The VH Trade Site Forums Archives

[tstronge]

When trading for dvd-r's what are the main things that you look for, your expectations on everything thing from menu's to the audio and picture. The reason why I'm asking is because I'm thinking of getting a dcd recorder.

[jammybastard]

I really don't give a shit about menus, graphics, and such. IMHO they are a waste of disc space.
The most important thing to my ears and eyes is that you encode the video and audio at the highest possible bitrate, especially if it is sourced from VHS tape. That way you preserve what ever quality was on your master tape.
Most people think that once you have it captured that it doesn't make a difference what you rates you encode at, but it makes all the difference in the world. I've seen DVDs that look like VCDs because someone tried to fit too much on one DVD-R instead of splitting the content between two and encoding at say 7.5CBR as opposed to 4.0CBR.
They start out with a perfectly good source tape and then ruin it by not encoding it correctly.
Just my .02 USD, your mileage may vary.

[Anonymous]

Most of all i like to see no pixellation, and a good job done during the encoding. Bootlegs and especially older footage will benefit a lot if everyone gets into using Variable Bitrate and PC authoring and making 1:1 copies on computers... Standalones are the main problem i think. Some people get a standalone and instantly think that their 300+ vhs tapes from whatever generation copy are worthy of DVD and its diminishes what is cool about DVD.

I think the big benefit of DVD is being able to source the best copy of something out, author it once really well and then slowly but surely it gets distributed to everyone and then we all have it in its best form to enjoy... Standlones do nothing to promote that.

Secondly its cool if the chapters are well done and at the start of songs..

Anything after that is a bonus, menus with song/chapter selection or extra audio options or footage etc

[oryo]

great info guys.

[tstronge]

At the moment I'm looking at getting a "panasonic DMR-E50S". I'm thinking about going with the standalone. I think I would get to frustrated with the computer version.

[fletch]

I can offer you a great deal on the one I bought and used 1 time....drop me a email or pm....

[ect5150]

Quote: Originally posted by jammybastard:
I've seen DVDs that look like VCDs because someone tried to fit too much on one DVD-R instead of splitting the content between two and encoding at say 7.5CBR as opposed to 4.0CBR. So true... there are a few early DVDs you can buy of movies that are like this. Honestly though... people that are authoring these discs should sit down and calculate what bitrate the DVD can support for the time period of the video. After that, use a higher VBR encoding. Either quality based or bit rate based. Most hollywood movies use a 2 pass variable bit-rate based encoding. That will maximize the quality for a certain amount of disk space, and thats what I like to see done.

[Scott Roberts]

Another good topic started here. :thumb: However, these types of technical-related threads are better suited for Trade Chat. Moving this over there now.

[soman]

Hey All!

Has anybody been running into this problem? Lately, I've been getting DVDs in trade that were originally authored/produced by computer with menus and then someone copies with a stand-alone burner... Basically, ruining the menu and the associated chapter breaks... Plus, I was under the impression that copying with a stand alone burner causes generation loss? I plan on taking these shows off of my trade lists, if they reduce the integrity of the original authored dvds... Any insight? Thanks

[Anonymous]

Hi soman

That sux that yove gotten disks like that. It does definately reduce the quality when copying DVD to standalone DVD recorder and to me its a worse scenario than a good HI-FI VHS copy. I think pixellation looks worse than image blur IMHO....Not to mention loosing menus and chapters etc..

If anyone needs to calculate exactly what they can fit on a DVD disk check out this calculator.. It rocks!!!

http://dvd-hq.info/Calculator.html

Just enter all the details and it updates to what the best settings it suggests on the right... Make sure to change the audio from 1536kbps if your using MPEG audio or AC3 and enter the correct bitrate to enable the extra space to be givent to the video... Of course if you use PCM audio just leave it as is :)

Later
Adam

[tstronge]

The main reason why I started this topic was to determine if I would trade DVD's once I got a DVD recorder. At the moment I'm not sure how much if any I will do.

Trevor

[tstronge]

How many here trade DVD's? and how many have DVD recorder's? Here are a few questions.

1. What do you look for in a manue?

2. Stand alone or pc. Which do you prefer?

3. Sound and picture quality. What do you look for?

4. What problems have you come across in trading dvd's?

Just looking for some answers before I make the big leap. ;)

[jammybastard]

Quote: Originally posted by tstronge:
How many here trade DVD's? and how many have DVD recorder's? Here are a few questions.

1. What do you look for in a manue?

2. Stand alone or pc. Which do you prefer?

3. Sound and picture quality. What do you look for?

4. What problems have you come across in trading dvd's?

Just looking for some answers before I make the big leap. ;) I only trade DVD-R.
Menu? Minimal info. I don't even need one as long as chapter points have been assigned.
I prefer PC, but that's because you can't build graphics, change bitrates, etc...on standalones.
I'm a tweaker.
Sound: 224kbps minimum encoded for Dolby Digital stereo.
Video: Preferably 7.0CBR/VBR.
The higher the better or it'll be pixelllated to hell. Unless your video source is from DLT MPEG2 encoding will look like shit when it comes to black levels and even more shit if you encode below 7.0.
Problems trading?
None. I've had great trades with everyone except one person who I know is very busy but promises to get my DVD out to me (right Fletch?) soon.
DVD is the wave of the future for trading video and audio especially because it's easy to store and easy to ship.
Jump in, the water's fine.

[Anonymous]

1. What do you look for in a manue?

Im happy with simplistic song selection menu and chapter points at correct psoitions (start of each song)

2. Stand alone or pc. Which do you prefer?

PC... If your trading, the standalone isnt a good option at all cause you cant make 1:1 copies of exisiting disks.

3. Sound and picture quality. What do you look for?

High bitrate on video is the most important thign i think... VBR enocding is a must if you wish to have anything over 60 minutes on a DVD... I feel you can fit around 100min on DVD using VBR with very good results and even up to 120 in the right conditions...

Sound wise im happy to encode stuff as low as 192kbps... Anythign under 192 and you are lowering the peak bandwidth of the audio under 20khz, although its prob not an issue because no one can really hear 20khz i just like to keep at that point.

4. What problems have you come across in trading dvd's?

Nothing major... Only thing i would say is some DVD's are made with a bitrate too low and often the standalone recorded stuff can look pixellated.

Just looking for some answers before I make the big leap

[tstronge]

I'm looking at getting a panasonic DMR-E50S. Anybody have anything they can tell me about panasonic good or bad.