Fit Video To DVD - Size Limit?

[oka]

I did not know there would be a size limit to fit a video file to a DVD. I thought the premise would be to fit any size video file to a DVD, and the the sell-out would be the larger the video file the poorer the DVD quality.

I got two error messages:

"The miminum size be reducing the bit rates still cannot fit once disc."

"Convert step got some problems."

What are the minimum requirements for fitting a video file to a DVD?

[BrianCee]

well you can't just go on reducing the bitrate for ever and ever - there has got to be a bottom limit. I do not know what it is in the software you are using but I would think that any video encoded at less than 1000kbps would be totally unwatchable.

how long is the video you are trying to put on DVD

[Ken Berry]

For me, Video Studio's capacity to 'fit to disc' has always -- over several versions -- been very limited, and the results often questionable as well. I have no idea what the limits are, but from my own various efforts -- and those of others here who have reported problems over the years -- I would have to say that the upper limit on what might be squeezed onto a single layer DVD would lie somewhere in the 5 GB range, and more probably in the lower part of that range. In other words, if your project is just a little bit over the 4.3 GB limit, then it might work. But if you are expecting to squeeze an 8 GB, or even 7 GB project, onto a single layer disc, forget it. Use Nero Recode or DVD Shrink instead (the original designer of Shrink went over to a paid job at Nero a number of years ago now). The results from those two programs are in any case IMHO much better than the successful ones reduced by VS.

One of the questionable things I mentioned about the VS fit to disc option is that it seems to operate on fixed or stepped reduction targets and nothing in between. For instance, if I start with a 4.9 GB project and use VS to reduce it to fit on a single layer disc, I have usually found that it does not reduce the project to 4.3 GB but to something like 3.5 or 3.6 GB, meaning of course that the DVD will not be full and the final quality of the disc not being as good as it should be. I don't get this with Shrink or Recode.

Maybe others have had different experiences and better results, and if so, I hope they post them here.