DVD Workshop and 640Meg MPEG file ??

[AdamBrunt]

Hi all,

I am trying to create a VCD menu system using Ulead DVD Workshop.

My video file is 640Meg in size. I have designed three menus (each with 6 thumbnails) making 18 chapters altogether (which were created in DVD Workshop).

When I create a disk image (I first tried to burn straight to CD but got out of space errors) the image is 835Meg !!??!!

Why is DVD Workshop adding nearly 200Meg to the size of my VCD ?? Three static menus surely can't require this much space ?? Is there a difference between using an image (from the 'Library' in the bottom left hand corner) as a menu thumbnail and dragging one of the chapter screenshots (from the 'film reel' on the right hand side) onto the menu ??

I am assuming if I just create a VCD, in Nero, of the my MPEG file then this would easily fit, right ??

Is there any other software I can use as an alternative ??

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions.

Regards,

Adam Brunt

[J_VCD]

Does DWS reencode your source video files? If so, a new file is created on your working directory, starting with something like '~~'. Check the size of this file(s) against your source.

Anyway, some static menus should not introduce very much extra info (apart from the optional background music).

Regards.

[AdamBrunt]

Does DWS reencode your source video files? If so, a new file is created on your working directory, starting with something like '~~'. Check the size of this file(s) against your source.

Anyway, some static menus should not introduce very much extra info (apart from the optional background music).

Regards.

I am not at home to check but I am pretty sure there was a file beginning '~~'.

Should DWS be re-encoding ?? Is it doing it because the chapter entry points were created in DWS as opposed to already being in the source file ??

EDIT : Having checked Ulead's website it seems that DWS re-encodes if

DVD Workshop will re-encode the MPEG file when the specified encoding bit rate in Make Disc is lower than the encoding bit rate used by the original file. If you want to retain the original encoding scheme of your file, you must specify a higher encoding bit rate than your original encoding bit rate in Make Disc.

So all I have to do is work out how to find out the source file's bit rate using MediaStudio Pro. Any ideas ??

EDIT : According to DWS the bitrate for a VCD Menu Template is 24Bit and this can not be changed (or can it ???). The bit rate for the source MPEG is 24Bit. So DWS is not lower than the source file ... so why is it re-encoding ??

Surely all it should be doing is creating the 3 menu 'frames' (there is no background music here BTW) and sticking it in front of my source video, right ??

As you say I don't see how a few static menus requires 200Meg !!??!!

Thanks in advance for any further help you can give me.

Regards,

Adam Brunt

[alexhuang]

I once had the same problem as yours, but after updating to DWS 1.2, it seems ok. Even it reports incorrect required disc space sometime, but I still can burn my family VCD or VCD disc image correctly. My experience is the first time (before you pressing Start button), the required disc image is not so correct, however, after you burning it, the disc size is ok.

[LynnObie]

Adam,
I'm a new DWS user.... full version upgraded to 1.2 ..... It seems DWS cannot calculate needed disk space accurately! My last SVCD project that I knew was around 700mb reportedly needed 1.9GB to burn!! As alexhuang pointed out above, I also burned a disc image file to my hard drive which DWS then correctly showed needed just under 700mb of cdr space. I made the SVCD from the disc image file and it works fine. I hope Ulead will fix this bug in their next update.

[AdamBrunt]

I once had the same problem as yours, but after updating to DWS 1.2, it seems ok. Even it reports incorrect required disc space sometime, but I still can burn my family VCD or VCD disc image correctly. My experience is the first time (before you pressing Start button), the required disc image is not so correct, however, after you burning it, the disc size is ok.

Hi alex,

Does OWS 1.2 get round the reencoding problem ??

My main concern is that the version I have takes nine hours to burn an image because it has to re-encode my MPEG file ??!!?? It then also claims the 1.5Gig of disk space is required.

Regards,

Adam

[Lamont Cranston]

I am using DVDWS V1.2 and with "Do not convert compliant files" checked on the Make Disk page DVDWS does not reencode my mpeg 2 files. I only have authored DVDs with DVDWS and the projected file sizes are accurate.

[AdamBrunt]

I am using DVDWS V1.2 and with "Do not convert compliant files" checked on the Make Disk page DVDWS does not reencode my mpeg 2 files. I only have authored DVDs with DVDWS and the projected file sizes are accurate.

Hmmm ... I am running DVDWS V1.0 and am 100% sure that this version does not have a "Do not convert compliant files" checkbox on the Make Disk page when creating a VCD

Either it is a new feature with 1.2 or is only available to DVDs ??

I have also downloaded the trail version of DVD MovieFactory as I understand this doesn't have the problem I am getting ....

[Lamont Cranston]

DVDWS V1.0 does NOT have 'Do not convert compliant files" on the Make Disk page. With V1.0 you have to select a template on the make disk page that is the same as the parameters of your mpeg files. The template Video data rate should be =>your mpeg file video data rate. I will create a VCD with menues and check the file sizes.

[Lamont Cranston]

I created a VCD (4 chapters) with DVDWS V1.2. (~3.6MB Mpeg 1) and here are the files sizes:

Required Disk Space 4.3M
Required Hard Disk Space 4.9MB

When I burn form the image file the Required Disk Space 4.4MB

[AdamBrunt]

DVDWS V1.0 does NOT have 'Do not convert compliant files" on the Make Disk page. With V1.0 you have to select a template on the make disk page that is the same as the parameters of your mpeg files. The template Video data rate should be =>your mpeg file video data rate. I will create a VCD with menues and check the file sizes.

This is what I have done and it still wants to re-encode the video ??!!??

The annoying thing is that the mpeg file was created as a 'PAL VCD' MPEG in Ulead's MediaStudio. I then create a PAL VCD DVD Workshop project using VCD menus. When I tell it to make it disc .... it starts re-encoding !!! Why is PAL VCD in MediaStudio not the same as PAL VCD in Workshop ??

If you're not getting the same problems that I am with v1.2 then it must be a 'bug' in v1.0 ....

[Lamont Cranston]

I am running MSP V6.51a which has Ulead's MpegNow encoder. I encoded a NTSC VCD mpeg 1 file and imported it to DVDWS V1.2 and it created the image with no reencoding of my mpeg files. I don't konw what version of MSP you are using and I can only do NTSC so it is a bit of apples to oranges comparison.

[AdamBrunt]

I am running MSP V6.51a which has Ulead's MpegNow encoder. I encoded a NTSC VCD mpeg 1 file and imported it to DVDWS V1.2 and it created the image with no reencoding of my mpeg files. I don't konw what version of MSP you are using and I can only do NTSC so it is a bit of apples to oranges comparison.

Ahhh ... I am deffo running only v6.5 of MSP. So it could be a codec problem possibly between MSP and DVDWS perhaps ??

[AdamBrunt]

UPDATE :

I did a test using the trial version of DVD Movie Factory. Everything works perfectly ( apart from showing up a couple of dodgy frames in my MPEG file ).

So, personally, I can only put this down as a BUG in version 1.0 of DVD Workshop.

Oh well, maybe DVDWS was to flash for what I wanted to do anyway - DVD Movie Factory is good enough for my needs.

Thanks for all the help guys.

Regards,

Adam

[boss]

I've had the trial version of dvd workshop for the past few months and have this re-encoding problem too. does anyone know how to get the 1.2 patch file to work with the trial version?