Do I need to split my project before burning?

[Theo Van laar]

A DVD will (nearly always fit on a DVD, so that is not the problem. However, because of the MPEG2 encoding, youmight loose quality when you try to make a DVD with too much video-time. Assuming you like to havethe highest quality, the maximum time is a littlebit more then 1 hour on a 4.3Gb DVD. The exact figures depend on a number of things like the menu, audio, data files, the amount of movement in your video (thats because of he way the MPEG2 encoder work) etc. Lowering the bitrate will allow you to add more minutes to the DVD, but decreases the quality. It is up to you to decide what you find acceptable.

For me, I always try to keep the time below 70 minutes. In fact, I like to make short videos more then long video’s…

Theo

[Gilles Gagnon]

Theo, first off, thanks again for answering so many questions from my inquisitive mind :).

Great, I’ll aim for 70 minutes then.

what do you mean “A DVD will (nearly always fit on a DVD”

[Theo Van laar]

‘what do you mean “A DVD will (nearly always fit on a DVD’

When I read it back, it sounds like a stupid sentence. What I wanted to say is that it is almost always possible to get your project on a DVD, even when it is very long. Just by lowering the bitrate dramatically. But ofcourse then the quality will also go down dramatically…

Theo

[Gilles Gagnon]

Got it!

Thanks,

[Gilles Gagnon]

After reading this, I still wonder how come some movies are 120 minutes on a single DVD? is it because they’re on dual layer DVD-9s?
g

[Mike Kujbida]

If you’re referring to Hollywood productions, yes, the majority of them are dual layer DVDs and are encoded using hardware and software that costs far more than any house you or I will ever be able to afford.

As I said in a previous thread, I recently encoded a 2 1/2 hr. play to a single layer DVD and the quality was acceptable to everyone who watched it.
It was shot with a 3 CCD camera that has 1/2″ chips in it as well as a lens that cost more than the camera.
The stage was also professionally lit with no dimly lit scenes.
My camera was set to f 4.0 and didn’t vary from this setting.
These factors allowed me to do something I normally wouldn’t consider doing and that was to make this a single DVD instead of a 2 disc set.

[Gilles Gagnon]

Fascinating!

I had no idea that mpg2 compression could vary so widely depending on what needs to be compressed.

Thanks for sharing,

Gilles

[Ralph Hajik]

Hi Gille and Mike,

That’s a great question to ask on the Cow because a lot of us forget what our limits are if we only video as a hobby. I’m putting together a dvd from the Middle East that’s 2.5 hours long. I’m using Standard DV, not HDV, and knew I have to split the video. So I made Part 1, 1.5 hours long and the other, Part 2, 1 hour long. Tomorrow I’ve put it in DVD pro 5 and I’ll let DVD pro Fit To Disc handle the size. I already know what I have.

On my Part 1 DVD I went to:
File > Optimize > Fit to Disc. It came out to 6.497 Mbps. It’s 4,416.8 MB (94% of the 4.7 DVD)Is this good or bad?
The Part 2 DVD is 4,441.8 MB (95% of the 4.7 DVD)at 7.848 Mbps. What do you think of this, good or bad?
I’ll render it out and burn a copy to see if the qualities there.
If you have any suggestions, throw them my way.

Happy Travels,
Ralph Hajik
Westmont, IL
LastingMemoriesR4ever

[Mike Kujbida]

Ralph, I always use the bitrate calculator I’ve mentioned here several times and render MPEG-2 and AC-3 streams out of Vegas and then give these to DVDA for authoring.
For your project, use a CBR setting of 8,000,000 for the 1 hr. DVD and a VBR setting of 7,904,000 / 6,320,000 / 3,972,000 for the 1.5 hr. DVD.
Render in Best mode from Vegas as I know that you use a lot of pictures and this helps maintain the image quality.

[Gilles Gagnon]

thanks guys,

Mike, how do you set “best-mode”? I’m assuming that is not the same as the view setting in the preview window?