Help me encode my video
 

I've tried three times now to encode my wedding video. I took the master from the videographer and added my own photo montage and honeymoon video...now I need to render and encode to MPEG for output to DVD. Each time I've done this it encodes the video to an MPEG file just too big to fit on a standard 4.7GB DVD. I'm using a bitrate calculator and I'm setting it to produce a file just smaller than the 4.38 gig capacity of the DVD, but each time the result is a larger file than will fit on a DVD. What am I doing wrong here? The video is 1hr 41min. I want the highest quality I can get, but at the same time I want it to fit on one DVD.

First of all, a "4.7 Gig" DVD really holds about 4.35 Gig. So that is your true target size. Next, you must pick a proper bitrate for the length of your video. I have a bitrate chart in issue 9 (or 7 - can't remember which) of my newsletter (link below). Finally, the estimated size is frequently wrong

1:41 would require an average bitrate around 5,600,000 with AC3 audio. That should give you a little room to spare and allow for a reasonable sized menu.

A rough and ready way to do this that won't take all day with multiple rendering iterations is to render it at a pretty good quality to be, say 6GB, then run it through DVDShrink and compress it to fit on a DVD-R

Cheers.

Can this be used to create DVDs for DVDA in Vegas?

<<<-- Originally posted by Kyle Ringin : A rough and ready way to do this that won't take all day with multiple rendering iterations is to render it at a pretty good quality to be, say 6GB, then run it through DVDShrink and compress it to fit on a DVD-R

Cheers. -->>>

Kyle, I agree that would be a ROUGH way. You'll end up encoding to MPEG2 (a lossy process) and let DVDShrink recompress it to a smaller MPEG2 (still a lossy process) and will therefore reduce the quality. Better to just encode at the correct bitrate to begin with.

If you don't want to calculate out the proper rates, it would be better to render out to DV-AVI and give that to DVD Architect letting it then perform the encode to MPEG2 at the proper bitrate.

I did say rough didn't I... :D
It doesn't do a full decompress-compress, it just uses the existing compression and trims off some more data to make it smaller (or something).
The new(er) version of DVDShrink does a pretty good job with it's deep analysis, etc, etc business,

Best is to encode it once as Edward said. I don't know if I'd want to render to DV-avi (lossy) then to mpeg (lossy again) though as it's a full compress-decompress-compress cycle using different codecs.

Cheers.

Would a duel layer DVD be the solution? The only hangup there is I would like write the DVD on an inkjet printable disc, and I don't know of any printable duel layer discs on the market yet.

I guess a dual layer disc would be an option (I don't have a dual layer burner so I don't have experience with this).
I have heard that dual layer compatibility with stand alone dvd players isn't that good at the moment. No doubt it will improve though.

Anyone know more?

Also, DVD Architect doesn't burn to dual layer at this time.

Edward,
Can you prepare the DVD to 8GB or whatever, then burn dual layer with nero? would that work?

I've heard or people doing that. And I've heard claims that it works. I've never tried it myself (I don't have a dual-layer burner at this time). Best I can suggest is to try it and let US know how it works. DVDA will definitely allow it.

Alright...I've been denied again. I set the my encode to Edwards suggestions and my file was again too big. Then I tried a CBR at 5400b/sec and it still came out too large. I dont have DVDA so I'm exporting the 81 minute MPEG file to NERO for buring. My last two attempts have been with files smaller than 4.38 gigs but when NERO finishes analyzing the file it tells me it is too big to fit on a standard DVD. What gives???

Brian, are you using PCM or AC3 audio? What about menus? Static menus usually don't take up much space, but if you've got any motion menus they may be pushing it over the edge. Is Nero nice enough to tell you how much you're over the limit?

Also, is Nero taking your MPEG files and turning them into VOBs, or are you using DVD Architect for that?

...and just for reference, what version of Windows?

I second Kyle's suggestion if you are at your wits end. I've had very good results with DVD shrink. I can't see any obvious degradation of the DVD quality as long as you don't shrink by much (>20%). The resulting files burns to DVDs with no problem using Nero and seem to be very compatible with all players I've tried.

First of all, make sure you are using AC3 audio.

Secondly, WHAT tells you it's too big? Are you looking at DVDA's estimate? It's frequently too large. Or are you looking at the actual size of the Video_TS folder?

Thirdly, what kind of menus do you have? My numbers allow for a simple menu structure. However, if you have many menus all with moving backgrounds and/or moving buttons and sound, that could be eating up space as well.

Just my two cents...

If you absolutely can't get it to work, and you have the hard drive space, render out an uncompressed avi (or use a lossless compression on your avi, like huffyuv) and then let DVDA do the work for you. You'll avoid a lossy intermediate, and you won't have to spend all day mucking about with rendering and rerendering over and over until it works...

I think Brian said he doesn't have DVDA so he won't be looking at it's estimate. If he's going straight from Vegas to Nero, I don't know if Nero will accept an intermediate avi - does Nero have an mpeg2 encoder?
I don't think Nero will do menus will it? (I can't say, I've never used it to author, just to burn)
I agree to check the audio format, but I also don't know if you can use ac3 audio with a dvd Nero will prepare?

IMO Nero isn't the best option to author dvds and if it will encode mpeg2, I wouldn't think it would have the best encoder either.
Maybe someone with more experience with Nero can answer.

I hadn't caught that, Kyle.

Brian, WHAT are you using to author the DVD????

Hey guys, sorry for the lag in my response to all of your input. I don't have DVDA yet, (looking to upgrade now though) so I'm using Nero 6.0 to author and burn my dvd. I am using several (8 or 9) motion menus as well as some background music. I've adjusted according for these additions, but to no avail. I have resorted to rendering an MPEG at a paltry 4kbs. The final result is OK, but I'd like to get a little higher bit rate w/out sacrificing my animated menus or music bed. Maybe it's a pipe dream, I don't know. I'm upgrading to DVDA as soon as my wife will let me!!! lol!
Thanks for the help with this fellas.

Oh yeah almost forgot...It's Nero that is telling my file is too big. And this is before I create any menus or the music bed. I render out my video to an MPEG at about 3.8 Gigs and when I load that into Nero, Nero says it's too large to fit on a standard DVD. I think it says the file is 5+ Gigs which I know is not true. I'm truely befuddled with this and am getting DVDA ASAP! God love acronyms!!!

8 or 9 motion menus? That could be doing it, but I don't know what bitrate Nero is using to encode them (who knows, it could be 8000kbps/PCM).

I typically take the length all of my footage (main feature, bonus material, motion menus) and add it all together. Then I use the total time to calculate my target bitrate (estimating a bit low to leave some room for error).

How long are the motion menus? 30 seconds each is my usual target (just let them loop). I can't imaging that they're accounting for an extra gig of data, but who knows what stunts Nero is pulling in the background.

As for DVDA, I've never used it, but I'm sure it'll work better for you than Nero. I use DVD-Lab and love it.