Why is my DVD size so small using TMPGEnc?

[jjbodean1970]

OK, I'm a noob, but catching on pretty quickly. I have converted AVI to DVD using DVD2SVCD and TMPGEnc Plus, then authored using TMPGEnc Author. My DVD size is like 1.7 GB!!! I was expecting something much larger. Am I losing a bunch of quality somewhere? What have I done wrong? Any help appreciated, thanks!

[likwid8]

Ok theres no need to use DVD2SVCD if your already using TMPGEnc. What I would do is the following:

Load up virtualdub and load the avi *uncompressed*/*compressed* .avi file and then goto Video --> Filters. In there crop the necessary edges which arent needed, hit add and goto resize and put in 720*480, then click on ok. Finally goto File, and goto start frameserv. Once you hit ok and make a name for your saved .vdf file (cappedfile.vdf), just open tmpgenc and click on load video and load the .vdf file, (make sure u got *all files* selected under file formats so it can recognize the .vdf file . once you loaded your video simple goto the tools section of this website and use the Java-based program to calculate the DVD bitrate. For example, put the length, and time and so on. Then just mess around with it till u fill 4.37 gigs. PLEAST NOTE: that try to make it fit around 4.2 or so, always go abit lower cause you might end up screwing up and going over. And once u do that u simply enter in the bitrate and hit encode. Please dont forget to deinterlace the video in the settings since you didnt do so in vdub.

And when ur done just author......

Cya

[lordsmurf]

Why does everybody make this stuff so hard?

You have AVI, right?
Load in TMPGEnc Plus and encode to MPEG-2 for DVD
The end.

Put DVD-ready encodes in authoring program of choice.
And then burn with program of choice.

Guides, people, guides. Read the GUIDES!

[likwid8]

now why would u encode without cropping? do u really wanna see nasty edges?

[Hardcoreruss]

Why does everybody make this stuff so hard?

You have AVI, right?
Load in TMPGEnc Plus and encode to MPEG-2 for DVD
The end.

Put DVD-ready encodes in authoring program of choice.
And then burn with program of choice.

Guides, people, guides. Read the GUIDES!

I would do this with one change, extract audio to uncompressed wav in virtual dub first. Guides to do this can be found on the left, as Smurf says READ.

[lordsmurf]

now why would u encode without cropping? do u really wanna see nasty edges?

What on earth are you talking about ?

[likwid8]

When capturing from television, most of the time u get uncirculated video that comes from the stream..... perhaps 2 inch solid black border line on the left hand side, or a fuzzy top right column.....those are usually from the cap card that picks up those ugly edges.... thats all im saying

[MavDVDR]

My DVD size is like 1.7 GB!!! I was expecting something much larger.

You've got 2 easy options:

1) As lordsmurf suggests, use the TMPGEnc Wizard (DVD NTSC or PAL) and on the Bitrate setting page (4/5) make sure you've selected DVD-R (for media) and "Makes file size 100% of disk capacity"; or

2) Use the bitrate calculator - https://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm - and set the bitrates manually to fill up the entire DVD. This is the better method if you want to use 2-pass VBR.

Incidentally, how long is your avi file?

[lordsmurf]

When capturing from television, most of the time u get uncirculated video that comes from the stream..... perhaps 2 inch solid black border line on the left hand side, or a fuzzy top right column.....those are usually from the cap card that picks up those ugly edges.... thats all im saying

Use the TMPGEnc crop filters ... or just leave it alone (cannot see it on tv anyway).

[jjbodean1970]

the AVI file is 1.36 GB. I played this thing on my home theatre system and it looked and sounded really good, I'm just wondering if it can look and sound even better if using the whole DVD? I do have a new problem in trying to convert a different AVI file - doing the conversion in TMPGEnc Plus I get an error message something about an illegal format and my video size must be a multiple of 8 and window size 4088 by 4088. What on earth are they talking about and where do I change the settings for this? Thanks!

[MavDVDR]

I actually meant length in time: hrs, mins,secs. Yes, it will look better if you use up the whole DVD-R, providing the source is of good quality.

As for the other avi, try opening it in vdub or vdubmod and re-saving it as an avi file.

[jjbodean1970]

it is 1:56:18 in length

[MavDVDR]

so to fill up your disc, video bitrate should be set to:

5015 kb/s - for CBR encoding; or

Av: 5015, Max: 9570 - for VBR(2-pass),

Audio bitrate: 224

[jjbodean1970]

GREAT! THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT, I WILL BE TRYING THIS EVENING AND REPORT BACK WITH RESULTS...

[likwid8]

Use the TMPGEnc crop filters ... or just leave it alone (cannot see it on tv anyway).

Well thats true, but unfortunately the cropping option works only for the side edges, if u crop the top and bottom it starts creating a black border. Well thats what tmpgenc does anyways. Its why i use vdub for all edges. It also depends on the capture card. I use a dv cap card and it creates some rough edges. Not saying its a bad card since its the best card out there , but just trying to tell you things ur not familiar with .