Need a little help with DVD2SVCD/ .bin file sizes too big?

[NFL]

I just ripped Jason X onto my hard drive and when it was done converting, I had two .bin files. One was 804 MB's, and the other was a whopping 857 MB'S. That movie is only 93 minutes long and i'm trying to figure out why it made two files over 800 MB's. I am using DVD2SVCD, and I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the bitrate part, where I select how many CD's, for how many minutes. The thing that is even odder is that even though each of the two .bin files were over 800 MB'S, the actual time for each was only about 46 minutes a piece. I thought that would convert to about 460 MB'S or so, not 800, and definitely not 850. Can anyone please tell me what I need to do to fix this. I am new to this all and I still am not sure the specifics of that bitrate page for DVD2SVCD. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

[hwoodwar]

The 804mb bin will probably burn fine. I've seen similar behavior before in explorer it shows up to about 830mb but when I burn to a CD it all fits (it might be the difference between mb and Mb.) I'm not sure about the 847mb but try it anyway with a 70 minute CD (actually hold 800mb mode 2.) Ignore the label on the CD, it probably says 700mb and that is "mode 1". VCD's and SVCD's are burned mode 2.

If the 847mb file does not burn correctly, then to minimize the chance of this happening again, I suggest you open DVD2SVCD, go to the bitrate tab and change all of the CD sizes to 740mb.

Now I'm going to try to explain the bitrate page to you.

When you start DVD2SVCD it determines how long the movie is (time.) Then it selects the row of data corresponding to that time from the bitrate page. Using the factory defaults, for example let's say your movie is 90 minutes long. It uses the information on the third row (because 90 minutes falls between 76 and 100 minutes.), 2 CD's that are ideally 74 minute/740mb (you could just as well use 80 minute/800mb CD's and a little space would be wasted.) Lastly it will select the maximum video bitrate, somewhere between 1877 and 2515 that will still fit the movie on those two 740mb disks.

In general the higher video bitrates will give you a better quality image. For my own tastes as far as quality I prefer not to go below a 2000 video bitrate. For this reason if I were currently using this program I'd change this table to 40 or 45 minute increments 1, 2, 3, 3, CD's for the first rows and 800mb disks all.

[NFL]

Hwoodwar, first I want to say thank you very much for your very informative and helpful response. There need to be more people like yourself on this site. It's ridiculous to see someone new post and have 200 or more views without a single reply or any sort. There are a lot of self-proclaimed geniuses on this site who are quick to spend a sick amount of time making their own (authored) guide to burning DVd in one way or another, but won't help someone with a little info to get jump started. I could know each of these programs inside and out and I would never disparage someone trying to get a little info, even if the question may seem obvious to some. I do believe there are some "dumb" questions, such as what is the difference between a VCD and SVCD. I mean this site is set up to where you could know the difference by clicking on one of 20 links. But when the questions are geared towards the complexities of certain programs, such as DVD2SVCD, and that programs inner workings, then I don't see that question as being ignorant in any way, shape or form. This place needs more people like yourself and "poopyhead". Lol...at any rate, I figured that had something to do with bitrate because before posting the question I pulled three guides off of doom9's site for newbie, advanced, etc. in order to obtain as much info on that bitrate issue as possible. Nothing was specific enough, but I do realize that the higher the bit rate the better the quality, but as a result, the less amount will fit on one disk. I also noticed that with windows, it sometimes does, just as you said, incorrectly indiciate the file size of certain files. I burned Jason X again altering the bit rate options, and this time one .bin was 778, and the other was 806 MB'S. But when I actually viewed the file size on a burned disk, it was 804 MB'S. When I tried to burn the one that was a whopping 857 MB's, fireburner burned it, but at the end it said, hardware error. I am realizing that is what it says if there is too much overburn. It did complete the burning, but it wouldn't play in my DVD Rom. Quick question regarding that maximum bit rate...if it gives you a number, let's say 2100-1900, for a 50 minute CD, obviously 2100 would be the maximum, but when would it go as low as 1900 and why? Do you know if there is any full-proof way to tell before hand if a movie will fit on 2 CD-R's by looking at the time or file size? A couple of movies I have are only 4GB'S, but they are well over 2 hours in length. However, I have some 8 GB movies which are only 90 minutes. I'm not sure why that is. Does that have anything to do with bit rate? I thought the size of the movie almost exactly correlated with MB'S, like 740 MB'S is 74 minutes, etc..etc. One last thing is that I actually was going to try to put all of the cd sizes to 740, even though I only use 800 MB CD'S because I figured if I got another .bin file well over size, then at least it would cover being at 740, when I am using an 800 MB disk. Is that why you said to use all 740? Thanks again for all of your help, and if you can get through and read this book and answer the last couple of questions I have regarding this, I would really appreciate it. Thanks again for all of your help!

[DJRumpy]

There is no absolute way of knowing exactly how large a movie will be. Every movie will compress to a lesser or greater degree, depending on the motion, noise, scene changes, etc. A good rule of thumb is 40 to 45 minutes for 1 SVCD (assuming your using CBR). You can also encode in CVD format, and reduce the max bitrate a bit to reduce the size, and potentially squeeze more onto a disk. Stick to the 40 minute rule, and you'll always have a good general idea of how many discs are needed.