DVDit! and PrimoDVD problems

[igornt]

Now I got everything, including my new Pioneer DVR A03. I tried to burn my first DVD using Sonic DVDit! 2.3 PE, and was disappointed as the video and audio were not synchronized. OK, I have just thrown $10. WHat I did then was creating a DVD folder with DVDit! on a hard disc to burn it on a DVD later using PrimoDVD. However, PrimoDVD does not burn the project. First it says that my drive is not ready, so I have to extract and then insert a DVD-R every time to have it detect the DVD. But then it says that my project is bigger than available size on a DVD-R. It is not true as my project size is only 4.6 GB, and the DVD-R size is 4.7 GB. Please, need your hand!!! Am I doing anything wrong? Should I set PrimoDVD to overburn the disc? If it is OK, which settings should I use? I would not want to encode my video again, as it is 2 hour long and it takes days to encode it. And I do not want to spoil another DVD-R media. Thanks for assistance!

[Tomcheung]

I got my DVD burner.
I have not burned anything on DVD-R yet as I am waiting for my DVD-RW to arrive.
Try it on DVD-RW first before on DVD-R.

[reddroopy]

Sizing issue on DVD-R. Manufactures say the disc is 4.7 gig but in reality the disc can only hold around 4.33 gig. It has to do with what they think a byte is. Like when you buy a 40 gig hard drive and once its formated it only is 38 gig.
Long and short of it is, your projects need to be under 4.33 gig or they wont fit..

[scharf]

4.6 gig is not going to fit on the DVD. Now don't ask me why cause I'm not sure I understand myself. I found the info on the DVDit forum. For some reason the 4.7 disc is seen by the computer as 4.3 gig. I'm not sh*ting you. Like I said I don't get it but that's the way it is. Search the DVDit forum and look for yourself.

I don;t think overburning is a good idea. Looks like you might have to do the dreaded re-encode at a lower bitrate. Or remove any extra stuff you might have that you don't need.

One more suggestion: set DVDit to transcode the audio to ac3 instead of PCM (if you didn't already). I'm not sure how it will deal with MPEG2 to AC3 audio. You might want to start with WAV (PCM) to AC3.

Hope that works cause I wouldn't want to re-encode either.

[igornt]

Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. I guess I need to re-encode all my video once again with a lower bitrate (I used VBR 5.5 Mb/s; I will do it with 5.0 this time). The only thing I do not understand though, why I managed to burn the DVD-R with DVDit! the first time - that was the same project... Thanks.

[greeneyess]

You can also try Spruce Up DVD. It seems to make the project a little smaller than DVDit PE. For some reason DVDit adds about a gig when it actuall make the movie unlike spruce.

[igornt]

OK. I managed to fit in 4.42 gigs on one disc. My first dvd burned. Way to go! (now I need to replace my Philips DVD718 for the desktop that is DVD-R compatible...)
greeneyess. Personally, I hate SpruceUp for several reasons: it screws up multiple mpeg files in one project; it does not allow to have a movie file to be played as first play; and it does not allow to have music menus. It is too primitive for me. Though DVDit! is not perfect either, interface is better to me than that of Maestro.