Many people who watch Hollywood movies only, do sometimes get problems when they try to watch a copied movie for the first time - remember the process is different (and also that they do damage a little more easily than the pressed ones). It is always hard to convince someone who has watched movies without problem that it may be their machine. Nine times out of ten they would send them back and they played ok on numerous machines back here and we would send them another and it would be fine. Who said this was a science?? Your only other alternative might be to play out into a stand alone recorder and try that but you will lose your menu structure.
Pete Snowdon

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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.

Please Help with Compressor bit rate formulation....

This is my first time with Compressor 2.
I am used to working with Compressor1.
After I compressed a couple of sequences and brought them into DVD SP4.
My disk meter read 6.1 gb.
I compressed a total of 2hours and 11minutes at 4.2 mbps.
Using AC3 for my audio.
According to my calculations that should of worked.
Does anyone have any comments or suggestions?
Did they add something to the new compressor that I should have set?
Thanks,
-marco

hey marco, what are you using as your calculations?
usually what i do is a get multiply the audio in seconds by the bit-rate of the audio i am using (0.192 .ac3 stereo).
then i take that sum and subtract it from the product of the disc size minus 5% of head room (dvd-r = 37600 Mbits)
finally i take that remainder and divide that by the product seconds of the movie.
that gives me the average bit-rate.
for my max i just add 2 to the number!
so in your case:
131 x 60 x 0.192 = 1510 Mbits
then:
1510 - (37600 x 0.05) = 34210 Mbits left for video
finally:
34210 / (131 x 60) = 4.35 Mbps for average and:
4.35 + 2 = 6.35 Mbps max
shoot we kinda got the same numbers. so what settings are you using?
is your audio stereo or surround sound?
are you using a 2 pass vbr?
some more inside on your settings please

Bit rate question

I have always managed to fit 65 minutes on a DVD disc with no problems but now need to get 75 mins on to a disc. I have never really got my head round bitrate conversion tables - In DVDSP2 I normally use Target bitrate - 6, Max Bitrate - 8 and motion estimation - best. if I lower the Target bitrate to say 5 instead of 6 will this allow me to get the extra footage on the disc even though quality may diminish?
There is normaly a centimetre left unburned on the disc. Any suggestions appreciated.

It can be a headache John, but fortunately there are tools to help with the calculations.
Check out any number of bitrate calculators on the web. One I use is over at http://www.wiredinc.com/bitrate.php, but you could also go to my .mac space and download a small app called 'Mr BitBudget'. This will give you a pretty accurate bitrate target according to the type of disc you are writing to, the video length, the bitrate of your audio and the existence (or not) of subtitles, etc.
In your case, Mr B reports that if you are using AC3 files for the audio (which have a bitrate of 192kbps) then for 75 minutes of video your bitrate needs to be no more than 7.8MBPS for a DVD-R. For compatibility reasons, set the maximum to 7.4MBPS and the lower setting at something suitable for the kind of footage that you are using (i.e. at 4MBPS for still interview type stuff, 5 for general shots, 6 for faster action, panning, zooming, etc).
However, if you are using .aiff audio then this max bitrate falls to nearer 6.5MBPS... so adjust the lower setting in your encoder accordingly to get the encode that you need. As long as you don't have any ROM content or subtitles then this will be about right for you.
Incidentally, different encoders work in different ways and what you can achieve in terms of quality at 6.5MBPS in DVDSP is far exceeded by using BitVice at the same settings, or MegaPEG.X. It is well worth thinking about using a different encoder if you need to squeeze the best result out at the lowest bitrate (don't forget, higher bitrates produce larger files). Whilst alternate encoders cost money, if you are doing a lot of different authoring jobs investing in one will pay you back many times over.

