Burn 2+ hours to one single layer DVD

[Edward Troxel]

Are you running in demo mode? MPEG2 is only available when registered. There is a fix for if the custom window won’t open but it’s not grayed out then. You definitely want MPEG2 – not MPEG1.

Even though the article is for Vegas 4, the same principles apply. The main difference is that I now usually use 2-pass VBR. And, yes, it is still a two step process (or you need to use a script which will do both for you).

Edward Troxel

[Javaholic_ir1]

I am not in Demo mode, I purchased it and have registered the software. I will gladly send you a screen shot of the grayed out Custom button if you’d like to see it. When I select MPEG2, it is greyed out and not available to me.

Thanks…
http://www.javaholics.net

[Jeremy Rochefort]

Something is definitely amiss. When you specify mpeg2 as a rendering format, you must be able to change settings further under the custome button.

Try selecting one of the default templates for rendering (eg dvd ntsc)

Cheers

Jeremy

MJ Productions

[Javaholic_ir1]

Of the 21 Templates I have to choose from, I tried all of them but none of them appear to have any effect on the greyed out Custom button.

When I click the ‘About’ button is says;
Sony MainConcept MPEG-2 File Format Plug-In Version 2.0 (Build 1333)

Any other suggestions would be most appreciated, thanks.

Thanks…
http://www.javaholics.net

[Javaholic_ir1]

Trying to cover all my bases, I decided to check Sony’s site to see if there were by any chance, any updates to my recently purchased and registered software…and there is. I am currently running version 6.0 Build 43 and the update is version 6.0a Build 85. My hopes are that the update will solve my inability to access the Custom button whenever I select MPEG-2. The update itself is 65mb’s and I have a very poor connection speed that would have required an estimated 16 hour download process…an event I likely will not be able to carry out without being kicked off my connection many times. So, I’ve got a request in with Sony to see if they would send me this update via disk. Hopefully they will agree to send it to me in this manner and too, hopefully this update will cure my Custom problem. Thanks to those of you who have responded to my questions to date.

Thanks…
http://www.javaholics.net

[Edward Troxel]

I am not entirely sure about the features in Movie Studio. It might be that Movie Studio does not let you access the custom screen. All the info I gave came from looking at the full version of Vegas.

Edward Troxel

[Javaholic_ir1]

Thanks Ed. So if it ends up that this function is not available to me, then it would appear that my only next option would be to spend the extra bucks on an upgrade to the full version or just use something like DVD Shrink…yes/no…?

Thanks…
http://www.javaholics.net

[Edward Troxel]

I think the benefits of the full version are worth it. I’ve heard good things about DVD Shrink but I’ve never used it. Personally, I don’t like the idea of recompressing an MPEG2 file to another MPEG2 file.

Edward Troxel

[Javaholic_ir1]

Sony Tech support did indeed respond to my inquiry concerning the availability, or not, of the Custom MPEG function within Movie Studio and indeed, it is not an available option for this level of software. This functionality is only available in the full version of Vegas.

Considering my current weekend-warrior video creation status, the $600 price tag to upgrade to the full version is just a bit out of the question for me at this time and probably for the foreseeable future. However, the ability to manipulate MPEG bitrates would be a really nice option.

I did give Shrink a try and the results for my particular project were not too bad. Perhaps with some experimentation a person utilizing this application could produce some nice results.

Through experimentation on my own, I recently discovered that DVD Architect offers a function called ‘Fit to Disk’ that seems to accomplish just what I was looking for. I use VMS to create and save my project as AVI and then send it to Architect to Render as MPEG utilizing its Fit-to-Disk application. What I don’t know is how the Fit-to-disk application works…does it act like Shrink and compress it or does it alter the bitrate behind the scene…I don’t know. The results via Architect appear to be better in my estimation than they did via Shrink.

Armed now with the knowledge that I can utilize Architect to fit projects exceeding 4.7gig onto one disk combined with my new found ability to lock analog video/audio input via the Canopus converter (no more out-of-sync issues) that was suggested to me by Edward Troxel, I think I’m pretty well set to move on with my projects.

Thank you Edward and Jeremy for your help, it was very much appreciated.

Thanks…
http://www.javaholics.net

[Edward Troxel]

If you use the “Fit to disk” option, make sure you send DVDA a DV-AVI file and let IT convert to MPEG2. You don’t want to give it an MPEG2 and let it recompress to a smaller MPEG2.

Edward Troxel