Bitrate for Plex? (NTSC DVD and HandBrake)

KyleDigitalLab · April 1, 2018

So I'm setting up a Plex Media Server for my household. I'm currently ripping my entire DVD library with HandBrake. But I have a question: What bitrate should I rip the DVD at? I'm ripping my NTSC (720x480, 29.97fps) DVDs to H.264 (MP4) at 1650kbps, and 11 minutes of video is about 150MB, and I think that is a little too big than normal. Should I lower the bitrate? What bitrates does Plex support?

themctipers · April 1, 2018

10.08Mbps or 1260KB/s is the maximum bitrate of DVD

use that instead of going higher I guess?

KyleDigitalLab · April 1, 2018

1 minute ago, themctipers said:

10.08Mbps or 1260KB/s is the maximum bitrate of DVD

use that instead of going higher I guess?

Ah. Thanks. Now I'm going to rip my DVD content at 1260kbps. Now I have to re-rip all my DVD content that I already ripped.... lol

Denned · April 1, 2018

If your whatever is running Plex Server, supports transcoding it shouldn't matter.

Cynagen · April 1, 2018

5 hours ago, Kyle2000 said:

Ah. Thanks. Now I'm going to rip my DVD content at 1260kbps. Now I have to re-rip all my DVD content that I already ripped.... lol

Kyle, that was 1260KBytes/sec not bits/sec. Honestly, use a zoned triple-pass encode, you can get pretty low, but as an example, I ripped my Wasabi DVD into mkv h264/ac3 and ended up at ~2.25mbps (~2,250kbps, bits per second). 94 minutes runtime at 1.47GB total (including the audio track which was ripped and preserved from the disc, no encoding) for what is effectively a ~1:1 copy.

Protip if you go with zoned encoding for control: Use the chapter marks from the DVD as tips for where to set your zones, set a lower Q for high action scenes, and a higher Q rating for low-action, and like Q=31 for credits unless there's video clips that play alongside or a background/foreground animation.

Additionally, this information is for preservation at the best possible quality with lowest filesize possible, Plex will transcode where supported and may decimate the quality in transit to you, but by working with triple-pass and trying to find the right balance of zoned quality adjustments, you might be able to achieve some very nice results for archive and transmission as Plex will typically (if you've configured your settings correctly) stream the source file to you if possible and it's under the max bitrate you permit. Most DVDs cap out at about Q=7 to Q=5 because of the low picture resolution and the format disc constrictions, so the majority stream video direct, but may transcode audio based on the device you're streaming to, YMMV.