2 problems. Video errors and subtitles

[Jelle]

Hi,

I like the software very much, but i have 2 problems. 1 big and 1 little.
The big: when i save my movie everything is ok but when i view it at much places the video goes slower sometimes and the audio crashes a bit and stuff... something like dropped frames.
Maybe it can be an error I ignore because when i burn a dvd it says:
Title bitrate check:
Title name: < film >
The total bitrate (Video+Audio+Subtitle) of the above title is too high.
Please change the disc template or reduce the number of audio tracks.
but i ignore that because i allready tried much things but nothing seems to work to do that.
A 2nd problem is that i can't turn off the subtitles but that is a known error but it looks nobody has a good solution to fix that?
And also just 1 question: is there an option to make a 16:9 menu exept from a 4:3?
Thanx!
(and sorry for the bad english)

[DVDDoug]

when i save my movie everything is ok but when i view it at much places the video goes slower sometimes and the audio crashes a bit and stuff... something like dropped frames.

Whenever I've had problems like that, it was caused by a corrupted video file. The video usually plays OK, but something is shows-up when trying to re-multiplex the audio and video or rendering to DVD format. That might not be easy to fix, depending on where the video came from

I'm not sure 100% about the following:
-Workshop can only make 4:3 menus.
-The DVD spec requires you to have both a 4:3 and 16:9 menus, if you have a widescreen menu.

(I've never used subtitles.)

[Devil]

Please tell us how you are using WS2. What format are your input files? How and with what are you converting to MPEG-2? What are your video and audio settings and bitrates during encoding the main file to MPEG-2 and also in WS2 (remember that, even if your original file is DVD-compliant, your menus and subtitles still need encoding and if these settings exceed the DVD standard, you will have problems).

[Jelle]

The input video is an m2v but i also tried to do it with an mpeg2.
I don't know the bitrate but i think it is just like a normal dvd bitrate so 9Mbps or something.
The audio is wav with the normal cd quality bitrate.

[Devil]

There is NOTHING normal about ~9000 kbit/s for video bitrate and even less if you are using uncompressed WAV audio. You will be WAY above what is allowable according to the DVD standard. Even if you managed to burn a disk, you would never be able to read it again.

In practical terms, if your project is < ~75 minutes, do an initial trial at 6000 kbit/s CBR with AC-3 stereo audio at 192 kbit/s. If it is longer than 75 minutes, then use a bitrate of 6000 x 75/D where D is the duration of the project in minutes (this is a first approximation). If the total projected file length for the DVD (single layer) is >4.1 Gb, then you should reduce the bitrate accordingly.

How do you obtain your original files?

[Jelle]

But how can i increase my videobitrate without losing quality?
Thanx

[skier-hughes]

The maximum bitrate for a viewable dvd is around the 8,000 mark, for a std dvd player. Some can play higher, but they are very few and far between.

If you increase the bitrate you would increase the quality, but you have to stop somwhere. This assumes you are encoding from a dv-avi file which is the best quality you can have for encoding to mpeg2.

Encoding an already encoded file will always reduce the quality.

[Jelle]

Yes probably but how can i re-encode to another bitrate?
Are their any programs for that?

[Devil]

But how can i increase my videobitrate without losing quality?
Thanx

Very simply, you can't and there is absolutely no point in trying; all you do will be to increase the artefacts and make them more noticeable.

You still haven't indicated the source of your input files, so we cannot give you the best advice how to handle them.

SH has talked about players having a limit of 8000 kbit/s. One of mine (a Grundig) starts to baulk at about 6500 kbit/s sustained bitrate and I know there are others which are similar.

I have also done many close tests and, with a good quality DV input, there is no visible improvement at more than 6000 kbit/s and this is with a frame-by-frame analysis. A slightly higher rate may be justified with uncompressed RGB 4:4:4 video although even this has to be proved. Most commercial disks are made with average bitrates of 4 - 6 Mbit/s, although they may briefly peak to 8 - 8.5 Mbit/s, but never at a sustained rate, because Hollywood knows that many players cannot handle it.