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The size of the AVI files too large for DVD
I’m using Adobe Premiere Pro CS3. I’m in the process of making a video. It consists of some footage shot with a Canon FS10 camera and converted by VirtualDubMod in order to make it processable by Adobe Premiere Pro, plus some jpeg pictures, plus titles, transitions, chroma key effects, etc – thirty clips altogether, being used as chapters. Total length of the video: 2.5 hours. The total size of the resulting Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 AVI NTCS files is something like 20G. I’ve tried a bunch of DVD authoring programs, including DVDStyler. Most of them just crap out. DVDStyler wants to reduce the total size to 500MB, which is ridiculous for a video of this length.
What am I doing wrong? Why are the files so large in the first place? (VirtualDubMod expands your .MOD files tenfold or so, and then Adobe Premiere Pro reduces them to a tenth of that, which in my opinion is a lot of waste motion.
I mean, there’s gotta be folks out there who have made videos/movies/whatever that a longer than two hours with APP CS3 – or what?
Please advise.
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8 Replies
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Hi Ricardo,
To begin with, 2.5 hours is on the long side for a standard DVD, unless you’re considering dual-layer, the quality will not be very good.
Video on a DVD is always compressed as MPEG-2, and at the highest quality setting (least compression), 60 minutes of video fills the disc (4.7GB). By increasing the compression (lowering data rate), up to two hours or more can be fit on the same disc, at the expense of reduced quality.
The video content makes a difference – if the video is a speaker at a podium, there is very little motion or change in the video and it will compress well, but if you are working with footage of a football game, then 2.5 hours will look nasty.
A good rule of thumb for determining compression rate is 560/minutes, then just round down a bit, so 90 minutes = 6.0, while 120 minutes is 4.5, while your 2.5 hours would be about 3.7
This formula assumes Dolby Digital AC-3 audio being used, which is compressed and takes little space on the DVD compared to PCM (wav) audio.
If you have CS3, you should also have Adobe Encore for DVD, they come together. In Premiere, just go to File > Export > Encore, then you can customize the video encoding settings and tell it whether you want menus or not, and encode/burn, that is the simplest method.
Alternately, go to File > Export > Media and choose “MPEG-2 for DVD” then choose a preset that matches your footage, like “NTSC high quality”, then go to the Video tab and adjust the encoding settings. For your 2.5 hour project, try VBR 2-Pass with 3.7 average to maintain quality. For shorter projects, I just use CBR.
The resulting files can be used then in Encore or most other DVD programs. Make sure to select “16:9” or “4:3” also to match your footage. Files will be .m2v for video and .wav for audio, and Encore and most authoring programs will convert the .wav to Dolby during DVD encoding.
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers -
Hi Jeff; thanks for replying.
To begin with, 2.5 hours is on the long side for a standard DVD, unless you’re considering dual-layer, the quality will not be very good.Maybe, but … I have a whole bunch of Hollywood-made movies over two hours long, and they come on single DVDs, and the quality’s okay. What gives?
Video on a DVD is always compressed as MPEG-2, and at the highest quality setting (least compression), 60 minutes of video fills the disc (4.7GB). By increasing the compression (lowering data rate), up to two hours or more can be fit on the same disc, at the expense of reduced quality.
I’m sort of … sort of … aware of that. The question is – how bad? No, that’s not the question, at least not right now. Right now I’m having a problem getting ANYTHING onto a disk. Because “the file size is too large.”
The video content makes a difference – if the video is a speaker at a podium, there is very little motion or change in the video and it will compress well, but if you are working with footage of a football game, then 2.5 hours will look nasty.
It’s a little bit of both. More of the podium, less of the football game, though.
A good rule of thumb for determining compression rate is 560/minutes, then just round down a bit, so 90 minutes = 6.0, while 120 minutes is 4.5, while your 2.5 hours would be about 3.7This formula assumes Dolby Digital AC-3 audio being used, which is compressed and takes little space on the DVD compared to PCM (wav) audio.
All my audio is AC-3.
If you have CS3, you should also have Adobe Encore for DVD, they come together. In Premiere, just go to File > Export > Encore, then you can customize the video encoding settings and tell it whether you want menus or not, and encode/burn, that is the simplest method.
Yes. Unfortunately, the moment I get past half the video files, Encore just freezes. Doesn’t do anything. I mean, even DVDStyler keeps soldiering on (after reducing the overall file size to 500MB), and Windows DVD Maker has the decency to tell me that it can’t do anything that’s longer than 150 minutes. Encore just stops and starts sulking.
Alternately, go to File > Export > Media and choose “MPEG-2 for DVD” then choose a preset that matches your footage, like “NTSC high quality”, then go to the Video tab and adjust the encoding settings. For your 2.5 hour project, try VBR 2-Pass with 3.7 average to maintain quality. For shorter projects, I just use CBR.
This I will try. Thank you.
