DVD capture file size problem

[dvdrmonkey]

Hello,

I can capture DVD video from my vcr fine, and the file size is 4.5gigs. However, when I try to burn it in Roxio DVD Builder, it tells me that the space needed is actually close to 8 gigs!

I make sure that the file format that I capture the video in is DVD... so I don't understand why the space jumps to almost 8 gigs...

I'm trying to burn my football tapes to dvd... so they're about 2.5 hours each. Is there a way to capture them with high quality so that they still fit in a single dvd?

If I lower the bit rate, DVD Builder complains that the bit rate is "illegal".

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm using PVR Plus to capture, btw.

-D

[Masta P]

That's funny. I am also capturing old football games from VHS to DVD. Perhaps you are inadvertantly capturing your files into the AVI format. I am caturing a Quarter of a game at a time which keeps the file sizes down to a managable 1 to 1.5 gigs. When I go over 2 gigs the editing software (Pinnacle 8, Ulead 6.0, Windows Movie Maker 2.0 and another one I have which I can't recall all freeze and crash. Make sure that you are capturing into the MPEG format and the game should easily fit onto 2 DVD before any additional compression.

[Capmaster]

When I go over 2 gigs the editing software (Pinnacle 8, Ulead 6.0, Windows Movie Maker 2.0 and another one I have which I can't recall all freeze and crash

Sounds like you're running FAT16 as your file system. The only way to get away from file system limitations is to go to NTFS running Win2K or WinXP.

[Masta P]

Thanks for the thoughts...but I am running them on a 90gig NTFS partition. The only software which is unaffected is Sonic MYDVD v4.52 and the TDK SW which came with the capture device and burner respectively. I thought that all HDD's come preformatted with at least FAT 32 nowdays. Fat 16 was the default file system with Win 98 SE boxes and below. The converter applet was installed with the operating system but came out of the factory as FAT 16 or NTFS with NT 4 and below.

[espresso freak]

Roxio is horrible when it comes to predicting sizes, but if it says it's gonna double the size of your project, I'd guess that it's planning on re-encoding your stream.

To be sure, go ahead and try a compile to hard-disk. If it takes 20 minutes or less it's probably not re-encoding. If it takes a couple hours, it IS re-encoding. In either case, you'll know for sure what the final size will be before risking your DVD media.

Hope this helps.

[espresso freak]

Whoops.. almost forgot..

With my setup at least, the ONLY WAY i can get Roxio NOT to re-encode, is when i perform NO EDITING WHATSOEVER!!!

That, and the fact that I can't add Menu pointers, is the reason I'll rarely if ever use my Roxio DVD Builder again.

I'm happily using TempGenEnc's DVD Author now. I have to do a bit more work to get snazy intros & menus, and there doesn't seem to be support for still image slide-shows, but for video-only disks it is a breeze compared to Roxio. Editing is SO MUCH BETTER!!

Thanx to all on these forums that turned me on to that awesome program!

Best of luck!

[Nelson37]

OK, DVDMonkey - First, there are no such thing as DVD-format files. DVD is a media specification.

There are MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 files which are compatible with the DVD-Video specification. These come in a very wide variety, there are also many MPG1 and MPG2 files which are NOT DVD-Video compatible.

Many capturing programs can create MPG files intended for DVD which are considered non-compatible by some authoring programs.

Some burning progs require AC-3 or WAV audio and will not accept MPG audio, they will convert, usually to the much larger LPCM format.

[dvdrmonkey]

Ugh... I was afraid of that. It sounds like it will take TWO dvds for each football game. Let's see... I first started recording my team in '92... oh boy...