Recording quality - what does it mean?

[tch65721]

Using Sage 2.1, I see I can set different recording qualities like "good", "best" and "standard" but really don't have a feel for what they mean. Is "best" better than "standard"? I would have sworn former versions had a numerical value (2gig/hr) assigned to words like "good" but this version doesn't and I can't find any reference. Could someone point me to the decoder? Thanks.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by tch65721

Using Sage 2.1, I see I can set different recording qualities like "good", "best" and "standard" but really don't have a feel for what they mean. Is "best" better than "standard"? I would have sworn former versions had a numerical value (2gig/hr) assigned to words like "good" but this version doesn't and I can't find any reference. Could someone point me to the decoder?

Older versions used to put the bitrate after the quality setting.

The recording quality settings can be found in sage.properties -- see the "mmc/python2_encoding/" lines. A long time ago, Jeff wrote this post covering the default settings:

Originally Posted by Narflex

These are the default qualities in SageTV.

Quality  VBR AvgVideoRate Resolution AudioBitrate
Best     No  6Mbps        720x480    384kbps
Great    No  3.8Mbps      720x480    384kbps
Good     No  2.8Mbps      480x480    256kbps
Fair     No  1.7Mbps      480x480    256kbps
CVD      Yes 2.5Mbps      352x480    224kbps
SVCD ELP Yes 1.152Mbps    480x480    224kbps
SVCD LP  Yes 1.6Mbps      480x480    224kbps
SVCD SP  Yes 2Mbps        480x480    224kbps
DVD ELP  Yes 3Mbps        720x480    384kbps
DVD LP   Yes 4.8Mbps      720x480    384kbps
DVD SP   Yes 6.4Mbps      720x480    384kbps
MPEG2Max No  12Mbps       720x480    384kbps

NOTE1: For Creative VBDVCR, 640x480 is used instead of 720x480 and 320x480 insted of 352x480
NOTE2: AudioSampling of 48kHz is used for all of these

Note that the values are mega bits per second. You can create your own custom settings, BTW. See: Hauppauge Cards & Recording Quality.

- Andy

[tch65721]

Thank you, that helps. Any opinions on VBR? How about or quality vs. size? I've been using dvd sp and get ~ 3 gig files per hour. My 250 gig x 2 drives are getting full...

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by tch65721

Any opinions on VBR?

That varies. Some people say it is a great way to save some space while still having a high recording rate during fast motion scenes, but I've seen others say the variation doesn't have great results & that a CBR is much better.

How about or quality vs. size?

Size matters -- higher quality settings will be, well, higher quality.

It all comes down to personal preference. I make a few recordings at some different rates & then picked the lowest setting that didn't have noticeable blockiness to the image. Which setting that is for you depends on your playback setup & your opinion of what looks good enough. I set specific rate for some favs too -- most of the kids cartoons work fine at a settinglower than my default rate, for example.

Oh -- some of those default settings _might_ have changed slightly; I can't remember. You can check the properties file, though.

- Andy

[kny3twalker]

I use best variable for animation/cartoons
use my high quality 4.25GB/hr setting for analogue liveTV and some of my favorite shows
all other digital satellite recordings are best 3gb/hr
and sports I use variable mpeg max quality

and that for default as well in case I switch to sports

[buzzerbee]

can someone help me with this. I have 2 questions.

I usually don't care too much about what I record. I never archive it, but next weekend, there's some shows on that I do want to preserve and they won't be rerun. Which of these would give me the best settings to burn to DVD? Space is no issue. The shows are top priority.

should I do the hauppage card registry tweaks? I don't really notice any problems, but if it's better for everyone else (who actually can differentiate the quality) then I can apply the tweaks --if it won't introduce instability to my PC.


I would think BEST is best, but it's below DVD standard play in the list, which seems to be listed in terms of quality, which would indicate to me that BEST isn't best... ?


these are my settings right now.
mmc/python2_encoding/DVD\ Standard\ Play=videobitrate\=6400000|peakvideobitrate\=8000000|vbr\=1|width\=720|height\=480|audiobitrate\=384|outputstreamtype\=10|audiosampling\=48000

mmc/python2_encoding/Best=videobitrate\=6000000|vbr\=0|width\=720|height\=480|audiobitrate\=384|outputstreamtype\=10|audiosampling\=48000


Thanks.

[buzzerbee]

so let me ask another way
the video bitrate is better on DVD standard. but what does the VBR status 0/1 mean. On /off? If so, what's that mean for my recording?

[Opus4]

For details on the recording quality lines, see: Hauppauge Cards & Recording Quality. VBR is for variable bitrate; 1 means ON -- it means the recording can use a lower bitrate at times & then bump up the bitrate if the encoding process thinks it needs to in order to maintain quality (like during fast motion scenes)... or some such description.

Selecting a recording rate really just comes down to what recording quality you are sasfied with.

- Andy

[buzzerbee]

do you know what commercial DVDs' settings are? is it the same as DVD standard?

it appears that DVD standard is variable between 6.4 and 8 while BEST is constant at 6.

[Opus4]

I don't know anything about commercial DVDs, so maybe someone else will comment on that?

But... I can't resist: did you just change your avatar? I keep meaning to get into my studio and photograph my darker cat on a black background & yours looks like a good candidate for that too -- it would end up with just the eyes and spots visible in the portrait.

- Andy

[korben_dallas]

The max bit rate for "Hollywood" DVDs is usually capped at 9.8Mbps during capture, in order to be compatible with older DVD players. For playback, it's probably lower than that because they use multipass encoding and can really granularly control quality vs Mbps.

DVD Standard can equal or save you space while achieving a higher quality than the Best setting because it is VBR, but it depends how much bit rate the encoding algorithm thinks it needs.

[buzzerbee]

Thanks guys, I think I'm understanding the concepts now . I just imaged my boot drive, so I'm going to try the hauppage tweaks and also just change the "Best" setting to a fixed 8000000 size. My default is DVD Extra long play, so when I use Best, I really want that, regardless of file size. (But to be honest I couldn't see any difference between the DVD standard play and Best settings I posted above.)


Opus4- I tried to upload this avatar but it was too big and I couldn't make it a smaller file size (it's already at 100x100) (see how windumb I am) http://www.123-image-hosting.info/files/891845e034.jpg

edit: this is the whole pic http://www.123-image-hosting.info/files/2f73f30158.jpg