Hi, guys. I finally got PowerDVD (version 6), and decided to try that little "show information" thing. I noticed a few things: "Time," "Title," "Chapter," "Video," and "Audio." I get what "Time," "Title," and "Chapter" are, but I'm a bit lost in regard to "Video" and "Audio." For my Samrat "Indrajeet," "Video" said, "MPEG-2 2.3 Mbps" (the 2.3 varied, but generally remained in the low–mid 2s); "Audio" said, "Dolby Digital 5.1 448 Kbps." Let me just say that the audio and video quality of this are pretty shitty (audio is, at least, not "hollow"). I tried the same thing for "Deewaar" (1975), and "Video" said, "MPEG-2 5.56 Mbps" (again, the "Mbps" varied [much more greatly here, than in "Indrajeet"], but generally stayed between 5 and 7); "Audio" said, "Dolby Digital 2.0 224 Kbps." The audio and video quality of this film, however, were GREAT. Could someone please help decipher some of these numbers, and, perhaps, give some meaning (to the layman in me) to them? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much.

The Mbps number from the DVDs refers to the transfer rate of video onto the DVD, when the DVD is being mastered. As to why anyone would transfer video on to a DVD at 2.3mbps is beyond me as the average transfer rate for video on a DVD ranges from 3-10 Mbit/s. The transfer rate of video can be low if the DVD contained too many extra's on the DVD, which result in the main video having low quality.

As for the Audio the Kbps number refers to the audio bitrate. the average is around ~448kbps. So while the DVD video transfer of the Samrat DVD was low, the audio bit rate was done right.

For the most part all Indian DVDs have good audio, but the video mastering for DVD's is the biggest issue.

Lol. Sorry, but in my experience, that's a bit too generous a statement. I have MANY Indian DVDs on which the sound quality is simply abysmal. Even on "Indrajeet," the sound is far from good. With "Deewaar," however, the sound was EXCELLENT (even though, based on the "Kbps," it should have been worse). Anyway, thanks a lot for the helpful explanation. At least I now have an idea as to the meanings of some of those things.