Using the Adobe Mpeg Encoder-Advanced Settings

Choosing a preset in the Adobe Mpeg Encoder is quite easy, after all there are only 6 presets to choose from in each format;  While these  work well, there is most always room for some improvement in quality by making some simple advanced adjustments based on the length of your movie (s).

  Using a default Preset will invariably leaves empty space on your DVD disc that could be better used by increasing the  bitrate and probably the quality of your movie. Using a Variable Bitrate (VBR) preset takes twice as long to encode as a Constant Bitrate (CBR) preset and may not improve the quality for shorter movies. using a Progressive scan preset may give a strobe effect to motion if played on a DVD player without progressive scan capability.

The following table includes overhead for the selected audio format (Dolby @192 Kbps 2.0 or PCM @1.5 Mbps) plus about 3% for graphics and other files. You will need to know if your DVD authoring application is capable of encoding audio as Dolby before choosing the video bitrate and encoding your video.

Instructions:

Constant Bitrate Encoding

1. Choose "MPEG2-DVD" from the Format from down menu. (see fig 1)

2. Click "Video" under "Summary".

3. Select "CBR" for Bitrate Encoding

4. Determine the total length of all video in your DVD project, including motion menus. Trace down the      appropriate column and note the Video bitrate that corresponds to the audio format you will select in your authoring application. "DB" refers to Dolby Digital audio and "PCM" is uncompressed audio.

5 Move the slider (see fig 1) until the Bitrate (Mbps) matches the value selected in step 4.

Variable Bitrate Encoding

Longer movies (90 minutes+) may benefit from Variable Bitrate encoding. The encoder will drop the bitrate during low motion scenes to as low as the minimum bitrate setting, saving the bits for use in higher motion scenes and transitions where the bitrate will rise to as high as the maximum bitrate setting. (See fig 2.)

1. Repeat steps 1 and 2 from above.

2. Select "VBR" as the Bitrate Encoding

3.  Select "TWO" for the Encoding Passes.

4. Move the Target Bitrate (Mbps) slider to the value selected in the table below.

5. Accept or change the default Maximum and Minimum Bitrate values.

 Caution! If your audio type is PCM, do not exceed a Maximum Bitrate of 8000 kbps!