Apple DVD Studio Pro 4 - Manual (Page 81)

H.264 range MPEG-2 range Video format
0.5 Mbps to 15 Mbps 2.0 Mbps to 15.0 Mbps Standard definition
1.5 Mbps to 29.4 Mbps 2.0 Mbps to 29.4 Mbps High definition
Important: It is strongly suggested that you use H.264 bit rates of 18 Mbps or less to
ensure DVD compatibility.
H.264 Frame Sync Setting
The H.264 encoder in Compressor contains a Frame Sync setting. This setting defines
how often the encoder places a key frame, similar to an MPEG-2 I-frame, in the stream.
The value is in seconds, with one half second increments. The range is from 0.5 seconds
to 5.0 seconds.
The smaller the Frame Sync value is, the more key frames are placed in the stream, which
results in better quality but with a larger file size. Higher values result in a smaller file but
with reduced quality.
The Frame Sync setting does not affect where you can place markers in the Track Editor.
Due to the structure of the H.264 stream, you are able to place a marker about every half
second.
About HDV Video
DVD Studio Pro natively supports many of the HDV video formats currently in use. 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.
You can edit the following HDV video formats directly in Final Cut Pro and use them
directly in your HD DVD Studio Pro projects without the need to transcode them.
Note: None of these formats are supported in SD DVD projects. For the best results, use
Compressor to convert any unsupported HDV formats to supported HDV, MPEG-2, or
H.264 formats. You can use Compressor to convert these formats (and any other HD-format
video) to an SD format that you can use in your SD projects.
NTSC HD projects natively support the following formats:
• 720p24
• 720p30
• 720p60
• 1080p24
• 1080p30
• 1080i60
81 Chapter 4 Preparing Video Assets