Ending up with best file size for DVD?

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billwatt60
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Joined: Mon Mar 20, 2017 3:12 pm

Ending up with best file size for DVD?

Post by billwatt60 »

I'm routinely presented with a 60-75 minute 720p Quicktime MOV file that I need to be able to fit onto a DVD (for a DVD/Blu-ray player). The critical factor is that I need to end up with a file that is smaller than about 4.5 GB. Is there a default preset or a way to predict what the final file size will be before running a 2-hour transcode?


Thanks
Woodstock
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Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2013 6:39 am

Re: Ending up with best file size for DVD?

Post by Woodstock »

There are ways to make predictions. Whether or not they'll be accurate for a given video is questionable, at best. And handbrake dropped trying to make such guesses years ago, because that was all they were.

If you are targeting a DVD environment, you are limited by that format's requirements - MPEG2 video and AC3 audio. You have your maximum size; a bit-rate calculator will allow you find the maximum bit rate that will work, and you can then use that as a target bit rate for a two-pass encode.
mduell
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Joined: Sat Apr 21, 2007 8:54 pm

Re: Ending up with best file size for DVD?

Post by mduell »

(4.5 GB) / (75 minutes) = 8000 kbps
So you need your combined audio/video bitrate below that, plus a little headroom for error (perhaps 1%).

If you want to actually author a proper DVD, HB is the wrong tool for the job in all respects. If you just want a file you can burn on a disk (i.e. your STB supports such a thing), that's your max bitrate to fit.
Deleted User 11865

Re: Ending up with best file size for DVD?

Post by Deleted User 11865 »

Also you should use VBV with a maxrate of about 15000 Kbps (15000 also works for the bufsize I guess), in order to not exceed read rates of a typical DVD drive.
Deleted User 13735

Re: Ending up with best file size for DVD?

Post by Deleted User 13735 »

First, Handbrake will not author a DVD or BluRay. It will make a burnable data file that may or may not play on your hardware.

Second, the absolute safe program limit is 4.35 GB for a single layer DVD. Two free calculators are Videohelp, which requires Javascript, and Mark's bitrate calculator in XLS that can still be located online. They are just slightly conservative because they leave room for menus. Be sure to figure the audio bitrate as part of total ABR!
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