The bitrate of 4000 being listed as "fair" quality is only true if you're using the standard settings. 4000-5000 kbps encodes can be of quite high quality
if you use the proper settings by selecting the Custom option when exporting a video file.
For the record: Many, if not most, commercial DVD's are encoded at 4000 - 5500 kbps and not the high bitrates and low quality settings defined in most editing software. Otherwise they couldn't fit all the extra content, outtakes, animated menu's, commentaries, multi-language subtitles etc. on even an 8.5 gb disc.
The difference is in the settings.
Most program defaults, Uleads included, are geared towards fast renders and therein lies the problem. High bitrate/medium quality renders are fast and look decent but large. Cutting the bitrate solves the size problem at the sacrifice of quality if nothing else is changed.
My suggstion:
Finish your edit then in Sharing opt to use the "Create Video File/Custom" settings (at the bottom). In the Custom dialog select MPEG as the filetype then click the Options button to get to the manual settings.
On the Compression page set the DVD preset appropriate to your video standard (NTSC or PAL), a quality of 85-90 (95-100 for sports), 2-pass encoding, VBR, a bitrate of 4000-4500 kbps (higher for sports etc.) and Dolby Digital audio w/a bitrate of 160-224 kbps. 160 is good for most purposes. 224 is better if a little music is in the project, but not for music videos. You get the idea....
Most of this should be obvious, but 2-pass might need some explaining. In 2-pass encoding the first pass is used to analyze the video better and noting custom settings to be used for each GOP (GOP = group of pictures, roughly equivalent to 1/2 second of video). The 2nd pass does the actual encoding using the customized GOP settings.
Encoding with these settings takes longer, but is worth it. Look at it as a way to justify that fast dual-core CPU you've been dreaming about
