AVI Clips > 1 x DVD

[pboreham2002]

I've recently got a DVD burner and want to put a lot of my AVI captures of video tapes onto DVD's with menus etc.

These range from comedy eppisodes (e.g. 30 mins long) and drama episodes (CSI/X Files - 1hr long).

These are mostly in AVI format. I understand to burn to DVD they need to be at least in a MPG2 file - but when I've been trying to convert the AVI's to MPG with a variety of encoders, but the file sizes are estimating 3-4gb!!! I'm never really sure exactly what settings to use to give best balance of quality against size and nowhere seems to have a clear, definitive answer!

So, I guess my questions are:-

1) Is there an authoring program that will import the AVI files and allow me to make a DVD?

2) If not, whats the best way to get around the large size of MPG files?

3) What is the sort of target size I can expect a 50min-1hr AVI file to be once converted to MPG (of a decent PAL TV quality)

4) Whats your recommended Authoring program to make a DVD of a series of 6 30min programs?

Thanks for ANY help you can give, its surely appreciated

Cheers, Paul.

[bugster]

The size of an mpeg file is dependant on only two things. These are bitrate and playing time (length). There isn't much you can do about playing time (trim end credits maybe?!) but bitrate can be adjusted.

To determine what bitrate you need for a given file size, use a bitrate calculator. There are several in the tools section.

[Gazorgan]

Ruel of Thumb is 2 hours per DVD. This is for 720x480 and AC5.1 sound. You are capturing so you want AC3 (2 channel). 720x480 is overkill for captures. Use 1/2 D1 , which nets you roughly 4 hours per DVD.

Use a bitrate calculator to get exact bitrates...but you are looking at 1000 MB/hour = 16.7 MB/min = .28 MB/sec = 284 KB/sec which is roughly SVCD bitrates. Which is good, because you would be running slightly less than SVCD resolution :P

[pboreham2002]

Many thanks Gazorgan - but I have a further question to your answer...

Using TMPenc, I cannot change the bitrate when encoding to mpg below a certain amount - not sure of the exact amount, but the output file is still estimated at well over 2gb.

Is this because my original AVI captures are too high a resolution?? I have some 1hr mpg files that are around 300-400mb and of a very good quality, so thats what I'm aiming for - is this about the right size for that type of capture?

Thanks again for your help,

Paul.

[bugster]

It has nothing to do with the source avi. If the Tmpgenc wizard won't let you select what you need, cancel it and set things manually, or load a template. You may need to load the 'unlock.mcf' template anyway to unlock the sittings.