Best settings for DVD players

gmlotkow wrote on 4/3/2018, 5:00 PM

I normally edit 1920x1080 60p with several HD cameras. When it comes time to export to DVD, I may be having a problem.

There are many options for these export settings, myself I can cope with higher than 7000 kBit/sec, but may of the families who get one often tell me they don't play. I have to reduce the settings to 5000 kBit/sec before it will play for them. At 5000kBit/sec, I really see a loss in quality. If I make a Blu-Ray, it is superb. I'm sure its because many families have old dvd players, what's your thoughts on this? Is the paper label I apply? Is is the poor XBox DVD player? Other players as well? Is it my Magix settings?

I'd like to dump this DVD stuff and stream it.

(I have a small business that makes a small profit from selling these discs, I need to move it to the next quality level, forget the Blu-Ray, think Netflix style! How do I do it?)

Comments

johnebaker wrote on 4/4/2018, 6:18 AM

Hi Greg

For DVD and BD it is best to accept the default preset settings.

. . . . At 5000kBit/sec, I really see a loss in quality . . . . If I make a Blu-Ray, it is superb. I'm sure its because many families have old dvd players, what's your thoughts on this? . . . .

If viewing this on a Full HD TV then the quality will appear worse and is affected by the quality of the upscaling functions of the player or TV and there is very little you can do about this.

I used to say up the bitrate to the maximum possible for DVD playback on a HD TV, older and economy players often cannot handle the higher bitrates - the default settings are optimised to enable playback on almost all DVD or BD players.

. . . . what's your thoughts on this . . . .

Mine are

. . . .Is the paper label I apply? . . . .

I avoid these like the plague, having heard the noise and seen the damage a disc can make when it breaks up due to slight balance issue caused by the label being fractionally off centre.

I use full face printable discs and a printer which can handle these - I highly recommend the Epson XP series - I currently have the XP-750, previously the R200 and R300 series

. . . . Is is the poor XBox DVD player? Other players as well? . . . .

See my comments above.

. . . . I'd like to dump this DVD stuff and stream it. . . . . think Netflix style! . . . .

Considerations include hosting requirements, eg Youtube, Vimeo, or own hosting?

Youtube, Vimeo etc

You need to take into account that they convert the video down to as low as 240p depending on the viewers Internet connection capabilities and device.

Own hosting then you have to consider

bandwidth, storage limits, data limits and costs
Software requirements eg do you use a bespoke website (costly) or a CMS like Joomla, WordPress, Drupal etc
Security and back ups
Privacy
Management of customer data to meet data protection / GDPR requirements.
Product availability period - you cannot store videos indefinitely

HTH

John EB

DugsBugs wrote on 4/7/2018, 2:41 AM

Hi Greg..
I do a lot of DVD production within the funeral industry all at 1080x25 fixed position cameras and I have had no customers come back with the problem of not playing since 2012.
I know the paper labels were an issue for me in the early days but now I only use inkjet printing.
DVD is a very poor result compared to WMV or MP4 but I tend to sharpen the Movie before burning the DVD and it seems to be acceptable.
Hope this helps.
Doug.

browj2 wrote on 4/7/2018, 12:33 PM

Hi all,

I have an old HP (brand new in late 2010) with an internal DVD Writer, and a much newer ASUS (4 or 5 years old) DVD/BD writer. Almost everyone that I sent a DVD to had trouble with the DVD's done using the ASUS, no problems with those burned using the old HP. I have several DVD and DVD/BD players of various ages, and I haven't had any problems with DVD's from either. Go figure.

My neighbour has a BD player and I have not been able to produce a BD that his machine can read. I tried different types of disks, to no avail.

I bought a pack of cheap labels and regretted it as most started coming off before I could send them out. My brother-in-law was not pleased with a DVD that I gave him as he couldn't eject it (label came off in the machine). I told him it was because the player was old and dirty and he left the DVD in it for too long. The good labels have not come off.

More recently, I have given up on DVD's and now put my videos on YouTube, unlisted, and then send out the link or create web pages with links to the videos. It seems that most people are using cell phones and tablets to view the videos.

But, this is personal stuff, not business, so I don't know how you could sell this. Maybe just sell/distribute on USB memory sticks. I have yet to try it, but one can create a web page (pages) similar to the DVD menus, and put it all on a memory stick and run the html file from there, no link to the internet required.

John CB

gmlotkow wrote on 4/11/2018, 11:01 AM

Good info brow & Bugs. I've been using the same labels for years, and non of them ever came off. I got this old Memorex stamping press that centers them pretty well, never had a label hang off the edge.They are never fully concentric, but no loose ends either. I can sometimes make 70-80 DVDs to distribute, I have a array that copies 7 at a time. My end product is a disc or two ($0.20 ea) a printed label ($0.15 ea), plastic case ($0.20 ea) and a color printed insert for the case ($0.20 ea). I could not imaging trying to do that with a usb stick.

I'm contemplating working the the community education department, and the local school administrators to support me on some type of streaming network. They often want me to give them material to use for the local community education channel. I don't because because they are a bit outdated, they have to convert it analog, send it via some other outdated network to the community channel, then my videos look worse than ever. Because I now invested in 4K cameras, and built a new PC that allow me to edit it, its now time to crank it up a notch, give the community something that will WOW them. (They like what I do for them, it's time to let them pay for it!).