Excessive time taken to make disk?

[Phototaker]

Once I have imported an MPEG2 into DMF 5 all I wished to do was to just add automatic chapter points, shrink the file size so that the 6.5GB file can go onto a single layer disc. When I asked the program to burn this disk it took almost 4 hours to do the job. I'm running a 3GH P4 system. This amount of time seems excessive. Had I been using DVD Shrink to shrink a file of similar size it would do it in less than a third of the time. Is this sort of time normal?

Also a supplementary question if I may. It seem to be the DMF5 can compress more the DMF4 ever could. Is this correct?

[etech6355]

This amount of time seems excessive. Had I been using DVD Shrink to shrink a file of similar size it would do it in less than a third of the time. Is this sort of time normal?

Depends on what your project settings are compared to the source video / audio files properties. The difference between DVD Shrink & MF is Shrink uses a fast method changing only certain parameters in the mpeg2 file. The mpeg2 file can play but technically isn't constructed properly, hence limited future editing if any is limited.
MovieFactory will re-encode the video so the mpeg2 video file is compliant and correctly built. You can import and edit the mpeg2 file from the dvd at a later date. If you import a dvd created by dvd shrink and try to edit the video, create chapters and re-burn the odds of having problems are high. Reason is DVD Shrink changes settings in a short time (using shortcuts) to the dvd only to make it playable but not editable. I would never use a re-coding program for home video projects unless it was absolutely necessary.

Also a supplementary question if I may. It seem to be the DMF5 can compress more the DMF4 ever could. Is this correct?

No, the settings are your choice in both programs. You can manually set all the encoding parameters in both programs.

[bltkmt]

Thanks for the reply. For us newbies, that simply want to quickly create a DVD of our home movies (and do not care about future editing), what settings need to be modified in MF?

[joegib]

The way to use DVD Shrink in combination with Ulead MF is to use it after the DVD fileset has been created by MF.

(1) After loading your source file(s) in MF:

(a) Click on the gearwheel icon at the bottom of the edit window and make sure that the "Do not convert compliant MPEG files" checkbox is ticked.
(b) Set the disk size drop-down selection at the bottom left of the window to "DVD 8.5G". (This prevents MF complaining about a single-layer disk being too small for your project).

(2) Edit, create chapters and menu in the ordinary way, and go to the burning window.

(3) In the burning window tick the "Create DVD folders" checkbox and make sure that all other options are unticked. Then "Burn" and MF will write a double-layer-type Audio_TS/Video_TS DVD fileset to the work folder you have specified.

(4) Exit MF, open DVD Shrink and point it at the work folder containing the MF created fileset. DVD Shrink should then do its thing and render the fileset to single-layer size complete with menu/chapters.

I tried this technique with a a 5.5 Gig MPEG and, excluding editing/menu creation time, the "burn" to a DVD fileset took 35 minutes. Processing by Shrink took another 35 minutes. Not especially quick, but a fraction of the time MF would take if left to do the compression. The resultant DVD works fine on my PC and standalone player.

I find this technique useful where a project using DVD-compliant MPEGs marginally exceeds the single-layer DVD size limit. Shoehorning a 6Gig project onto a 4Gig disk is likely to result in visible loss of video quality, however. That applies whether you use MF or Shrink to do the compression, though. I should also underline that the technique only works if the source file is already DVD compliant.

[etech6355]

Joegib,

I find this technique useful where a project using DVD-compliant MPEGs marginally exceeds the single-layer DVD size limit. Shoehorning a 6Gig project onto a 4Gig disk is likely to result in visible loss of video quality, however. That applies whether you use MF or Shrink to do the compression, though. I should also underline that the technique only works if the source file is already DVD compliant.

This is also my workflow when I have to use another compression program. I don't use Shrink but have been using "Nero Recode" which does a nice job of downsizing.

[kosketus]

The way to use DVD Shrink in combination with Ulead MF is to use it after the DVD fileset has been created by MF.

(1) After loading your source file(s) in MF:

(a) Click on the gearwheel icon at the bottom of the edit window and make sure that the "Do not convert compliant MPEG files" checkbox is ticked.
(b) Set the disk size drop-down selection at the bottom left of the window to "DVD 8.5G". (This prevents MF complaining about a single-layer disk being too small for your project).

(2) Edit, create chapters and menu in the ordinary way, and go to the burning window.

(3) In the burning window tick the "Create DVD folders" checkbox and make sure that all other options are unticked. Then "Burn" and MF will write a double-layer-type Audio_TS/Video_TS DVD fileset to the work folder you have specified.

(4) Exit MF, open DVD Shrink and point it at the work folder containing the MF created fileset. DVD Shrink should then do its thing and render the fileset to single-layer size complete with menu/chapters.

joegibb

I tried this but gave up at the 'Burn' stage. The time indicated fluctuated all over the place, showing anything from 3 hours to 33 . My processor is a Sempron 3400+ running at 2 GHz. How long does yours take for this stage, may one ask?

