adding auto chapters increases file size

presto · Post by **presto** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 7:17 am

I have 11 , 30 minute clips in my project. I use the auto chapter to add chapters once a minute and I check the "add chapter marks to all clips" box.

When it is done my project has doubled in size and no longer fits on one DVD!

Looking in the help file and searching for chapters I find this strange line: "Because of .... There is no need to worry that adding chapter marks will increase the file size".

I think that is a strange line because why in the world would adding chapter marks increase the file size? Why does Ulead specifically mention that this weird behavior won't happen?

I had high hopes that this product would be easy to use but this is a deal breaker. I use a lot of clips in each product and must be able to add chapter marks all at once. I don't want thumbnails or extra menu pages, I just want the NEXT button on my remote to jump one minute ahead.

DVDDoug · Post by **DVDDoug** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 11:06 pm

Your clips are getting re-coded.

Are these clips DVD compatable MPEG-2s? Under Project Settings, check the box that says Do Not Convert Compliant MPEG files. If you don't, Movie Factory will happily convert the files to whatever bitrate you told it to use. If you use the same bitrate, the files won't grow.

If your source files are MPEG-4 or DivX, it would be normal for them to increase in size when converted to MPEG-2 (the DVD standard).

5.5 hours is a LOT of video for a single-layer DVD. It can be done if you use lots of compression (i.e. a low bitrate). I try to keep it to 1.5 hours per DVD. When I've pushed it much beyond 2 hours, I really notice the loss of quality.

I had high hopes that this product would be easy to use...

Digital video editing is never easy. It's probably going to take a long weekend to get comfortable with any of the tools.

I use a lot of clips in each product...

If these are all MPEG clips (like you've implied above) you may actually need a different product.... a special-purpose MPEG editor. MPEGs are not meant to be edited.... It's a final-output format something like a PDF file.

presto · Post by **presto** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 1:05 am

Thanks, sounds like the "Do not re-encode compliant...) might be what I am looking for.

I'm pretty experienced at making DVD's and regularly edit, author, encode etc. My problem was that the behavior of Movie Factor seems completely nuts to me. The project doubles in size when I simply add chapter marks. Tsunami doesn't do that, Pinnacle doesn't do that. Those programs don't decide to re-encode compliant DVD by default either. (At least Tsuanmi doesn't, not sure about Pinnacle).

I'm trying out Movie Factory because it has one feature that the others don't have; It uses the file name as the name on the menu. I need that because I use a LOT of clips and don't want to type the names even once and even copy and paste takes many many steps. What I'm making are compilations of clips for archiving and it has to be quick and easy NOT beautiful.

I regularly put 6 or 7 hours on DVD and the quality is quite good for my purposes.

I'll try your suggestions and thanks again.

(It turns out that "Do not re-encode..." was allready checked.
This has to be a bug. The video is there and is for instance 1G. All I do is use the auto chapter function to add chapters every 3 minutes and the size of the project is now 2G). Can you re-produce this on your set up? )

rendez2k · Post by **rendez2k** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 7:12 pm

I have some complient SVCD MPEGs, which come in around 680mb, but when I add chapters the size is pushed over 700mb! Looks like a bug of some kind to me!

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 11:27 pm

presto wrote:Thanks, sounds like the "Do not re-encode compliant...) might be what I am looking for.

I'm pretty experienced at making DVD's and regularly edit, author, encode etc. My problem was that the behavior of Movie Factor seems completely nuts to me. The project doubles in size when I simply add chapter marks. Tsunami doesn't do that, Pinnacle doesn't do that. Those programs don't decide to re-encode compliant DVD by default either. (At least Tsuanmi doesn't, not sure about Pinnacle).

I'm trying out Movie Factory because it has one feature that the others don't have; It uses the file name as the name on the menu. I need that because I use a LOT of clips and don't want to type the names even once and even copy and paste takes many many steps. What I'm making are compilations of clips for archiving and it has to be quick and easy NOT beautiful.

I regularly put 6 or 7 hours on DVD and the quality is quite good for my purposes.

I'll try your suggestions and thanks again.

(It turns out that "Do not re-encode..." was allready checked.
This has to be a bug. The video is there and is for instance 1G. All I do is use the auto chapter function to add chapters every 3 minutes and the size of the project is now 2G). Can you re-produce this on your set up? )

Are your clips compliant mpeg2 files? Even if you check the option of not converting compliant files, MF will convert them if they are not. It would not surprise me if file size goes up when adding chapter points. The data for your chapter points needs to be included. if you add a lot of chapter points...hmmm?

presto · Post by **presto** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 3:12 am

Are your clips compliant mpeg2 files? Even if you check the option of not converting compliant files, MF will convert them if they are not. It would not surprise me if file size goes up when adding chapter points. The data for your chapter points needs to be included. if you add a lot of chapter points...hmmm?

Yes they are DVD compliant. I do this all the time. I use the other programs I mentioned and know what I am doing. It is just Movie Factory 5 that does this.

And remember, I said the file doubles in size AFTER I add chapter points. When I first add my files to the project they are well within the proper size.