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I recently shared a TV program that I authored to DVD on a file sharing site (it's a live music sharing site - all above board since anything uploaded that a band or record company disapprove of is quickly removed).

I recorded the gig from a digital TV broadcast onto my HDD recorder, then transferred it to DVD. I then extracted the mpeg from the DVD using VS, created some menus and authored back to DVD. I made sure I selected "Do not convert compliant mpeg" and as expected it didn't appear to convert the video. The bitrate of the produced DVD was the same as the source mpeg so there's no reason to think it would have re-encoded.

Now I've been told that the DVD is not allowed on the site because I used VS which they claim always re-encodes mpeg. They havn't looked at the video, they are just going on the fact I stated VS was the authoring software. Now I always assumed that VS doesn't re-encode if you ask it not to. I'm hoping someone can confirm that to me.

In addition, the bitrate I used (8182 kbps video and 1536 kbps and audio) according to them is too high to be DVD compliant. I don't understand this as this is the format produced by my HDD recorder and it is within the max DVD bitrate according to

http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/me ... d-dvd.html

Also, all the DVDs I produce have this bitrate and they've always played fine in any DVD player I've tried.

Can anyone confirm that VS doesn't necessarily re-encode when authoring a DVD and that my bitrate is DVD compliant? Thanks.

VS definitely does NOT re-encode compliant mpeg files if you have ticked that relevant box in the middle icon in the bottom left of the burning screen. And you can tell both from the absence of a message saying it is encoding titles during the burning process AND the much shorter burning time (which doesn't have the time that would be taken by a conversion included).

I am, however, puzzled by your audio bitrate which seems about 5 times too high for the types of audio that would normally go on a DVD... What format are you using, and if you know, why is it so high?

Ken, thanks for your clarification. The audio is LPCM, which is I understand is uncompressed, hence the high bitrate. That is the bitrate at which my HDD records and so that is why I use the same bitrate for my DVD. I'm actually surpised to find that this is considered high as it's a standard bitrate on my recorder. I do have the option to record in Dolby AC3 at 356 kbps which I guess might be perfectly adequate and something I'll consider in future, but I always assumed a higher bitrate would mean better quality and since it's mainly music I'm dealing with then I've always aimed to get the highest possible audio quality.

Your bitrates are OK, unless you're using variable bitrate, and that's the average bitrate, and your peak birate exceeds the 9800kbps limit.

You can also find the DVD specs (bitrate limits, etc.) on this page.

It says you can have a maximum video bitrate of 9800kbps. Combined video, audio, & subtitles can be just over 10,000kbps.

But apparently, some DVD players do have trouble with high bitrate "burned" DVDs.

1536kbps audio is standard uncompressed LPCM (stereo, 16bits, 48kHz).

I do have the option to record in Dolby AC3 at 356 kbps which I guess might be perfectly adequate and something I'll consider in future, but I always assumed a higher bitrate would mean better quality and since it's mainly music I'm dealing with then I've always aimed to get the highest possible audio quality.

True! AC3 is lossy compression, but it's quite good! With a stereo track, you should be able to go well below 356kbps. And, with a "typical" 90 minute movie/program, compressed audio allows you to use a higher video bitrate on a single-layer DVD.

Plus, it's the only DVD-compliant way to to get digital surround. I've got several "live concert" DVDs, and when there are multiple audio tracks, I'll always choose the Dolby AC3 5.1, or DTS 5.1 (also lossy) over the uncompressed LPCM stereo track.

I used to avoid lossy compression 'till I got a home-theater sound system and watched/listened to some of these DVDs. The sound quality is fantastic! Then, I started reading about MP3 "passing" blind ABX tests and I became a bit less snobby about lossy (audio) compression.

Thanks for your reply Doug.

After mentioning my issues to the site I got a reply stating that they were mistaken about the bitrate and that it is actually OK so I'm assuming that isn't a problem now. I still think I might capture in AC3 in future if the quality is considered close to lossless.

However they are still insisting that VS always re-encodes, and that even when you specify no re-encoding they claim, and I quote, "in practice it doesn't work". This is not based on their own testing but based on information given to them from an unspecified source. I don't really know what they mean by "in practice it doesn't work" and how you can determine that, but as a simple user I think it's going to be pretty tough to convince them otherwise. I'm going to do some more digging and see if I can come up with a way to demonstrate that VS really can author without re-encoding and that it does actually work.

Given the fact the "they" have no proof that re-encoding by VS is occurring, and given the fact that "they" say your DVD specs of 9718 kbps are not DVD compliant, I would say that "they" have no idea what "they" are talking about.