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  1. Member
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    Hey so I am trying to burn a bunch of AVI files onto a DVD that I can watch in any old DVD player.

    I have Toast and iDVD but when I try and use them to burn the files I am told that they are too big to fit on one DVD.

    I have about 7 files that are each an hour long...

    Can anyone help me get more than one hour-long episode on a DVD?
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  2. Video Restorer lordsmurf's Avatar
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    "any old DVD player" will not play AVI files, it has to be converted to DVD. This conversion process almost always increases the size of the video files, because MPEG-2 bitrate requires high values than XVID/etc, and most often all-in-one software assumes you want 720x480 while fills a disc with 2 hours.

    Yeah, run-on sentence. Sorry.

    When you let software make your choices, you'll often be disappointed by the results.
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  3. Member
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    OK so what software will allow me to put all the episodes on one DVD?
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  4. I'm a MEGA Super Moderator Baldrick's Avatar
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    7 hours on one dvd will like crap. Why not just use several dvdrs?

    But if you really want to put all on one dvd you need to find a converter where you can adjust the video bitrate(lower bitrate= more minutes/dvd). Maybe ffmpegx.
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  5. Member
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    Well I don't mind using a few DVD's but at the moment I am told by iDVD and Toast that they can only fit one episode per DVD... which is a bit crap...

    I do have FFMPEGX, with which I converted the avi files to mov files, but this produces a similar result; only one episode can fit on a DVD.
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  6. Member terryj's Avatar
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    Ok, let's take it back a bit as I think you might need this process broken down for you a bit:

    You have 7 avi files, each at about 1 hour long.
    Let say for argument's sake they clock right in at say 50mins.
    You need to get these onto DVD.

    iDVD only knows to encode to fill up a DVD at 2hours encoding
    (worst quality) or fill it up at Best Resolution ( Highest Quality).
    Toast, on the other hand works off of runtime in default.
    so If you drag and drop two episodes on to the window and click
    to encode, then congrats, it will do its job and put those two
    onto disc using default settings.

    To use Toast to get more onto a disc, you have to first figure out
    how to adjust Toast to do what you want. I will use Toast 10 as
    an example, but this works in any version from 7 on up.

    First, get a Bitrate Calculator, I like to use this one here.
    Next, figure out quality vs quantity. In other words, how
    much quality can you afford to lose to get yoru video onto a disc?
    for me, with each episode at about 1 hour, I shoot for 4 episodes
    per disc.

    so using the Bitrate calc, I figure out the following :


    4hrs00mins15seconds, with a defualt audio of 192kbps, gives you
    a set encoding rate of 2.3mbps low end.

    Launch Toast.
    With Toast Open, select the Video Tab, select the DVD Tab.
    At lower left, where the "Options" window resides, click "More."
    When the "More" window comes up, select the "Encoding" Tab,
    and enter in your information by doing the following:



    You set the encoding to Custom, you set the slider to closest to 2.3mbps,
    ( in this case 2.5mbps) and set the high end to 5.0mbps.
    Set the audio to 192kbps.

    Click Ok, and then drag and drop your files into the main window.
    Click burn to author and burn to DVD.
    Repeat as necessary.
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  7. nice explanation, thanks...
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  8. Video Restorer lordsmurf's Avatar
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    An average bitrate of 2.5Mbps on a typical 720x480 encode is going to look like shit. The minimum bitrate for acceptable quality is 5000-5500kbps (5.0-5.5Mbps).

    At 352x480, only then will 2.5Mbps be okay.
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  9. my 2 cents (I don't use Toast encoder):
    Originally Posted by terryj
    Launch Toast.
    and enter in your information by doing the following:[...]
    I will increase Max BiteRate to 8 Mbps (if the frame cannot be described in 5 Mbps, the encoder will damage it)
    …but I don't know if toast will manage to keep its average bitrate

    I will set Motion Estimation to good (the better way will be to remove motion estimation)
    The motion estimation is used to build GOP with accuracy, depending on the contents (=cuts) of the video
    Without ME the GOP will always use 12 or 15 frames per GOP (and a long GOP uses a lot of B frames, the "lighter" frames)
    With a best ME, the encoder can add more GOP (eg: each 3 or 6 frames), the resulting stream will use more I frames (the heaviest frames)

    (end of the boring explanation )
    bye
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  10. Member terryj's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by lordsmurf
    An average bitrate of 2.5Mbps on a typical 720x480 encode is going to look like shit. The minimum bitrate for acceptable quality is 5000-5500kbps (5.0-5.5Mbps).

    At 352x480, only then will 2.5Mbps be okay.
    Smurfy, not knowing his file VIEWING SIZE, I went for length over Viewing size.
    IF he has avi's at 352 x 480, or even 288 x 320, then you could adjust
    for height vs runtime, and come out better this way.

    But in runtime, 4 avis at 1hr each a lowend of 2.5mbps and a high target of 5.0 to 6.0mbps
    will give him an average per of about 2.9mbps ( readjusted as I oversetimated his
    avis by 10 mins each, see my post) and for a DVD-5 it will be watchable, slightly
    better than Mpeg-1 but not as great as say a 2hr DVD-9 shrunk to a 2hr DVD-5
    through DETOX.

    this is a case according to the OP of QUANTITY.
    In this case QUANTITY is overriding QUALITY.
    I think this has been made clear......
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  11. Member terryj's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by Herve
    my 2 cents (I don't use Toast encoder):
    Originally Posted by terryj
    Launch Toast.
    and enter in your information by doing the following:[...]
    I will increase Max BiteRate to 8 Mbps (if the frame cannot be described in 5 Mbps, the encoder will damage it)
    …but I don't know if toast will manage to keep its average bitrate

    I will set Motion Estimation to good (the better way will be to remove motion estimation)
    The motion estimation is used to build GOP with accuracy, depending on the contents (=cuts) of the video
    Without ME the GOP will always use 12 or 15 frames per GOP (and a long GOP uses a lot of B frames, the "lighter" frames)
    With a best ME, the encoder can add more GOP (eg: each 3 or 6 frames), the resulting stream will use more I frames (the heaviest frames)

    (end of the boring explanation )
    bye
    Herve, you are right on the readjusting the Motion Estimation ( removing altogether would be better, alas
    it cannot). also, If Toast allowed for Variable vs Constant Bitrate encoding, that would also allow for higher
    lowerend bitrate and you could actually set a better target encode that wouldn't have
    to juggle QUANTITY vs QUALITY, like you can do with Compressor.
    Alas, Sonic/Roxio doesn't think the average joe needs this feature........
    "Everyone has to learn, so that they can one day teach."
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