[George Wing]

Does your mpeg file contain audio (either using the CUSTOM button to render with audio, or perhaps using one of the other templates by mistake)?

Try going to the timeline for the Title, and replace the existing audio track with the AC3 audio track.

[George Wing]

[Mike Kujbida] “Dave, half D-1 is 352 x 240 and is a valid DVD (and DVD Architect) image resolution.”

Actually, Half-D1 for NTSC is 352×480 (Pal=352×576). Try doing a few scenes at both resolutions (using the same low bitrate you intend to use on the final dvd), and see if either looks better when played on your TV.

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

[dpetto] “If I lower the bitrate down in Vegas to get 2.5 hours of a 22 year old VHS wedding tape onto a DVD will the quality suck or can I get away with it? The tape picture quality is still fairly decent although it does jump a bit upon playing.

Also when I go by the bitrate chart in the newletter it always seems like my mpeg2 file size is bigger than it should be and I usually need the re-render it again at a lower rate–any ideas why?”

How did you capture the VHS to your computer? What devices were used, and what format are they? I’d be tempted to go Half-D1 resolution considering your source is VHS and the low bitrate you will be using (but that depends on how you made the original transfer/capture).

If your mpegs are larger than expected, is it possible you are using LPCM audio (vs. Dolby Digital audio)? Or are you setting the bitrates properly (Min/Avg/Max)?

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

Did you burn both discs at the same speed? Of were the newer discs burned at a faster speed (vs a limitation of the older disc)? Sometimes burning at slower speeds can help…

Also, what bitrates are you using for your DVD (Video+Audio)? Try not to go too high, as that might cause glitches (and perhaps a high-bitrate coupled with the new media was enough to show the glitches).

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

afaik, not FF/REW, but you can have things such as Menu,Next,Prev…

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

[The Old Fart] “The anti flicker filter wasn’t turned on. Just to see if I could see where the problem was I opened a second instance of DVDA 3 & only dragged the 2 questionable files onto the workplace, then looked at the optimize DVD function & the correct size was displayed. I then turned on the anti flicker filter but this didn’t change the estimated output size.”

Did you turn on “Reduce interlace flicker” for the VIDEO TITLE, or just for the MENU? When I turn it on for the VIDEO TITLE (not the menu), DVDA indicates the video will need to be re-compressed.

In general, if you start with compliant mpeg files, then their size should not change unless you tell DVDA to re-compress, or you do something in DVDA that will cause DVDA to need to re-compress (like turning on Reduce Interlace Flicker on the Video Title, or creating a PAL dvd when your source mpeg is NTSC, or adding multiple video angles, or in DVDA4 adding a button-over-video that is more than just a mask BOV…).

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

[Frippy] “I’m using Sonic Scenarist, and by settings “shuffle” or “random” i can set randomized playback of all chapters or plaing random chapter from PGC (program chain)…”

That setting can also be set using free utilities such as IFOedit and/or PGCedit. They will both play back in a “mixed” order — “Shuffle” will make sure the chapters are not repeated during playback…

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

I guess it wants to re-compress your video files using a higher bitrate than the originals.

Are the original videos (1.34gb) already dvd-compliant? What are their properties, and what type of DVD are you creating (PAL or NTSC)? How long are the videos, and what video bitrate is your project using?

Did you turn on “Reduce Interlace flicker” for your videos — that could cause a re-compress of compliant mpegs.

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

[Rajarshi] “Thanks a lot,but this sounds a bit complicated for me. Isnt this feature built into any DVD authoring software, like a preset ?”

DVD Architect 4.0 has a builtin setting that allows you to setup a PLAYLIST, and change its PLAY-MODE to either “SEQUENTIAL” or “RANDOM” In Random mode, I’m not sure if it prevents an item in the playlist from playing multiple times (i.e. it might not keep track of what has already been played).

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

[CSheep] “So I have to add a button or a action ? I do have an item called “playlist 1″ though.”

It’s up to you. You can ignore the warning, and build the DVD anyway. Or if you really don’t need the Playlist, then you can remove it from your project. Or if you want to be able to view the playlist during dvd playback, then add a menu button (or an end-action from another asset) to link to the playlist.

Regards,
George