In MovieFactory, when I specify a value for Variable bit rate, it treats it as "maximum bit rate", not "average bit rate". Because of this, even if I select a bit rate to fill all available space on DVD, the resulting DVD has a lot of (wasted) free space.
It is still possible to figure out the best bit rate by creating a test disc, checking its size, and then increasing your bit rate by multiplying the bit rate used to create a test disc by the ratio of desired and actual disc sizes.
But to make it worse, starting with MF 6 (or maybe with some of the service packs of MF 5), Ulead removed an "Ignore" option in warning it shows on the "Burn" page when calculated disc size is larger than the size of the chosen project.
If you create a 4.7GB disc, it is possible to select 8.5GB project, so that it does not show this warning. But what if I have to create 8.5GB disc? In this case you will have to first convert all the files to compliant mpeg files using the right bit rate, then do final project (menus etc.) using those mpeg files.
To avoid all this hassle, I think it would be better if MovieFactory treated "Variable bit rate" value as "average bit rate", not as "maximum bit rate". It would be even better if it showed (and allowed to specify) three values: minimum, maximum, and average bit rates, as some other programs do.
I understand that for DVDs there is a limit for maximum bit rate (9 Mbps or so), so probably if you specify "average bit rate" close enough to that maximum bit rate limit, the resulting disc size will still be less than calculated size, but at least for bit rates about 4-6 Mbps the space will be used much more efficiently.
Variable bit rate issues
The Average VBR should be very close to the max, shouldn't throw the calculation off by that much.
How is the quality of the encoding?
Sounds to me like the encoder is defaulting to 4200 average bit rate. Have you checked the actual bit-rate while playing back?
Did you happen to edit any configuration ini files for MF?
Although the tips for ulead products gives some tweaking advice this can affect these settings if you did.
How is the quality of the encoding?
Sounds to me like the encoder is defaulting to 4200 average bit rate. Have you checked the actual bit-rate while playing back?
Did you happen to edit any configuration ini files for MF?
Although the tips for ulead products gives some tweaking advice this can affect these settings if you did.