Trying to fit 118 min of video on dvd

mdodds · Post by **mdodds** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 9:17 pm

This is my first DVD project. VideoStudio is the only video software i've ever used, so i hope i can explain in a way that someone can understand. Creating a one hour dvd using the default setting seems to be no problem. When trying to burn my 118 min video, my project is almost 7gig. I'm using the Create Disc option out of VideoStudio 9. I've tried several different options (changing video data rate, burn & fit) but when the video is panning it's pixelated and jerky, like it's losing to much info. If the picture is still, it looks fine. The clips were captured off my video camera as MPEG-1, 24bit, 720x480, 4:3. 29.97 fps, data rate of 1800kbps.
Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks,
Matt

THoff · Post by **THoff** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 9:33 pm

That bit rate is much too low for video of that resolution containing motion. What camera are you capturing from, and how (connection type and capture plugin)?

If it is a DV camera, I would recommend capturing using the DV AVI format at its normal 25Mbps data rate, and then transcoding to MPEG2 format. If you have AC3 audio support (UVS 8 with the AC3 plugin, or UVS 9), then you can use 192Kbps AC3 audio and 4850Kbps 2-pass video encoding for fairly decent audio/video quality on a single-layer disk.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 10:03 pm

I am also interested in why and how you captured to mpeg-1 in the first place.

mdodds · Post by **mdodds** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 8:29 pm

WHY I did it this way was just pure inexperience. I'm toally new to all of this.

THoff - Thanks for the quick advice. I'm capturing using firewire from a Sony digital Handycam using the Ulead DirectShow Capture Plugin.
What exactly do you mean by transcoding to MPEG2?

THoff · Post by **THoff** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 9:06 pm

Transcoding means converting from one encoding format to another -- in this case going from the DV format that is used by MiniDV camcorders to MPEG2 which is used on DVDs.

Take a look at the top-most thread in this forum, it provides step-by-step instructions that should help you with your problem. The only adjustment you would want to make to the process is to use the bitrates I indicated, otherwise the video won't fit on a single-layer DVD.

mdodds · Post by **mdodds** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 9:31 pm

Wow! I wish I would have seen these instructions before I spent 3 hours downloading all this useless video. VERY helpful. Thanks for all your help.

mdodds · Post by **mdodds** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 7:39 pm

My project went together smooth as silk, and the client received it two weeks early, he was thrilled. I just wanted to say THANKS again for all your help.