Fitting Large MPEG Files on to DVD

[donhinio]

Hello All,

I have edited my movie (1 hour 48 mins) in Power Director, and have written it as a MPEG to my hard drive.

I have two options on burning;


Option one: HQ DVD (PAL) which records at full DV1 resolution (8Mbps)
or
Option two: SP DVD (PAL) which records at half DV1 resolution (3.4Mbps)

Option one (HQ) uses 6.1GB (which does not fit on a 4.7GB DVD)
Option two (SP) uses 2.6GB (which does fit on a 4.7GB DVD)

My problem is that I want to use the high quality version, but it will not fit on a DVD.

How can I fit the HQ on a DVD?

I have noticed that commercial movies, that are far longer (eg. Lord of the Rings) fits on one DVD, but are in VOB format. Do I need to convert my MPEG file, or is there another way?

Thanks for any help.
Regards,
Donhinio.

[Baldrick]

Most commercial movies are on dual layer dvds(8.5GB).

Have you already converted it to mpeg? how big are the mpeg files???

[donhinio]

Yes, I have already burned both versions to my hard drive, but still have original edit in Power DIrector if I need to burn it in another format.

HQ is 2.8GB
SP is 6.2GB

Thanks,
Donhinio.

[Nelson37]

Those are not burning options, those are encoding options. If you have an MPG file, you have already encoded. Encoding twice loses quality.

A VOB file is essentially an MPG file after the authoring step.

Suggest further reading, as it will be difficult to advise you how to proceed if you do not yet understand these concepts.

[donhinio]

Sorry - used the wrong terminology (but certainly no expert! - but am here to learn)

How do I proceed from here, what format do I need to encode in from Power Producer to be able to fit this on to the DVD?

Thanks,
Donhinio.

[Nelson37]

Lookup BITRATE. Find the BITRATE CALCULATOR. Learn the relationship between bitrate and filesize.

Lookup RESOLUTION. Learn the relationship between resolution and required bitrate.

There are dozens of guides and how-to articles you really need to read.

You are, in effect, trying to drive a race car and you can't yet parallel park. It is useless trying to explain how to take a corner at 150 when the driver doesn't know where the brake is.

I am not trying to be mean, these articles are there for a reason. They lay the basic groundwork you need to understand, they have been refined over several years, in many cases. You are told when you join to read these, and all indications are that you have not yet read even one.

[ZippyP.]

How can I fit the HQ on a DVD?

My first thought would be, "by not using power director."

If you already have an mpeg then you should be only one step away from putting it on disk. It should be DVD ready and it should be sized to fit on one disk. If so, then all you need to do is author and burn. I recommend TMPGEnc DVD Author.

If your mpeg is not DVD ready, or you're not sure then maybe you need to read "What is DVD", here: https://www.videohelp.com/dvd

If power director doesn't make DVD ready mpegs then perhaps you need a different program.

[donhinio]

Hello ZippyP,

Thank you for your helpful and constructive reply.

Sorry to be an ignoramus, but I have read the page you linked to and cannot seem to find it.

What is the difference between a MPEG and a DVD ready MPEG?

Thanks,
Donhinio.

[ZippyP.]

What is the difference between a MPEG and a DVD ready MPEG?

A DVD-mpeg must have the resolution, bitrate and audio type that is within the DVD specification.

Technical Info for DVD-Video

PAL

Video:
Up to 9.8 Mbps* (9800 kbps*) MPEG2 video
Up to 1.856 Mbps (1856 kbps) MPEG1 video
720 x 576 pixels MPEG2 (Called Full-D1)
704 x 576 pixels MPEG2
352 x 576 pixels MPEG2 (Called Half-D1, same as the CVD Standard)
352 x 288 pixels MPEG2
352 x 288 pixels MPEG1 (Same as the VCD Standard)
25 fps*
16:9 Anamorphic (only supported by 720x576)

Audio:
48000 Hz
32 - 1536 kbps
Up to 8 audio tracks containing Dolby Digital, DTS, PCM(uncompressed audio), MPEG-1 Layer2. One audio track must have MPEG-1, DD or PCM Audio.

PS, put your mpeg into TMPGEnc DVD Author and it will tell you if it is DVD compatible. If not you will get an error message.