Rendered file bloat

[GreggC]

I've been using VS for some time now (V7, V8, V9) and continue to have the same problem. I take video on my Sony DCR-DVD300. The disks are the 8cm 1.2GB jobs. I can easily import by 1) connecting via the USP port (not the best choice), 2) putting the DVD into my DVD drive and capture from there (better choice) or 3) copying the VIDEO_TS folder from the 8cm disk to my hard drive and import from there (quickest in the long run). There is no problem getting the files converted and imported into VS9. Nor is there a problem editing. OOS seems to have gone away with VS9 and my 280GB hard drive. The problem is that when I render a file (Create Video File) using "Same as first video clip" (or any of them for that matter), it at least doubles in size.

Info on the non-rendered original file:
File format: NTSC-DVD
Video
Video Type: MPEG-2 Video, Upper Field First
Attributes: 24 bits, 352 X 480, 4:3
Frame size: 29.970 Frames/sec
Data Rate: Variable bit rate (Max. 9300 kbps)
Audio
Audio type: Dolby Digital Audio
Attributes: 48000 Hz, 2/0 (L,R)
Layer: None
Bit Rate: 256

I drag the file into the time line and "Share/Create Video File/Same as first clip" and end up with a file WITH EXACTLY THE SAME ATTRIBUTES but twice as big. What the heck is VS9 doing to it? If the video cam can get 1 hour on a 1.2 GB DVD, why can it not be rendered to the same size? I know that if I do a bunch of editing, titles etc, it will increase the size, but this happens without any editing at all.

Frustrated in New Hampshire.

Gregg

[THoff]

The properties of the file indicate that the camcorder recorded the video at Half D1 NTSC resolution, which uses half the horizontal resolution of "normal" DVD video.

I haven't tried using Half D1 as a source with "Same as first video clip", but you can always manually change the project settings to match the input file if you don't trust Videostudio.

Half D1 looks better than VHS video, but it isn't of the same quality as Full D1 or MiniDV.