Importing Step Problem: Why do File sizes change?

Undead_Turk · Post by **Undead_Turk** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 9:24 pm

I am trying to burn some video files onto a DVD.

When I import a 697MB avi file, it displays it as a 3.97G file.

And I can't add any more files.

Why does it do this?

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:21 pm

Because your avi file is most likely a DiVX or Xvid file and MF converts it to DVD compliant mpeg2.

skier-hughes · Post by **skier-hughes** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:21 pm

Depends on what sort of avi file it is. There are over 800!!!
If it's a highly compressed file and you select high bitrate settings to make your mpeg2 dvd video then it will fill it if the file lasts about 1 hour.

Undead_Turk · Post by **Undead_Turk** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:27 pm

Yeah,

it's a DivX video Compression.

But, How do I Solve this problem?

skier-hughes · Post by **skier-hughes** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:06 pm

If you want to write a file the same size as the divx one you will need to write a data dvd and buy a dvd player that can play divx files.
Otherwise, you can lower the bitrate you use to write the mpeg2 files, but you will struggle to get 2 hours of decent video on a dvd, particularly as it comes from such a compressed source. you can lower the bitrate down to get 4 hours on a dvd but whether you can watch it is another matter.
This is because mpeg2 dvd video files ahve to be of a set format.

Also, once you've made a dvd video and written it, you cannot add anything to it, whether it contains 500mb or 4gb.

Undead_Turk · Post by **Undead_Turk** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:19 pm

So I guess there's nothing I could really do except to just burn this one file onto the DVD.

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 5:30 am

As Graham said, if you have a player which can play DiVX, just burn the file to DVD as data and play it. You cannot create a DVD from it since DVD standard is not allowing any other compression then mpeg2. Your source file is hence decompressed but the lost data is just that lost and converting it to a less compressed format like mpeg2 is not recovering the data lost in the previous compression to DiVX. The program will invent data to fill the void and expected quality would reflect that creative process.

I usually compare what you are trying to do with someone trying to reconstitute coffee beans from instant coffee. You can press it into shape but it won't be the same.

Undead_Turk · Post by **Undead_Turk** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:32 pm

Thanx guys