Apple DVD Studio Pro 4 - Manual (Page 80)

About H.264 Video
You can use the H.264 video format, also known as MPEG-4 part 10 and the Advanced
Video Codec (AVC), in your HD projects. The H.264 encoder is twice as efficient as the
standard MPEG-2 encoder. When compared to encoding with MPEG-2, this means that
with the H.264 encoder:
• You can use a lower bit rate to get the same quality, resulting in smaller files.
• You can use the same bit rate and get better quality with the same file size.
While DVD Studio Pro does not include an embedded H.264 encoder, Compressor includes
presets specifically for use in HD projects. You are able to modify these presets to suit
your specific needs.
Important: You must use H.264 for HD DVD presets in Compressor to encode H.264 video
assets for native use in DVD Studio Pro HD projects.
Natively Supported H.264 Formats
DVD Studio Pro natively supports the following H.264 formats. Native support means that
the files are not reencoded when they are imported into the appropriate NTSC or PAL
HD project. In some cases, however, frames may be set to repeat during playback to
create the HD DVD specification’s required frame rate.
NTSC HD projects natively support the following formats:
• 720p24
• 720p30
• 720p60
• 1080p24
• 1080p30
PAL HD projects natively support the following formats:
• 720p25
• 720p50
• 1080p25
H.264 Bit Rates
The process of choosing a bit rate for H.264 video is similar to choosing a bit rate for
MPEG-2 video—the higher the bit rate the better the quality, but the more disc space
that is required. In general, you are able to use lower bit rates than you would use with
an MPEG-2 encoder.
While the maximum bit rates you can use are identical to MPEG-2 video, the minimum
bit rates are lower.
80 Chapter 4 Preparing Video Assets