Best way to render an HD Project...to fit on a SD DVD at DVinfo.net

Jason Boyette · December 17th, 2007, 03:18 PM

I have a lovely 1 hour piano recital That I recorded with my Sony HVR-V1U.
Looks great, especially when I render it out with the 1080i 60 template from Vegas...but of course it makes a 13 GB file.

What is the best way to render/compress this file in order to fit and play nicely on a standard DVD-R

I have access to Final Cut Studio and Toast if I need to use those to compress it better.

Ode to have a Blu-Ray Burner...and all the parents have a Blu-Ray Player!

Kit Hannah · December 17th, 2007, 03:34 PM

You need to render it out to a standard definition template or create your own. You can do this by selecting the template once you go to Render. Since this is a Vegas forum and we only use vegas, I'm really not sure how you would do that in FCP.

Options:
render to a SD Mpeg2 template

render to SD avi and transcode in your DVD authoring program

Jason Boyette · December 17th, 2007, 03:37 PM

That's what I was thinking...render out to mpeg-2
I just pushed the button so I'll let you know in an hour what the file size is like!
Jason

Kit Hannah · December 17th, 2007, 03:55 PM

Well, keep in mind, Jason, that the file size will depend on the bitrate you have selected. We have found that transcoding to avi and then using an authoring program will maximize the quality of your video on the disc. We use Adobe Encore for our DVD creation and it auto selects the highest bitrate that it can wihile ensuring it fits on to the disc. The auto bitrate depends on how long the video is. Just think, if you encode to Mpeg2 and it is only 2 GB, then you have wasted space on the disc and the quality of your video may not look that great (again, depending on length of video). On the other hand, if you render and the file is too large for the disc, you have to go back and re-encode it or transcode anyways. Transcoding a rendered mpeg file, you may start to see some noticeable degragation due to generation loss.

Jason Boyette · December 18th, 2007, 02:03 PM

I used a bit rate calculator
Raised it to 8mbps rendered it to mpeg2 (made the almost 2gb file up to almost 4 GB)
restarted the computer on the Mac side...threw it into Toast and out popped a great DVD (for some reason me and DVD architect do not get along very well, I'm sure it's user error)
Video looks great, audio is good, DVD plays with no skips...off to someone else to proofread all the names!

Thanks for the help and advice

Kit Hannah · December 18th, 2007, 02:13 PM

Glad to see it worked out.

Jason Boyette · December 18th, 2007, 02:19 PM

Here's another question for you
I rendered it using the 8-bit...how much of a difference would it be if I rendered it out at 32-bit.
Just thought I would ask before I made my computer do all that hard work!

Kit Hannah · December 18th, 2007, 02:29 PM

Honestly, I have never tried, but you may get some extra people looking if you post it as a seperate thread or do a search. Something like "8 bit vs. 32 bit renedering", but be specific on what you would like to know.

December 17th, 2007, 03:18 PM	#1
Jason Boyette Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Garner, NC Posts: 145	Best way to render an HD Project...to fit on a SD DVD I have a lovely 1 hour piano recital That I recorded with my Sony HVR-V1U. Looks great, especially when I render it out with the 1080i 60 template from Vegas...but of course it makes a 13 GB file. What is the best way to render/compress this file in order to fit and play nicely on a standard DVD-R I have access to Final Cut Studio and Toast if I need to use those to compress it better. Ode to have a Blu-Ray Burner...and all the parents have a Blu-Ray Player!

December 18th, 2007, 02:03 PM	#5
Jason Boyette Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Garner, NC Posts: 145	You are the man I used a bit rate calculator Raised it to 8mbps rendered it to mpeg2 (made the almost 2gb file up to almost 4 GB) restarted the computer on the Mac side...threw it into Toast and out popped a great DVD (for some reason me and DVD architect do not get along very well, I'm sure it's user error) Video looks great, audio is good, DVD plays with no skips...off to someone else to proofread all the names! Thanks for the help and advice

December 18th, 2007, 02:19 PM	#7
Jason Boyette Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Garner, NC Posts: 145	Picking your brain... Here's another question for you I rendered it using the 8-bit...how much of a difference would it be if I rendered it out at 32-bit. Just thought I would ask before I made my computer do all that hard work!

December 17th, 2007, 03:34 PM	#2
Kit Hannah Major Player Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Fresno, California Posts: 528	You need to render it out to a standard definition template or create your own. You can do this by selecting the template once you go to Render. Since this is a Vegas forum and we only use vegas, I'm really not sure how you would do that in FCP. Options: render to a SD Mpeg2 template render to SD avi and transcode in your DVD authoring program

December 17th, 2007, 03:37 PM	#3
Jason Boyette Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Garner, NC Posts: 145	That's what I was thinking...render out to mpeg-2 I just pushed the button so I'll let you know in an hour what the file size is like! Jason

December 17th, 2007, 03:55 PM	#4
Kit Hannah Major Player Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Fresno, California Posts: 528	Well, keep in mind, Jason, that the file size will depend on the bitrate you have selected. We have found that transcoding to avi and then using an authoring program will maximize the quality of your video on the disc. We use Adobe Encore for our DVD creation and it auto selects the highest bitrate that it can wihile ensuring it fits on to the disc. The auto bitrate depends on how long the video is. Just think, if you encode to Mpeg2 and it is only 2 GB, then you have wasted space on the disc and the quality of your video may not look that great (again, depending on length of video). On the other hand, if you render and the file is too large for the disc, you have to go back and re-encode it or transcode anyways. Transcoding a rendered mpeg file, you may start to see some noticeable degragation due to generation loss.

December 18th, 2007, 02:13 PM	#6
Kit Hannah Major Player Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Fresno, California Posts: 528	Glad to see it worked out.

December 18th, 2007, 02:29 PM	#8
Kit Hannah Major Player Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Fresno, California Posts: 528	Honestly, I have never tried, but you may get some extra people looking if you post it as a seperate thread or do a search. Something like "8 bit vs. 32 bit renedering", but be specific on what you would like to know.