Fitting it on the disc

mikej · Post by **mikej** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 3:36 pm

Not sure if this is a DWS issue or one related to Canopus Procoder/Edius combination.

I have a total of 89 minutes of video in 11 'clips' encoded in Procoder Xpress (from Edius), working in PAL. Importing the clips to DWS2 (full version) and creating several menus (but no audio or motion in the menus) gives me a total project size of 7.3GB ('finsh' stage), much too big for a single layer DVD. Looking back at the imported MPEGs they total a file size just under 6.3 GB, even though Procoder was set up for '120 mins per disc'.

Is there a way of getting DWS to fit this material on to a disc - or do I need to go back to Procoder (again, I've already tried it once but files are still big).

Any suggestions welcome

skier-hughes · Post by **skier-hughes** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 6:14 pm

I use procoder all the time and have no trouble getting 90 mins to fit on 1 disc.
I never use the 120 mins guide, always inserting my own bitrates. In my version of procoder it tells you at the top of the settings window approx how large the file will be, I'm assuming this will be the same for you. I use Premiere 6.5 not edius.
From Procoder I import the mpegs into WS2, and ensure I do not convert the video files, but use WS to make my AC-3 audio, which always brings down the file size. So, I may start with a project of 4.7gb and by the time I've done the AC-3 I'm usually down to 4gb.
I have a preset for my WS encoding which matches the video encoding in Procoder and uses the AC3.
My menus vary from motion background with music to several menus, most I've done is 4, all with music and some with motion buttons. Though I have never used up 1gb for a menu system. How complex is yours?

Anyway, I wouldn't re-encode the mpegs as this will reduce quality, it's back to the procoder encoding. I'd use about 6,500 max, 5,500 std, 0 min. might get away with a bit more, but I'm concious of that 1gb menu, it may need to go down.

mikej · Post by **mikej** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 8:31 am

Thanks, skier

I wouldn't have thought my menus were that complex and was also surprised to find they added 1gb. No sound or motion in them, just a couple of sub menus and one menu that only appears at the end of a couple of playlists from the root menu. 4 menus in total but 1gb still sounds a lot.
DWS does show the file size in the settings area. I'll try your suggestion and use DWS for AC-3 audio, but I'm beginning to think the problem is the size of the mpeg's I'm importing, having created them in procoder express for edius. I've found a couple of posts for similar problems on a canopus forum.
I'll also try a lower bitrate in procoder - I've been letting it do that bit itself, once I've specified the 120 mins/disc template.

skier-hughes · Post by **skier-hughes** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 9:17 am

I've never found it's own setting any good, and ditched them as soon as I worked out how it all worked for myself, which was only about 1/2 hour of messing around.

I'd have a close look at your menus to see if you can find a problem somewhere with them as they are very oversized. I just did one which had a full sized motion background, music and two menus linked from it and it only took up a few mb.

Graham

mikej · Post by **mikej** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 11:38 am

I'll look at the menus again - don't know why they're so big.
I think the main problem is the size of the mpegs from procoder: totting up the individual file sizes totals 6+ gb, even though it's less than 90 mins of video and procoder template is set at 120 mins. Have tried some custom setups with procoder and files are getting smaller, just need to burn a disc now and see what it looks like!

Mike