Checking Video Statistics with GSpot
GSpot is a fantastic little utility for Windows systems which can take most common video formats and test all of the codec stats, including audio, video, length, etc. The latest version (still in Beta at the writing of this guide) can read MPEG formats. Since DVD employs the MPEG-2 video codec, this program is perfect for testing the stream info for your DVD-Video discs. To download the latest version, head to the
GSpot 2.52 Download Page. Make sure to grab 2.52 or later, as 2.51 and previous versions did not work with MPEG files.
To use this program to check a single file, simply open GSpot and the open the file you wish to check. To find out the pertinent information on a DVD-Video disc, place the disc into your DVD-Drive and browse to the VIDEO_TS folder, which contains the .vob (authored MPEG-2) video files.
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Open a new instance of GSpot. Drag the file named VTS_01_1.VOB info the GSpot window. This will scan the file and load all of the relevant stats. Some DVDs may have multiple "titles" included, in which there will also be a VTS_02_1.VOB, etc. In most cases, the statistics for these titles will be the same, though sometimes the codec/bitrates can be different. They will, however, always use the same video system. When seeding DVDs on the internet, the most pertinent stats are:
- 1. Audio Codec
- 2. Audio Bitrate in Kilobits per second (kb/s)
- 3. Video System - The only way to tell this is to look at the framerate (frms/sec) of the video. 25.00 is used for PAL and 29.97 is used for NTSC.
- 4. Video Bitrate in Kilobits per second (kbps)
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