EDIT

I'm obliged to correct this. The time seems to have settled down to around 25-30 minutes, for the video in question

[joegib]

So, following your edit, the procedure works OK? Or not?

[kosketus]

(3) In the burning window tick the "Create DVD folders" checkbox and make sure that all other options are unticked. Then "Burn" and MF will write a double-layer-type Audio_TS/Video_TS DVD fileset to the work folder you have specified.

(4) Exit MF, open DVD Shrink and point it at the work folder containing the MF created fileset. DVD Shrink should then do its thing and render the fileset to single-layer size complete with menu/chapters.

This is embarrassng! Having exited MF5 and saved the file, I now don't know where to find it (to point Shrink at). More exactly, I don't know what type of file I should be looking for (if I did I could do a search using '*.'). Please...

EDIT

OK, I've found a VIDEO_TS folder but it's empty. Does that mean I goofed?

[joegib]

It sounds like you lost your "path". It seems that when you you ticked the "Create DVD folders" checkbox you didn't set the path to your project workfolder. So, if MF created the fileset correctly it dumped it to whatever default path was shown alongside the checkbox. That might be the default path set when the program was installed or the one set for your last project.

One way to check fairly quickly is to start a "dummy" project using any old MPEG and click through "Next" to the burning window. Then check where the path alongside the checkbox is pointing. That's where the fileset should be. It will be made up of 2 folders titled AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS. The Audio_TS folder will be empty but the Video_TS folder will have a bunch of files with .BS,.IFO and .VOB extensions.

If the fileset can't be found, I can only suggest you start again but (a) create a workfolder at your required location, and (b) edit the path alongside the checkbox -- by using the folder icon on that line to browse to that location.

[kosketus]

I found the VIDEO_TS folder (I'd just forgotten where I'd put it!).

To go back to your question. Yes, this process has worked well for me. The time taken by MF5 turned out to be reasonable, and Shrink took only just under 10 minutes (to create an ISO image - I don't know if it would be any different to burn straight to disc but I don't usually do this anyway). So altogether, not bad.

Shrink is free but reputedly not all that good as regards quality. I'm thinking of giving Intervideo DVDCopy a try (costs $30).

EDIT

Spoke too soon Upon playing-back the ISO image (using Daemon Tools) I find there's no audio! I wonder at which stage (MF5 or Shrink) it got removed? No, wait...something's wrong in my audio setup. Must investigate further

All's well (a minor glitch only).

[joegib]

It's a little difficult to analyse the problem since you've gone on several steps beyond the Shrink process before identifying it. (And the use of Daemon Tools only complicates the issue).

1. Does your source MPEG file play sound correctly using a proper DVD software player e.g Power DVD, WinDVD, Media Player Classic? If so, -->

2. Does the sound play when you directly load one of the VOB files from the fileset created by MF in a software player? If so, -->

3. Does the sound play when you directly load one of the VOB files from the fileset created by DVD Shrink in a software player? If not, -->

4. Did you alter any of the settings in DVD Shrink after it had carried out the initial scan of the fileset created by MF? (Basically, after Shrink does the scan all you need to do is click on the "Backup" icon -- the Audio channels noted in the right hand window pane shouldn't be altered).

Suggest you consider the above questions and pin down at what stage the sound went missing.

As regards Shink, if you need a modest amount of compression it does a very good job quickly. If you want better quality encoding then you'll need a program that uses a high quality encoder. Be warned, though, hiqh quality encoding usually means long encoding times (usually measured in hours). Which takes us back to square one...

[sjj1805]

Prevention is better than cure. Where do your original MPEG2 files originate from? Perhaps you are using a TV card? If so then at the recording stage alter the recording settings accordingly.

If perhaps you were recording a 2 hour TV program containing adverts that occur for 5 minutes every 15 minutes. This would be a total recording time of 2 hours minus 30 minutes worth of adverts = 90 minutes (after removing them).

So set your recording to the quality level appropriate to 90 minutes which may be described by the software as long play.

Next.....
The time taken to reduce a video that is too large will vary according to how much reduction is necessary. This also applies to DVD Shrink.
If you have a file that needs shrinking to 90% it may take 10-15 minutes
If however you have a video that needs shrinking to 65% it may take a few hours.

Try to get it right using MovieFactory because the resulting video will be cleaner and sharper. If you end up with a video that is slightly too big then by all means finish it off with DVD Shrink.

The quality of the video becomes more apparant when you watch it on these large screen TV sets that have now blossomed everywhere.

[kosketus]

Thanks for the helpful comments.

I still have a problem but it would be off-topic to post it here. Instead, please refer to this thread, if interested:-

http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... highlight=