Home movies not fitting on DVD

[Ainedhel]

Hi. This is my first post, so please bare with me. I've been using Sonic MyDVD to burn home movies to DVD with my new burner. Now my problem is this, the movies are approximately 250 mb in size and 35 minutes in length. Yet I can only fit 2 of these movies to one full DVD.
When I put one 250 mb file into the program it says that more than 2 gigs are being used. I am truly sorry to bother all of you. New to this, just trying to make convert video home movies to dvd. Most appreciative of any help.

Thanks,

Mike

[nitestalker49]

The software you are using converts the video into a MPEG file that is DVD compliant. Therefore, you may have a 250MB avi or MPEG1 or something but inorder to make it possible to play in a DVD player your software will need to convert it.....

I would advise you to read the tutorials that you can find by looking at the left of the screen.... In there you will find tons of tutorials to walk you thru it.

Also as a beginner I would use free software first... once again you can find these in the tutorials or other sections on the left....

[TeeeRex]

What OS are you using ? Windows 95/98 or 2000/XP ?

The issue may be that your file system cannot handle the size of the files during conversion etc ...

Just a thought ...

[sacajaweeda]

Do us all a favor and post some details about your source clips. Format, codec, etc.

Then do yourself a favor and uninstall & delete Sonic MyDVD.

[BountyHunter]

Been a while since I used Sonic MyDVD. If I remember right, if you drag a file over that won't fit, MyDVD should bring up a warning then ask if you want to compile at a lower bitrate. Tell it yes and then it will recalculate filesize using the new bitrate allowing you to fit more files.

[Ainedhel]

Thanks for the quick replies. I'm using windows xp home as my os. I used a program called pinnacle studio to capture the vids in avi form. Then using the same program converted them to mpegs. What program would you all recommend to reencode the files. Some sample info on my files are:

Video: 352x240, bitrate 2998kbps 366 kb/s, audio: 44khz mixed stereo 224 kbps layer 2

Video: 352x240, bitrate 940 kbps 115kb/s, audio: 44khz stereo 128 kbps layer 2

Both are mpegs. I apologize if I seem like a moron when it comes to this. Just started making dvd's a week ago. Previously converted the files for vcd. With vcd it was one file one disc no problemo. Just trying to make some nice discs for my family to share.

Thanks for all the help.

Mike

[sacajaweeda]

You'll want to up the vertical resolution of your captures from 240 to 480 and the 44.1k audio isn't DVD legal.....has to be 48k.

Might wanna check out the following programs:

VirtualDub - A powerful must-have editing tool. (free)
TMPGEnc - Versatile MPEG2 encoder. (30 day free trial)
BeSweet - Handy tool for converting WAV to AC3 audio (free)
DVD-Lab - Great authoring tool (30 day free trial)
Nero - Great burning application - (Free trial - forget how long)

Tons of guides to the left.
It's all here.

edit....

http://dvd-hq.info/Compression.html

That guide might help you understand a little about the settings & controls in TMPGEnc, but there are plenty of templates that come with it that you could try out as well.

[toronto098]

What OS are you using ? Windows 95/98 or 2000/XP ?

The issue may be that your file system cannot handle the size of the files during conversion etc ...

Just a thought ...

I am sorry and I hate to say that it is not the case. It is to do with the DVD compliance as others have pointed out.

Try to use a program that allows you to covert in 352x480, etc.

[TeeeRex]

toronto098 - I know that it is not this now that the original posted has said that he is using XP. If he was using a FAT file system then it 'would' have been an issue way before he hit any resolution problems....

[Ainedhel]

I think I will purchase TMPGEnc (my free trial has expired, downloaded long time ago). What would you all recommend as a good bitrate for maximum fitting on dvd, without complete deterioration. Would 1500 to 2000 be okay? That would allow me to get about 10 home movies on one disc.

Thanks All,

Mike

PS: Looks like TMPG is the program to go with for encoding. Thanks for all the advice I've been getting. It is most appreciated.

[indolikaa]

352x240 is VideoCD resolution. You can use that resolution for DVD but you're limited to about 1856 kbps video. And I'd test that with a ±RW disc first to make sure your player doesn't puke.

Your audio MUST be 48 kHz. It can be AC3 (nice, small files) or PCM (with a bitrate of 1536 kbps!). It might also be OK as an MP2, but you'd have to test that also.