Digital Media Converter 4.2

Configuring MPEG Properties

1. After adding files to the list, point to the Tools menu and click Settings.
2. Under General Settings, select either VCD, DVD, SVCD or Custom MPEG 1 from the Convert To Format box.
3. Select the Properties tab or Properties button. 

MPEG is the file format used to create DVD, VCD, and SVCD.  This high quality compressed format can be used across all platforms.  DVDs, VCDs, and SVCDs accept MPEG files that conform to their respective standards.

Read the articles: Understanding VCD, DVD and SVCD Formats and VCD, SVCD and DVD- Quality, Capacity and Media Types

The table below lists down the format in which MPEG files are made by Digital Media Converter depending on the type of video disc selected.

NTSC is the picture standard used in USA while PAL is used in almost all European countries.  The MPEG 1 format also supports Variable Bit-rate video that can be used to achieve high compression ratios.

Read the article: Convert Between PAL and NTSC

Making MPEG Movies for VCD, SVCD and DVD

Creating VCD, SVCD or DVD involves:

1. Making MPEG movie (s) conforming to the standard that the disc accepts.
2. Burning the created movie (s) to an appropriate disc (CD or DVD)

Digital Media Converter is able to make MPEG movies for various Video Discs as discussed in the table above.  However, a separate CD or DVD burning software is required to burn these MPEG movies to a CD or DVD.

To make movie for VCD, SVCD or DVD, select the required format from Convert To Format box and click on OK.  The values required to create the correct MPEG Format is automatically filled up.

The options available are:

1. MPEG 1 VCD (NTSC)
2. MPEG 1 VCD (PAL)
3. MPEG 2 SVCD (NTSC)
4. MPEG 2 SVCD (PAL)
5. MPEG 2 DVD (NTSC)
6. MPEG 2 DVD (PAL)

Aspect Ratio

In DVD - NTSC, movies are created in 720x480 video dimension, whereas in DVD - PAL, movies are created in 720x576 video dimension.  Every DVD video stream has a DAR (Display Aspect Ratio) flag.  The flag tells the media player what kind of target display the stream has been encoded for.  You can change the DAR to match the display you expect the movie to be viewed on (and to match the Aspect Ratio of the movie you are converting).  By default the video will be created in a 4:3 display aspect ratio.  You can choose between:

1. For Normal TV (4:3)
2. For HDTV (16:9)
3. For Cinemascope Movie (2.21:1)

Note:

The DAR (Display Aspect Ratio) is not the ratio of the actual video dimensions you have encoded the video at.  So, even though Windows Media Player continues to show the accurate video dimensions in the file's properties, it will play the video in the DAR you have chosen.  For example, if you have created a movie in DVD-NTSC and DAR as 16:9 the video will appear stretched when playing in Media Player but will still have a dimension of 720x480.

Making Custom MPEG Movies

Although, MPEG is primarily used to create movies for VCD, SVCD and DVD, Digital Media Converter can make movies in custom MPEG 1 format as well.  To make custom MPEG movies, select Custom MPEG 1 from the Convert To Format box.  Specify custom values for:

1. Video Dimensions: Select the width and height in pixels.
2. Frame Rate: Select the frame rate in frames/second (FPS).
3. Audio Bitrate: Specify the bit-rate.
4. Audio Frequency: Specify the audio frequency of your choice.  The available settings are 44100 Hz and 48000 Hz.
5. Click on OK to save the settings. 

Read the article: Reducing Video File Sizes