I still can’t believe, though, that Premiere Pro that supposedly caters to professionals dishes out oversized files. I mean, if it were just a program for home-made video amateurs to play with, I’d understand. Their movies rarely exceed twenty minutes. But the damn thing is 800 bucks retail, and is praised up and down by everybody, and I get this? … Sheesh.
Thanks again for the advice.
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Hollywood movies are on dual layer discs, so twice the capacity of a 4.7GB DVD-R. Besides having more space, they are starting with a pristine source (not home video) and using ultra-expensive encoders used by a professional compressionist who tweaks the optimum encoding settings for each scene, so yes, they get better results than you and I can.
When working with Encore, be careful about where you save the Project – I just worked with a guy who had a similar issue with Encore stopping halfway through his Blu-ray job. Turned out project was saving to the default C: drive location, and there wasn’t enough room there for all the files that needed to be written, so check that out.
Jeff
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Hollywood movies are on dual layer discs, so twice the capacity of a 4.7GB DVD-R.
Again, Jeff, thanks for replying.
I had no idea they were on dual layer discs. Wow. The cost of each disk produced would what – double? Triple? … Hmm … Can an ordinary burner burn two layers? … Sheesh …
Besides having more space, they are starting with a pristine source (not home video) and using ultra-expensive encoders used by a professional compressionist who tweaks the optimum encoding settings for each scene, so yes, they get better results than you and I can.
Please elaborate a little … if you don’t mind. What exactly (in layman terms) is the difference between pristine source and home video? (I mean, they have to transfer film to digital, don’t they? And the size of film negatives isn’t conducive … uh … no, I’m at sea here. Please explain.
What is the difference between our crappy encoders and professional ultra-encoders? (I mean, is it the pixels? Interlacing? the bit rate?)
When working with Encore, be careful about where you save the Project – I just worked with a guy who had a similar issue with Encore stopping halfway through his Blu-ray job. Turned out project was saving to the default C: drive location, and there wasn’t enough room there for all the files that needed to be written, so check that out.
Thanks for warning me. For now my solution is to convert each file to .MOV. It reduces the size about ten times. The solution is crappy no matter how you scramble it. I mean, I’m counting on “The play’s the thing!” concept, but, sheesh, this is worse than the Middle Ages. I mean, being an artist, I know from experience that in order to match the quality of the painting materials medieval and Renaissance and Baroque painters used (including the penniless ones), you have to spend from $60 to $100 on each tube. And now this – in this day and age, with all our wonderful technologies and so forth, you still need to invest lots and lots of money to produce anything halfway decent. No fair.
(From my point of view – forgive the amateur – the actual quality of a video, any video, apart from the shooter’s skill, is predicated on the size and quality of the lens. One doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that making a large enough lens doesn’t cost much more than manufacturing a consumer-grade one. And yet cameras that feature decent lenses are ten times more expensive).
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I had no idea they were on dual layer discs. Wow. The cost of each disk produced would what – double? Triple? … Hmm … Can an ordinary burner burn two layers?
Yes, the blanks are more expensive, can be burned on most DVD burners as long as authoring software supports DL burning.
What exactly (in layman terms) is the difference between pristine source and home video? (I mean, they have to transfer film to digital, don’t they? And the size of film negatives isn’t conducive … uh … no, I’m at sea here. Please explain.
Hollywood is starting with film, or HD video, made with ultra-expensive cameras, so they are going to encode DVDs from a source with very high resolution and quality compared to something you or I shoot with a prosumer camera. Garbage in, Garbage out.
What is the difference between our crappy encoders and professional ultra-encoders? (I mean, is it the pixels? Interlacing? the bit rate?)
Same bit rates and number of pixels and all that, the DVD spec is the DVD spec whether I author or Hollywood authors the DVD. The difference is in the quality of the encoding software (and source video). There are free encoders, and $100 encoders, then the Hollywood encoders are $40k. You get what you pay for.
Thanks for warning me. For now my solution is to convert each file to .MOV. It reduces the size about ten times. The solution is crappy no matter how you scramble it.
Are you on the Mac or PC? I’m not clear on why you are going to .mov at any point, if you captured an avi to start with, edit the avi then export to MPEG-2 for DVD, don’t introduce additional conversions and compressions into the workflow.
(From my point of view – forgive the amateur – the actual quality of a video, any video, apart from the shooter’s skill, is predicated on the size and quality of the lens.
Actually, the IMAGE SENSOR makes a huge difference in quality. That is why HD video shot with DSLR cameras is suddenly so popular, because the image sensor is HUGE and the resulting images, depth of field, and low light sensitivity are amazing.
Going back to the Hollywood thing, if you take the awesome DSLR HD footage and convert it down to DVD, that DVD will look better than something shot with a consumer miniDV camera.
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor -
I’m on PC.
What would be the best program to use to convert to MPEG-2?
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Jeff if using premier pro 2.0 how do you burn to dvd 2 1/2 hrs of video from pp 2.0 , tried both single and dual discs but dont know what settings should be, can you help?
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Convert to mpeg.
Or use a program that will convert it for you. DVD Styler is free. It is finicky sometimes, but it will do the trick.
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