Maximum possible project duration in VS7 or VS9

Boff2004 · Post by **Boff2004** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 5:05 am

Hi!

I'm trying to add a 15 hours video (mpeg2) in VS 7 and got the error:

"The total duration is greater than the maximum possible project duration. Some clips will not be added into the project. [15114:4:0]."

Does anyone know what is the max duration of a VS project? My goal is to split this video in a couple of smaller files.

P.S. I've downloaded and installed the VS 9 trial and got the same error.

Thanks

Trevor Andrew · Post by **Trevor Andrew** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 8:23 am

hi

My guess is that you are the first to encounter this warning.
Adding 15 hours of video is Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Continue to add the file, if some clips cannot be added, then VS should add the maximum.
Now check the project length, this should give you an indication of the max length.

Hope this Helps

Trevor

Boff2004 · Post by **Boff2004** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 3:43 am

Hi Trevor,

thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, VS won't add anything after displaying the error message. But you made me think of something: I'll try to use the "Scenes..." button in the "Open Video file" dialog box and scan for scenes. Maybe VS will be able to add as many scenes as possible on the timeline. I'll let you know what happens after I do it.

Patrick

Boff2004 · Post by **Boff2004** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 5:42 am

My test (using the "Scenes..." option) was running for a while (a couple of hours) when I decided to try something else.

So I tried the new "Movie Wizard" (in VS9). This wizard has no problem adding the 15-hour mpeg2 file to its timeline. I then cut it to a 5-hour clip. It worked. The result was a 5-hour VS project. I tried again by cutting the 15-hour mpeg2 file into a 13-hour clip. That's where I got the following error message:

"Your project has exceeded the 10 hour limit. Please trim the project."

So that's the answer to my question: 10 hours. That's the maximum length of a VS project. That's really too bad that the first message I got wasn't that clear! It seems that the Movie Wizard has better error messaging that VideoStudio itself!

(IMHO I hope someone from ULEAD is reading this: Please add more details to your error messages instead of those criptic error codes. I know that using error codes is easier to debug, I did it myself when I was a developer, but please be more verbose because it's really puzzling for the end-user).

BTW, another way to find this out is to try to enter a timecode that's greater than 10 hours (you can even try it in an empty project). There's no way you can enter more than 10:00:00.00. That's the same thing in VS7 (and probably VS8).

Patrick

kebrinton · Post by **kebrinton** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 12:23 am

So, we're discussing a UVS project lasting 10 hours?

Do you mean a project resulting in a DVD that plays for 10 hours? I don't think I'd enjoy watching such a DVD -- for quality reasons, not time reasons.

How good could the video be, at this bitrate?

THoff · Post by **THoff** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 1:06 am

A Half D1 or CIF resolution double-layer DVD can hold about eight hours of VHS-quality video. But if all that material is worth putting on DVD, I'd argue that maybe splitting it up might be a better idea. Watch 90 minutes of video, take a bathroom break, repeat.

Boff2004 · Post by **Boff2004** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 5:49 am

The main reason I was asking the question is that I had a 52 GB mpeg2 (15 hours) video file that I wanted to split into 4 GB files so that I could fit them on multiple single layer DVDs without wasting quality (8000 kbps).

I agree with you: I wouldn't downsize a 15-hours video and put it on a unique single layer DVD... The quality would probably be horrible.