Too High Bit rate error no matter how much reduce it

After Exporting an HDV 1080i 16:9 3 sequences from FCP via
compressor at Best SD DVD 90 minutes, 16:9, and burning two DVD-Rs that work, now DVDSP keeps giving me Video Bit Rate too high error and stops building shortly after starts. And no matter how much I lower bit rate won't do it! HELP

I think - and see if you agree - that I exported using a compressor bit rate setting of 6.0 and max of 7.5 on the first 56 min sucessful sequence build/burn, and then thought I could go higher on the second export so goosed the max bit rate to 9.0 since there were occassional big bits of motion. So now on the other two sequences DVD SP won't adjust that previous compression rate, and instead I will have to sacrifice the audio quality (use Dolby only)
to get it to build. I certainly DON't want to wait 26 to 28 hours again for each sequence to export!! Does that sound right?

Compressor: setting max bit rate for VBR audio

Hi,
I am using Compressor 3 to transcode DV to H.264. I want to encode the audio to AAC VBR wtih a max bitrate of 256. Under the Settings tab, under audio, for VBR there is a slider from good to best. what does this mean in terms of max bit rates? How can you use this slider in a meaninful way?
There is a setting for Average Bit Rate, where you can select a value. do we konw what the max bit rate would be?
thanks
dan

Good question about the slider…and I really don't know the answer. Why don't you try a test: crank it to one extreme and then the other with a representative source file and see what impact it actually makes on the properties of the respective output files.
Good luck.
Russ

Blu-Ray bit rate (and other questions)

Hi, just getting ready to try out my new blu-ray burner and I had a couple quick questions regarding outputting via compressor, thanks for any help and advice:
1) What's the recommended average and max bit rate assuming file size isn't an issue?
2) Can I put multiple videos on one blu-ray? From what I can tell it's only one per disk...
3) The blu-ray template wants audio and video from one source, correct? Or can I drop in a quicktime video and a separate audio track? (For instance, I have a surround sound mix that was done elsewhere while the video was edited and output from an Avid)
4) Will compressor accept Avid DnxHD quicktimes?

I assume you mean to create a BD with Compressor.
1. 34mbps, if I remember, is the max. Just let Compressor calculate the average and max. With a good source, an average above 24mbps won't make a difference of quality, in my opinion.
2. No; you have to have a single movie all assembled in FCP first. But you can use chapter makers to mark multiple original movies.
3. One source only, correct.
4. I don't know.

Bit rates in Compressor using H264

I have an HD media player that can only handle files up to 4GB (fat32). I need to compress 30 minutes of 1080P HD footage to around 3.6 GB. The problem I keep running into is the complex footage in the finished video.
I'm trying to create a H264 file with a variable bit rate and a maximum bit rate, does anyone know how to do this using compressor?

Thanks Thomas, I'm working with Jeff on this project. With your settings it does't quite work, The Data Rate is not really a peak constrained VBR, but its more of an average bit-rate. I've tried setting the Data Rate to 16000 kbits/s, but I'm not getting the quality output I need for some scenes.
Some scenes don't need more the 8000 kbits/s but others need more like 25,000 kbits/s. With the Automatic VBR I'm getting a mostly what I need, except one scene want to peak at 80,000 kbits/s. The player is limited to 30,000 kbits/s. Also like Jeff stated before the file size of the video must be less than 4GB so it will fit on CF card formatted at FAT32.
I need to be able to set a Average bit rate at around 15,000 kbits/s, with a Max peak at 28,000 kbits/s. Any one with ideas on how to do that?
To put this simply, we need the best possible quality with these specs.
*Codec: H.264*
*File size: <4GB*
*Average bit rate: 15,000 kbits/s*
*Max bit rate: 28,000 kbits/s*
Thanks

Compressor 3.5 won't let me reduce the MPEG2 program file average bit rate

Compressor 3.5 won't let me reduce the MPEG2 program file average bit rate less then 10Mbps. I just installed this new version and it is giving me this problem. I have been delivering an 1hr MPEG2 program streaming at 6Mbps average to 7.1Mbps Max output with Compressor 1 for a year now. Here is my workflow;
Drop the 1440X1080 into NTSC timeline and DO NOT conform so it will be rendering as 720X480 then shoot that sequence to compressor to above settings. It worked just fine for a year. Now, this new compressor wont let me do less then 10Mbps which is the lowest bitrate for HD. The network can not run any bigger file than 6Mbps. I checked my settings restarted and all that. IS this a bug that needs to be fixed? Any help would be appreciated since my deadline is tomorrow.

