AVI files make DVD huge

[dishwater63]

Program: Sony DVD Architect 4.5a

Ok, so I searched the forums (and the internet in general) and I can't find an exact answer to my issue. I wasn't sure how to condense my long winded question and that may be why I was having a hard time finding a solution. If this question has been asked (and answered) before, please direct to the thread so we can let this one die.

So, now that that's out of the way, the question. Basically, I have a collection of AVI files that I want to put on a DVD with a simple menu. The AVI files are about 600-700MB so I should be able to fit a couple per single layer DVD. However, when I start to build my project in DVD Architect and add one of the AVI files to the menu, the finished DVD projected size suddenly becomes 4.5GB. I don't understand the sudden jump in size when the initial project is at 0.2MB.

I honestly haven't used DVD Architect much so please forgive my ignorance. However, I do have a pretty firm grasp on filming and the terminologies used in the industry (I've been filming as a hobby for about 5 years now, but never have authored a DVD. Everything I've produced went straight to my website or youtube/vimeo/etc.) Any help at all would be most appreciated. If there is any more information needed, please just ask and I will give you as much information as I know. Thanks in advance.

[aedipuss]

if you are looking to leave them in avi format then don't use dvda. if you are looking to make dvds playable in a standalone player then you need to learn what a dvd is. the basic format of the video is mpeg-2 not avi so it has to be re-encoded to that and the size of the converted mpeg-2 is equal to bitrate x time. dvda is an authoring program not an editing/encoding one, but it does that on a limited basis. normally you would use an editing program to produce a dvd compliant mpeg-2 stream and an audio stream to import into dvda and author a dvd from there. an authoring program takes the video, audio, subtitle, and menu parts and creates the vobs, ifos, bups, and folders in the necessary formats to create a working dvd.

[guns1inger]

A standard layer DVD holds, in DVD format, 70 - 90 minutes of video at high to good quality, 90 - 120 minutes at good to OK quality, 120 - 180 at OK to average quality, and after that it is all downhill. Of course there are many factors, so this isn't absolute, but it is a pretty good guide. The better the source, the better the finished product, all else being equal. Personally, if you are converting crushed AVI files (a whole movie in 700 MB means crushed) then there are far better options than DVD-A.

I would start with AVStoDVD or DVD Flick (both free) or ConvertXtoDVD (not free). But expect to only get one movie to a disc, maybe two if they are sub 90 minutes.

If your player supports playback of Divx/Xvid encoded files then use Imgburn to burn a data disc and you will get 6 700 MB files to a disc without encoding. You get no menus, but frankly, who cares.

[dishwater63]

Wow, thanks for the quick reply guys.

I knew that eve video was mpeg-2, but I had no idea it would encode up to that size. I use Sony Vegas as my main editing program, would it be better for me to convert the AVI files to mpeg-2 in Vegas before importing them to architect? My plan is to watch these dvds in a eve player for playback on a moderate flatscreen tv.

They're not movies, but from an event I filmed. I am a quality freak, haha, so I know all too well about the degradation of quality as you quickly shrink the size of video and audio. Thanks again for all the help.

[guns1inger]

Post a mediainfo tree view of a typical file.

[dishwater63]

Cool thanks, will do.

[dishwater63]

Sorry for the delay in response, but thanks to everybody who helped. I converted my AVI files to MPG (mpeg-2) so they're native to the DVD environment. I still can't fit as many on a DVD as I would like to, but I'm more for quality not quantity.