increase in file size on importing

[hotrodder2011]

When I import 687mb of avi files into the system to produce a dvd the meter at the bottom of the page reads 10GB !!! how is this and is there something wrong in my actions. A multiplication of 9 fold seems crazy, Id have to leave out 3/4 of the files to fit them on a dvd and make 10 dvd's to look at all pics. Can anyone advise please. Hotrodder2011

[Ken Berry]

As there are around 800 different video formats that call themselves .avi, can you please right click on the file in the MF7 timeline and copy ALL its properties here... Then we will have a clearer idea of what we are dealing with...

[hotrodder2011]

Ken, the details are as follows.
File
File format microsoft avi files
frame rate 25.0 frames/sec
duration 128.040 secs
data rate 57.06 kb/sec

video
compression divx decoder filter
attributes 24bits, 400 x 304
total frames 3201frames

audio
compression mpeg layer3
attributes 64 k bits/sec 44100 hz monototal sample 5637888 samples


i hope this info is helpful to you, regards hotrodder2011

[Ken Berry]

DivX are highly compressed (though high quality) mpeg-4 videos, regardless of the fact that they use the .avi extension. Video DVDs must, by international standard, use mpeg-2, which is far less compressed (and compressed according to different algorithms) than DivX. So in the conversion process the files become considerably larger. I can't vouch for the accuracy of the 10 GB figure, but I am not surprised that MF 7 gives you a figure in the GB range. That is what MF is calculating will be the size of the files when converted to DVD-compatible mpeg-2 using the default settings. The latter would allow only one hour of video on a single layer DVD (4.3 GB). To squeeze more on the DVD, you would have to go into the Options icon in the bottom left of screen and change the burning properties to a lower bitrate (90 minutes = 6000 kbps; 2 hours = 4000 kbps as a rough guide).

However, I am beginning to wonder if you are wanting to burn a video DVD, or whether you just want that DivX video on a disc that will play in your stand-alone DVD player. The two are not necessarily the same thing. Most DVD players these days will play DivX video written to either CD or DVD. There will be a little label on the top of your player if it can. But to burn such discs, you cannot use a video editing or dedicated burning program like MF 7 as that is designed to convert the file to mpeg-2 and burn a *video* DVD as defined by international standard.

Instead you can use any other burning program, such as Nero, and simply burn your avi files to disc but as data files. Your player will nevertheless recognise them and play them as videos.

A 687 MB file will easily fit on a CD. But if you want several such files on the one disc, you just use a DVD. Roughly 6 files of similar size will fit on a single layer DVD.

[orientaldragon]

I am having this same issue. Using DVD MF6 Plus. 3.9GB turns into 21.52GB. Why does MF do this? Previous version used was DVD MF 2.0SE and if your files totalled 3.9GB that was what it was going to be. Only reason using DVD MF to make DVDs is that I want to be able to make the menu, and be able to edit the files. So now files that I used to be able to put on a DVD requires more than 1 DVD. Am I making any sense? Thanks.

[Ken Berry]

If you too are using DivX files, then I can only repeat what I said above:

But to burn such discs, you cannot use a video editing or dedicated burning program like MF 7 [or MF6] as that is designed to convert the file to mpeg-2 and burn a *video* DVD as defined by international standard.

Instead you can use any other burning program, such as Nero, and simply burn your avi files to disc but as data files. Your player will nevertheless recognise them and play them as videos.

I realise you want a menu, but by inserting DivX files into MF and building a menu, you are automatically going to be converting the DivX to DVD-compatible mpeg-2, and mpeg-2 files are going to be MUCH bigger than the DivX originals. Moreover, they would conform to the international video DVD standard and have a file structure made up of .vob, .bup and .ifo files. A DivX disc which will play in a stand-alone DVD player will only have .avi files on it (in DivX format), and those .avi files are burn as though they were data files, not video files. And you can't do that with VS or MF.

DivX used to have a program which allowed you to author DivX discs with a menu. I forget its name for the moment, and don't know if it still exists. But in any case, those menus could only be read by a very limited number of stand-alone DVD players. Other players could certainly recognise and play the DivX files themselves -- but to repeat myself, they were being seen as distinct DivX files and NOT as DVD-Video files.

[orientaldragon]

Thanks for the explanation, but why would DVD Movie Factory 2 SE not increase the file size? The only reason why we upgraded was because the older version was not encoding the audio correctly anymore.