DVD Studio Pro 3: In the Studio

Compression

It's not a coincidence that the words compression and compromise look a lot alike. Compression is all about compromising. You should ask yourself a series of questions. The answers will help determine your compression rate. Of course, waiting for terabyte discs to come out is a fine way to avoid the compromise, but in the meantime, consider these questions.

How much space do you have?

Are you building a DVD-5, -9, -10, or -18 project? If you have space, use it! You also need to remember to account for any DVD-ROM content that might be associated with the project.

How long is your video/audio content?

A 20-minute corporate video can use a hefty 8Mbps constant bit rate encoding with no problem. If you're encoding a feature-length film, you need to combine this question with the first one. A DVD-9 (like many commercial DVDs) easily can hold 100 minutes of high-quality video. A DVD-5 (for those of us on home-movie projects) will have to go with a lower-quality encoding.

What's in the video?

Is it a talking-head video or a sports game? Here the variable bit rate encoding can do wonders. You can have an average of 4Mbps, while peaking at 7Mbps for the action sequences.

The two-pass VBR encoding that's available turns out some nice MPEG-2 files. On any big project, you should spend the time it takes to make the second pass.

What's in the audio?

Is it a single speaker in a lecture hall or is it an orchestral score with laser blasts and angst-ridden cries of lifelong commitment? You ...