Sorry, meant to say that this only happens with court databases. As far as I can tell, I can download from other sites with no trouble.

Compressor 1.5 won't let me reduce the MPEG2 program file average bit rate

Compressor 1.5 won't let me reduce the MPEG2 program file average bit rate less then 10Mbps. I just installed this new version and it is giving me this problem. I have been delivering an 1hr MPEG2 program streaming at 6Mbps average to 7.1Mbps Max output with Compressor 1 for a year now. Here is my workflow;
Drop the 1440X1080 into NTSC timeline and DO NOT conform so it will be rendering as 720X480 then shoot that sequence to compressor to above settings. It worked just fine for a year. Now, this new compressor wont let me do less then 10Mbps which is the lowest bitrate for HD. The network can not run any bigger file than 6Mbps. I checked my settings restarted and all that. IS this a bug that needs to be fixed? Any help would be appreciated since my deadline is tomorrow.

Sorry, meant to say that this only happens with court databases. As far as I can tell, I can download from other sites with no trouble.

2 Questions - Low Bit rate output. Low frames per second FPS, HELP! Live show sucked!

I thought I had all of my settings set for a stream using FMLE running through stickam. Everything was looking good but when we went live our bit rate output went down below 100kbs. I had set it for high kbs but allowed it to drop size to keep frame rate. As you can imagine our video stream went from really good looking to choppy and almost freeze frame half the time. I have no idea what I did wrong. Is it my Cable Internet? My modem? I will say that I ran a speedtest.net test and although the download looked abnormally low I had 1.6Mbs upload which I thought should be sufficient? I'm not sure what to do.
2nd question. I set FPS frame rate at 25fps but the output only allowed 15fps to the live stream. What is causing this? Is this a default number? It didn't seem what I set the frame rate at, the output was at 15fps. I saw ways to change the fps on the input but nothing on the output. What is the deal here?
So... to recap. How do I keep the bit rates high and constant on a stream and how do I increase my fps on a stream. Or, to make it real easy, how do I get the best video stream picture that is not choppy or freeze frame. Our show is now starting to be sponsored by entities and I can't have bad looking shows. Can anybody lead me in the right direction?

Whats your Encoding machine's configuration? I feel a low configuration machine can cause choppy streams.
Did you try with any other video source?
I feel you have enough bandwidth to stream.

Controlling output video bit rate in FCPX

I ran into a problem: I created a mp4 file with Share/Export File… (settings: Computer, H.264 Faster Encode, 1920x1080 - edited from an HD camera): its video always freezes at a definite point when played on my BD Player connected to my HDTV through HDMI (audio instead continues on the frozen image).
It seem that the issue is a sudden video bit rate pick of almost 50 Mbps while its average is around 20-30 Mbps. It is not clear to me if this freeze is caused by the BD Player or by the HDTV not being able to handle such pick.
As a test I used Compressor to control the output bit rate (settings: average 20 Mbps and pick 25 Mbps) and this seems to fix the problem. To be more certain I should do more tests, but I'm confident I found a possible solution.
I'd like to know if there is a way in FCPX to control such picks (without using Compressor), either in the Share commands (but it seems to me that they don't provide enough setting controls) or in the timeline. By watching the Video Scopes I can see a quite strong signal in the area where the output file has the bit rate pick. But I don't know any way to have a measure useful to identify them before sharing and avoid a trial and error approach...
Piero
Below the critical point...

