Writing MPEG 2

[mark one]

is their anyway of using unleaded video 11 plus to write a MPEG2 DVD

[MrA]

is their anyway of using unleaded video 11 plus to write a MPEG2 DVD

see this post... http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=20224

[mark one]

OK thanks but here is something I do not understand

I have 2 hours 36 minutes off video which I have edited and saved in Video Studio resulting in 4.5gig of space on the hard drive but when i try to write this to disk it tells me I need 8.9 gig disk ???

In the tutorial it says AVI files are easiest to edit why?

[petgray]

I'm a relative newbie but I've read an awful lot of other people's posts in the last 24 hours and I think the answers to your questions are:

>I have 2 hours 36 minutes off video which I have edited and saved in Video Studio resulting in 4.5gig of space on the hard drive but when i try to write this to disk it tells me I need 8.9 gig disk ???

If your video almost fills a standard DVD, any extra bits such as menus and titles may push it over the capacity limit.

>In the tutorial it says AVI files are easiest to edit why?

An AVI file is a container which can contain different kinds of video, but if it contains DV (uncompressed digital video) this is easier to edit than more compressed kinds of video such as MPEG-2 and MPEG-4, because the compression just adds an extra layer of compliction to an already complicated process.

[Ken Berry]

You need to tell us the properties of the the file you produced after editing (right click on it within Video Studio and copy down ALL its Properties here please.) I am assuming, though, that for a 150 minute project, to fit on a single layer DVD, you would be using a bitrate of (much) less than 4000 kbps. That will be pretty poor quality on the final DVD... Why is it important to squeeze all this on a single DVD? Wouldn't it be better to split it at least into two and burn those parts on separate DVDs? You would get better quality that way.

But if you *really* want a low quality DVD containing 150 minutes of video, and it is already 4.5 GB, then you should have used an even lower bitrate. The size has to be a maximum of 4.3 GB, and preferably less to allow for the space taken up by the menu. 4.3 GB is really the maximum of what a single layer DVD can take, regardless of the fact that it shows on the DVD case that it can take 4.7 GB. It is all a case of smoke and mirrors and the way that a gigabyte is counted.

Once you have produced a 4.3 GB DVD-compatible mpeg-2, save your project, then open a new one. Don't worry about a name for it -- the objective is just to clear the timeline.

Then you go to Share > Create Disc, insert your new mpeg-2 into the burning timeline, make your menu and burn. Also, first make sure 'do not convert compliant mpeg files' is ticked in the middle of the three icons in the bottom left of the burning screen ("Project Settings"). This is the really important step. If you don't tick that box, then Video Studio will ignore the properties of your mpeg-2 and instead use the properties set out in the window above that box. And I think it is here that you are being told that you need an 8.9 GB disk.

As to AVI files, it is really DV/AVI which is the easiest to edit if the video originally came from a DV source such as a mini-DV video camera. To correct one slight error in what petgray said, in fact DV/AVI *is* compressed. True uncompressed .avi is huge -- 65 GB for one hour. But DV/AVI is compressed by a factor of 5 and produces files of 13 GB for one hour. However, the algorithms by which it is produced mean that there is no loss of quality, either in the original capture or in subsequent renderings. So you can edit and render several times and not lose any quality. And once you have finished editing, you then convert it to DVD-compatible mpeg-2 and can -- if you use high quality settings (which you most definitely are not! ) -- you can get mpeg-2 which is virtually indistinguishable from the original DV quality.

[mark one]

Thanks

I have 100s of video tapes that I hoped to reduce the space taken up by them by transferring them onto DVD as well as make it more manageable, but if need 8 disks to replace one video then keeping video is better and cheaper

type MPEG-2 Video
Total Frames 40,982
Attributes 24bits 640x480
Frame Rate 30,000
Date Rate 4000

Audio Mpeg Audio Layer 2
Attributes 44100Hz 16 Bit Stereo
Layer 2
Bit rate 224 kbts

What about Divx I note that you can get a super compression codec, will it work with Video Studio

and thanks for your answer really appreciated

[Ken Berry]

I am not sure where you get the figure of 8 DVDs for one VHS tape. The latter, as far as I was aware, usually only have 2 or 3 hours -- and rarely, 4 hours -- maximum size.

Given that you are talking about analogue source material, many people would say there is probably not much point in burning at a higher bitrate than around 4000 kbps anyway, as the quality would not be much improved. I, on the other hand, tend to believe, that you can probably go as high as 6000 kbps for analogue material which is of high quality to start with. Otherwise, if it is only average quality, stick to 4000 kbps. So even for a 4 hour VHS tape, split in two, that would only require 2 discs per tape.

And yes, you could certainly store them to a highly compressed format like DivX; and yes, Video Studio can handle that as long as you have the DivX codec on your computer (it does not come with VS -- you have to obtain it from the divx.com website). And there are other highly compressed formats with high quality as well if all you want to do is archive the VHS footage.

To date, though, for a video DVD, you have to use mpeg-2 -- although an increasing number of stand-alone DVD players will in fact play DivX discs (prepared differently) burned either with a CD (up to 90 minutes of good quality video on a single CD) or up to 6 times or more that on a DVD. But you need a player actually rated to play DivX to be able to play them back (it will be marked on the box and on the player itself) -- otherwise, they are just like any other archive disk with the footage kept for storage only.

[mark one]

Thank you for your help I have a Divx computable player

You can get 8 hours on a video tape in long play many of my tapes are 4 hours

I will buy the DiVX codec plug in and see what happens

[Ken Berry]

Just remember that if you intend to distribute any of these discs to friends, if they use DivX, then your friends would also need DivX-compatible players to be able to play them.

[etech6355]

Thanks, I have 100s of video tapes that I hoped to reduce the space taken up by them by transferring them onto DVD as well as make it more manageable, but if need 8 disks to replace one video then keeping video is better and cheaper

This is not realistic (100+ tapes). Best bet is buy a dvd recorder and record in the 2 hour mode for good quality tapes & 4 hour mode for not so great tapes and video that isn't very important.

[mark one]

Thanks again

What's not realistic ???