About standard definition mpeg-2, About high definition sources and mpeg-2, Hd on dvd – Apple Compressor 2 User Manual
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Chapter 10
Creating MPEG-2 Output Files
About Standard Definition MPEG-2
Standard MPEG-2 is full frame rate (23.98–29.97 fps) and full-screen resolution (720 x
480 for NTSC and 720 x 576 for PAL). MPEG-2 has the following characteristics:
 Support for interlaced video: MPEG-2 can support either interlaced or progressive
video. Because MPEG-2 streams are generally played from a local DVD drive, rather
than over a network with variable bandwidth, video frame rate usually stays
constant, and the video normally looks completely smooth.
 No streaming support: MPEG-2 is not suitable for streaming video files over the web
because it requires a high bit rate (2 to 9 Mbps) to maintain acceptable image quality.
Note: The Compressor MPEG-2 encoder has been optimized for creating MPEG-2
video streams for the DVD-Video format. To create DVD-Video discs, you must use a
DVD authoring application, such as DVD Studio Pro, in conjunction with Compressor.
About High Definition Sources and MPEG-2
Compressor has several different options and workflows for transcoding high definition
(HD) video source files into MPEG-2 files.
HD on DVD
Compressor can output MPEG-2 files for creating HD-resolution DVDs from either HD or
standard definition (SD) source media. Compressor can retain the various frame sizes
and frame rates of high definition video when transcoding to MPEG-2. And Compressor
supports the higher bit rates required by HD-based DVD formats. For more information
on creating output for HD-based DVDs, see “
page 129 and the DVD Studio Pro User Manual.
Note: The other output file format option for HD-based DVDs is H.264, also known as
MPEG-4 Part 10. H.264 is currently mandatory in both new high definition DVD
specifications (HD DVD and Blu-Ray). For more information about creating H.264 files
for HD on DVD, see “