Tried to upload a PDF instead of PNG, but no luck. The picture shows a quite standard (I'd say...) image but with highly dense graphic of Y' component in the Y'CbCr Parade (in the limits of 0-100 IRE): much more dense than most images in the rest of the movie. So I assume this might mean a higher bit rate... but it's just an assumption.
Let me summarize my tests:
1st test: FCPX: Share/Export File.. (settings: Computer, H.264 Faster Encode, 1920x1080)
- copied the .mp4 file to USB drive
- USB drive into a BD player connected to HDTV through HDMI >> freezing effect
2nd test: FCPX: Send to Compressor - Compressor: Create Blu-Ray Disk (on Hard Drive) and Video Job with standard Video settings (Automatically select bit rates = ON)
- Played the .img disk with "Mac Blu-Ray Player" on my iMac >> same freezing effect in same position as before on HDTV
3rd test: FCPX: Send to Compressor - Compressor: Create Blu-Ray Disk (on Hard Drive) and Video Job with customized Video settings: Automatically select bit rates = OFF - Average = 20 Mbps - Maximum = 25 Mbps
- Played the .img disk with "Mac Blu-Ray Player" on my iMac >> NO MORE freezing effect (and smaller file by 30%)
I might do more tests (mainly on my HDTV) but I believe the point is the bit rate... and the only way to control it is by using Compressor.
So now my question: is there a color setting that helps in controlling such situation ? e.g. lower saturation, or lower exposure, maybe in mid tones or highlights, or what ?
Thanks so much for your help
Piero

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.

The best Bit rate for a 1 hour film

Hi all
Just a quick question does anyone know the best bit rate to use to compress a 1 hour film. I want the best quality possible
Any advice would be gratfully recieved
Thanks

If you're using Compressor and it's a one hour encode then use the CBR setting with a bit rate of 6 or 6.5. Also encode your audio to the industry standard .ac3 file format. The combination of audio and video bitrate is always a compromise between quality and having consumer DVD players stalling or choking because the combined birate is too high.
However, the media content you're encoding will always determine how you should encode: video with lots of fast action needs the VBR setting, whereas the CBR setting can be used when there is little action. But generally, the CBR setting in Compressor will do an okay job with project durations of one hour or less, regardless of the action in your video.
Hope this helps.
- Don

Bit rate-to-capacity chart?

Hi all,
I'm new to making DVDs, so my apologies if this is a simple question. I have looked here and on Google but I've not found exactly I'm looking for.
Let's say I've got 2 hours of material I want to put on a DVD. What's the easiest way to calculate what setting in Compressor I need to use?
I ask because I had a 1:20:00 piece I wanted to put on DVD. I thought the MPEG-2 6.2Mbps 2-pass option would be the best. I dragged that, plus the AIFF file into a track in DSP but it was almost 5 GB. If I used the 118 MB Dolby 2.0 AC3 file instead of the 940 MB 48/16 AIFF file, it worked fine. Why is there such a large difference in the size of the sounds files? When would one use the larg AIFF file instead of the much smaller AC3 file?
Regards,
fh

Hello,
There are several ways to determine bit rate size. You could download any numerous calculator (I use Mr. Bitrate) but the best and quickest answer would be to use the property inspector calculator in Compressor.
For two hours of video, off the cuff, would be around 3.7-4 mbps ave bit rate for the video. (You can still leave 7.5 max bit rate for safe dvd player compatibility) Remember that DVDSP adds MB's on top of your pre-encoded assests after you import. In a project I am doing right now, for 161 min of video I am encoding at 2.6 mbps. This is comprised of seven individual 23 min projects that for each as an assest DVDSP adds an additional 30 mb.
You should use AC3 audio compression for better compression size and better DVD player compatibility. DVDSP also adds MB's to these pre-encoded files upon import. You can use Aiff although it can cause playback issues, but whichever you choose, pick one and stick with it to avoid some potential drop out errors that can occur when mixing the two formats in the same project.
Remember to mark thread as helpful/solved if this helped.
Good Luck,
Dustin

Compressor bit rate question

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