Burning to disc time frame?

[Matt J]

I recently downloaded the trial version of WSV2 and am trying my first project. I used mpegs that were pretty small (the whole project is only 600 MB). But, when I pushed the button to begin the burn process it's been taking forever. Right now, the "Burning Process:" states "converting video of MENU" which is only half way done and the elapsed time is already an hour and a half.

I'm trying this out for a commercial venture that the edit and burn time will be the greatest priority. Does anyone know of a faq or other source of information that contains suggestions for decreasing this burn time? I need to be able to turn out a disc in under thirty minutes so I'm wondering what kind of limitations I'll need to impose on file size including running time and audio or if I should compress some how or choose a different type of menu.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[heinz-oz]

I bet you are converting mpeg4 files to mpeg2. If you tell WS to make a DVD, it will convert your source files to DVD compliant mpeg2. That is a very lengthy process and can literally take forever (i.e. never finish) depending on your system spec's.

The file size is not the biggest factor when it comes to burning a DVD. If your source files are DVD compliant to start with, burning time can be measured in minutes.

[Matt J]

So when I capture what's the best format to save the files in so that they are DVD ready? mpeg2?

Is there an option to choose NOT to encode? So that I can just leave the mpeg2 files as mpeg2?

[Matt J]

If I capture using WSV2 will it make the process faster?

BTW the video came out awesome! Very professional looking. It just took 2 hours which is an hour and 45 minutes too long.

[heinz-oz]

If I capture using WSV2 will it make the process faster?

BTW the video came out awesome! Very professional looking. It just took 2 hours which is an hour and 45 minutes too long.

Don't know, what is WSV2??

If you have DVD compliant mpeg2 files, no encoding is necessary and the burning process should be quick.

How do you capture your video? If you capture from an external source like a DV camcorder or an analog video player and do not need to edit much, capture to mpeg2. If you want to edit some, like transitions, titles etc. capture to DV-AVI. This gives a much better quality from a digital source and is a lot better for editing. However, to convert that afterwards to DVD compliant mpeg2 will take some time and you may need a different program than DVDWS to do the editing/rendering bit.

DVDWS is really a high end DVD authoring program, not an editor. It gives you better control over menus etc than MovieFactory for example or MediaStudioPro and VideoStudio which are editors but allow you to burn your videos to DVD with a simple menu structure.

[Matt J]

Sorry, I was calling DVDWS by the initials WSV2 for Workshop Version 2.

Anyway, I tried capturing in DVDWS and without editing burning to a DVD and it still took a long time.

Thanks for the tips, mate. Good on ya.

[DVDDoug]

Is there an option to choose NOT to encode? So that I can just leave the mpeg2 files as mpeg2?

There is a check-box on the Edit screen that says Convert To Disc Template. Un-check that box.

I'm usually working with MPEG-2 files that have the "wrong" audio format. It usually takes less than 15 minutes to convert & re-multiplex the audio. If the MPEG-2 needs to be re-coded, it may take almost as long as the playing time (90 minutes for a 90 minute program) for the rendering process. The actual burning takes 10 - 15 minutes. (I think that's at 8X speed) .

If you are making more than one copy, you can check Create DVD Folders. This will create the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders on your hard drive, and you can then copy these to DVDs without rendering each time.

I'm trying this out for a commercial venture that the edit and burn time will be the greatest priority. Does anyone know of a faq or other source of information that contains suggestions for decreasing this burn time? I need to be able to turn out a disc in under thirty minutes

Editing, authoring, and burning in 30 minutes???? I hope you're not planning much editing or authoring...