Up to now, all the projects I've done by capturing in MyDVD, editing in VideoReDo, and authoring in MF4, have been HQ. Today I tried a 90-minute video segment (half of a three-hour concert, captured in MyDVD in HQ; the 3 hrs were captured in two 90-minute segments).
Movie Factory will not reduce the file size when I select a lower bit rate for the output. It won't do it whether I use the MF4 presets or use custom settings. It keeps the file size at 5.25 gig, even if I reduce the bit rate in VRD to 6000 or 4000 before saving the edits. And when I tried to go ahead in DMF, ignoring the file size warnings, which Pat at VRD support recommended, it wouldn't burn the disc. (She said there is a known bug in Movie Factory regarding output file size estimation.) Made no difference if I changed audio, either. (These particular captures were done with Mpeg audio, and I did not change the audio in the VRD output files.)
Is there anything I can do about this? Does it mean I must capture in MyDVD's SP mode? I don't like the output I get from it. The video has weird digital artifacts, like mosquito netting. I was hoping that by capturing in HQ, doing the edits in VRD, and then reducing the quality in MF4, I could avoid the bad SP capture problem in MyDVD. (I can't capture in MF4, as posted elsewhere.)
Why won't Movie Factory reduce the file sizes of the VRD-edited files? VRD reduced the original file from 6.1 gig to 5.5 gig, but some of that may be from losing material I had edited out.
Is there some way to get VRD to reduce the file size more when it is also lowering the bit rate? I even remuxed an 8 file to 6, and the file size was the same at the end of it; and MF4 read the file properties as still being 8.
This same problem occurs in the audio of a file that is captured in HQ, if I set the audio output of the VRD file to LPCM. There too, MF4 won't reduce the file size if I instruct it to convert to Dolby.
I haven't been able to use "Treat MPEG audio as non-DVD compliant" mode, because it doubles the disc space needed for temporary files, and unfortunately I don't have quite enough space on the drive for that. In order to test it I'd have to reconfigure my entire system; I use a C partition for system files, D for program files, and E for normal data; I use a separate HDD for capturing.
If I can sort this problem out without having to reconfigure an entire system, I'd really appreciate it.
Computer: IBM A31p laptop.
Capture card: Philips Phildecn, S-video input
Programs: MyDVD 6.1 LE (for capture); VideoReDo Plus (editing); MF 4 (authoring).
Burner: NEC
Project settings: various
Richard
PS, Later: after posting the above I found the button on the burn menu that allows you to shrink the material to DVD size. I'm testing it now. I had to put temporary files on an outboard USB drive with more room on it, since I didn't have the 9 gig available on my C drive that the program wanted for reencoding.
It's very slow, but I'll let you know if it works. I want better quality in compressed mode than I'm getting with the MyDVD captures.
R
Reducing file size in MF4 after VideoReDo edits
It keeps the file size at 5.25 gig, even if I reduce the bit rate in VRD to 6000 or 4000 before saving the edits.
VRD does not reencode your video except for a few frames around the cut. Changing the bitrate in VRD only affects the header and doesn't reduce the file size.Is there some way to get VRD to reduce the file size more when it is also lowering the bit rate?
The project file size estimation issue is in DMF not in the VRD edited files.
Also, you can author it as an oversize DVD folder to your hard drive with DMF and use DVD Shrink to make it fit on a DVD and burn as a separate step.