Nero Digital Size vs Quality

[aiannar974]

Hello,

I am having a tough time understanding what size I should have for a Nero Digital file and still have a good picture.

For example, I have a mini dv camcorder, I typically burn this to DVD format and store accordingly. I would also like to start storing them on a hardrive and streaming to my TV. I currently just have a normal tube TV. I will be upgrading to a high def soon. I thought MP4 would be a good format to do this. I have Nero. With Nero I can select the intended viewing target (portable, standard, high def, etc.). But then I can select a file size. I think there s no reason to slect a viewing target greater than the native file, but I do not know what is reasonable for a file size. I would like to see a similar quality to playing the video through the camera to the TV.

What are you thoughts?

If I had a dvd movie that I would like to store in a similar way, would the setting be different?

If I bought a dvd camcorder would the setting be different because the resolution capable in dvd format is less than avi?

Thank you,

Anthony

[DarkZell666]

Since you're in the AVC thread, I suppose you want to store this in Nero Digital AVC format. AVC gives VERY good results in 720*576 (DVD format) at 1,5mbps (and sufficiently good results at 1mbps). The file size doesn't mean anything without the desired file length (1 hour ? 2 hours ?).

Do note that Nero will automatically crop and resize the picture to an "average suitable size" according to the bitrate (called quality in nero) you'll choose, the length of the footage you're encoding, and it's compressibility (which is quickly analysed when the footage is opened by Recode the very first time).

This is all true for the plain "Nero Digital" format, but you'll need quite a bit more bitrate (quality in nero) to achieve a similar visual quality.

[aiannar974]

Thank you for the reply. When you say nero AVC format, is this a default? I thought nero digital was just that. I cannot find anywhere, where is says avc.

When you say: "This is all true for the plain "Nero Digital" format, but you'll need quite a bit more bitrate (quality in nero) to achieve a similar visual quality"

What is plain "Nero Digital" format. When you say more bitrate to achieve similar visual quality, what format is this?

Thank you for the help

Anthony

[Sagittaire]

Since you're in the AVC thread, I suppose you want to store this in Nero Digital AVC format. AVC gives VERY good results in 720*576 (DVD format) at 1,5mbps (and sufficiently good results at 1mbps). The file size doesn't mean anything without the desired file length (1 hour ? 2 hours ?).


Well 1 Mbps is certainely not a good bitrate for DV source simply because DV source are generaly really more complex to compress than DVD Movie source.

[DarkZell666]

@Sagittaire: thx for pointing that out, I wasn't too sure about the DV stuff ;)

@aiannar974: Nero Recode offers 2 encoding formats: AVC and ASP.

- AVC is the other name for h264 (which x264 also produces).
- ASP is what XviD and DivX produce.

Profiles which are for AVC have "AVC" written on them. Profiles which are for ASP have neither AVC or ASP written on them (which is why I abusively said they were "plain nero digital" format, contrary to the AVC profiles).

AVC produces MUCH better quality than ASP, but AVC is a "new" format, which "DivX certified" players can't read. Which leads to this question: On what do you plan on watching those videos, your computer or your standalone player ?

If you can't find any profiles with "AVC" written on them, then your Nero installation is too old, or has been corrupted (many people have needed to reinstall nero and some updates to have all the profiles available again).

[sjchmura]

Nero also does a great job at 3mps for HD encoding (720p).

I think the conventional wisdom is that ANY avc - even the fastest parameters - will usually be superior to the best ASP encodes.

[aiannar974]

Thanks for everyones help. I got it now. I needed to upgrade.

I have one last question.

How do I know whether or not to check letterboxing under the video options. How do I know if the movie is in an anamporpic format or just cropped to get the aspect ratio.

My goal is to play though a computer or a wireless digital video system capable of decoding the video through a NAS drive and view on a standard tv today and a widescreen in the near future. Can both work?