Video Size Difference VS Quality

[Accolades]

Hi,

I created a 20 min video slideshow using digital photos and a few MOV videos taken with a digital camera.

I created a DVD 16:9 video file that ended up being 1.1gb

I created another video file using the DV format because I was told it was a better format and the file was 4.1gb!!

I didnt really notice that much difference when I looked at the finished output?

Is it worth creating DV as an output file?

[2Dogs]

Is it worth creating DV as an output file?

Hi Accolades,

I wonder which part of ancient Greece you're from?

In a word, no! There's very little loss in picture quality when rendering to DVD compatible Mpeg-2, and it's also the only option if you want to produce a DVD to share your project with others on their set-top players - and earn your name!

Furthermore, since your source video clips are .mov files from a digital camera, you're also having to re-encode them even if you output them to DV avi - so they'll look just as good when rendered to mpeg-2. With both formats, VS can only output them to 720x480 at 29.87fps (or 720x576 at 25fps in PAL land) compared with their original 640x480 at 30fps from most cameras.

(Since your project is widescreen, though, and your video clips are .mov, I wonder if you are using a Panasonic digicam with 848x480 video output.)

In a project with lots of stills, such as a slide show, you can also get a significant reduction in file size by opting to use variable bitrate mpeg-2. Then, if you want to squeeze the ultimate picture quality from your project, you can choose to use two-pass encoding, and set the video bitrate to 9500kbps, assuming you're using compressed audio. Most people use 8000kbps for project lasting an hour or so, and there are many who start grumbling about set top player incompatibility problems with bitrates above 8000kbps. (despite the fact that many commercial movie discs routinely use 9500kbps!)

That was a long way to say no, wasn't it!



P.S. make sure you apply the patch and update pack to VS11 - it used to have problems with some .mov files which seem to have been fixed by the patch/update.

[Accolades]

Is it worth creating DV as an output file?

Hi Accolades,

I wonder which part of ancient Greece you're from? .

I am glad you put the smile at the end ele i would think you were having a go at me!!

Just wanted to know why the filesize difference for the same project and content!!

1gb and 4gb seems a big difference?

Using the 2 pass option saving as DVD output should in thery give me the optimum filesize and quality?

[Ken Berry]

Yes, but you are talking about two completely different formats which apply totally different types of compression. A DVD compatible file will be an mpeg-2, and the file size you quote sounds about right for it.

DV format applies far less compression than mpeg-2, so again I am not surprised that you got a much bigger file when you converted to that format.

But the point is that you cannot burn a DV file to a video DVD without first converting it to mpeg-2. And going from MOV to DV to mpeg-2 makes no sense as it would entail going from a very compressed format (MOV) to a much less compressed format (DV) and then back to a format which is more compressed than DV but less than MOV (Mpeg-2). There would be all sorts of quality loss in this. Much better to keep the conversions to a minimum and stick to a MOV > mpeg-2 conversion if you intend to burn to DVD.

[Accolades]

Yes, but you are talking about two completely different formats which apply totally different types of compression. A DVD compatible file will be an mpeg-2, and the file size you quote sounds about right for it.

DV format applies far less compression than mpeg-2, so again I am not surprised that you got a much bigger file when you converted to that format.

But the point is that you cannot burn a DV file to a video DVD without first converting it to mpeg-2. And going from MOV to DV to mpeg-2 makes no sense as it would entail going from a very compressed format (MOV) to a much less compressed format (DV) and then back to a format which is more compressed than DV but less than MOV (Mpeg-2). There would be all sorts of quality loss in this. Much better to keep the conversions to a minimum and stick to a MOV > mpeg-2 conversion if you intend to burn to DVD.

This is probably the info I was after...

'But the point is that you cannot burn a DV file to a video DVD without first converting it to mpeg-2.'

Maybe I should not have mentioned the MOV files and left it at quality vs size on photo slideshow.

The info is useful nevertheless