[mythtv-users] capture parameters suitable for DVD output

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

I'm setting up a Myth box.  I think that I want to use it like a DVD
recorder with a hard disk.

It was not obvious to me what the easiest way to burn DVDs from Myth
might be.  I've settled on Myth Archive.  (Alternative recommendations
welcome.)

Myth Archive takes a very long time to burn a DVD if the original
recording was not in a resolution suitable for DVD.  As far as I can
tell, suitable resolutions for NTSC are:
	720x480
	352x480
and maybe
	360x480
	704x480
	352x240
Which of these last three are considered proper resolutions for DVDs?

For my purposes, it is unfortunate that the default resolution in Myth
is 480x480, not one of these.  Now I know, it is easy to fix.


What bitrates make sense?  I'd like to mimic the DVD recorders that we
have.  They offer three quality choices: 2 hour, 4 hour, and 6 hour
modes.  These choices select the resolution and the bandwidth.

Myth offers choices for two aspects of bitrate: bitrate and maximum
bitrate.

I'd like to know what to set all of these parameters to to get optimal
pictures within the constraints of 2 hour, 4 hour, and 6 hour capacity
for a single-layer DVD.

I'm using a Hauppauge PVR-150 with hardware MPEG-2.  I'd prefer not to
transcode to DivX/Xdiv but maybe that would be worthwhile.