dvd compression question

[tvandang]

when i wrote my dvd from a mpeg file using tmpgenc dvd author, i can only fit about 65 minutes worth of film. what not more? what is the different between mine and the regular dvd movie that can contain about 2 hours of movie?

does it depend on the application you use? let me know. thanks!

tvandang

[spiderman2k1]

You need to give better info are your file's over 4.3gig's if so they will not fit.
Are you trying to back up a DVD you already have? If it's over 4.3 gig's you need to make it smaller with www.dvdshrink.org

[hothandiman]

I would guess that the reason is because the audio is PCM audio rather then AC3 (dolby digital). PCM takes up MUCH more space then AC3. I do not do much authoring, can someone tell him what software to use?

Edit: Check the audio options in tmpgenc. I think you can get AC3 as a plug in?

[Gazorgan]

I'd say if you look at the DVD, it has PCM audio. You definately want it to be AC3/5.1 . PCM can take up...oh...1 GB or more easily for a 2 hour movie.

[tvandang]

i captured the film from my camcorder and use pinnacle studio 8 to encode it to mpeg. then i use tmpgenc dvd author to create the dvd. the dvd disk contains about 4.7 gb.

so i need to change my audio option and that would extend my dvd film to how much more? thanks!

[hothandiman]

You should then be able to fit a good 2 hours on the DVD with good quality AC3 sound. The exact length of time will depend on bit rate settings. Good luck.

[FulciLives]

The total amount of AUDIO + VIDEO you can fit on a DVD recordable is calculated by the running time of the A/V source and the bitrate you are using to encode at.

The higher the bitrate then the less the compression so the better the quality but also the less you cant fit on a DVD.

2 channel audio in LPCM format has a bitrate of 1536kbps whereas most people use 224kbps or 256kbps when using either MP2 or AC-3 audio. That may sound like a huge difference but because of the compression that MP2 and AC-3 use you actually get very good quality at such low bitrates. In fact most commercial DVD discs with 2 channel AC-3 use 192kbps.

So when you use either MP2 or AC-3 at 224kbps (good level to use if you ask me) then you can of course fit a lot more video onto the DVD disc.

The VIDEO also of course has a bitrate so if you encode at the MAXIMUM DVD allows that is 8000kbps and you won't get more than around roughly 1 hours (60 minutes) of VIDEO at that rate if you use LPCM audio. However if you use 8000kbps for the video and 224kbps for the audio then you can fit about maybe 15 minutes more on the DVD. Lower the VIDEO bitrate and you can fit even more etc.

The trick here though is doing the AC-3 audio. The only FREEWARE that can do it is BeSweet and BeSweet created AC-3 audio is not compatable with ALL DVD players. There are other programs that can do 2 channel AC-3 and some can even do 5.1 AC-3 but expect to pay for it.

MP2 audio is a nice format but it is not 100% compatable either. So if you are in the USA it is really only safe to use AC-3 or LPCM audio. Only PAL model/make DVD players are required to support MP2. In theory MP2 is not a requirement for USA make DVD players though in practise most will work with MP2 audio although I've heard of some people having issues with it working (can hear it) but they have other issues (either too loud or too low in volume) that could be related to MP2 not being 100% supported on USA make DVD players.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[housepig]

check out the DVDRHelp Bitrate Calculator in the Tools section - see what bitrate you need to use to fit 2 hours on a disc.

change your encoder to that bitrate and your file should fit. if you can't manually set the bitrate... get a better encoder!

that's a basic setting you will need to adjust for best results on each project - if your encoder won't let you, you really need a more full-function encoder.