how to fit more than 2 episodes on a DVD and be compatible with all players

[brentonboy]

I have a bunch of video files from assorted places on the internet. They are all AVI format, and mostly 640x480 or 576x432, but there are also a few with these dimensions: 512x384, 496x368, 352x240. They're all about 350MB.

I want to burn them onto DVD+R and be able to take them to any livingroom with a DVD player and watch them. 8)

I downloaded DVD Flick and dragged two episodes in. But it said that the DVD was nearly full! I thought DVDs had 4.7 GB, and I only put 700MB worth of files in! I can only assume that this is sort of like when you burn a CD in audio format and it only fits 12 songs, as opposed to putting the mp3's directly on the disc so more will fit.

Is the DVD format a higher quality than the files I'm using? Is there a way to limit the screen dimensions that it encodes, so that I have more space? I have like 150 episodes I want to burn, but there is no way I'm going to lug around 75 discs with me!

Is there some compressed format I can use that will enable me to fit more episodes on each DVD? I know if you burn mp3s onto a CD then it won't work on most CD players. I need something that will work on most DVD players. But there has to be a way! Any help would be FANTASTIC as I'm a complete noob and don't know what I'm doing!

Thanks so much!!

[guns1inger]

First you need to understand a bit about digital video, compression and bitrates. You have video compressed using Divx or Xvid video compression. This is based on the mpeg-4 specification (or part thereof). DVD video, on the otherhand, uses mpeg-2 (or mpeg-1 in certain circumstances). Mpeg-2 compresses differently, and not as much, as mpeg-4. You should expect a normal Divx/Xvid file to expand to at least 3 - 4 times it's original size when converting to mpeg-2, just to maintain the same quality level.

There is also a quality/running time trade off. realistically, 2 hours at full D1 is about the crunch point. After than, the quality starts to drop. Witht he poor quality source you have (and I hate to break it to you, but it is low quality), you might get 3 - 4 episodes at reasonable (i.e. about the same as the source) quality.

So you have couple of choices.

1. Use lots of discs. Keep it at 3 - 4 (max) 42 minute episodes per disc.

2. Use a lower resolution and quality, and get a longer running time. Depending on the source, you might not notice going to half-D1 (you will if you have a widescreen TV - half-D1 doesn't support 16:9). This will get you 5 - 6 episodes.

3. Buy a player that can play Divx/Xvid encoded videos. Don't convert your files, just burn them as data. Get 12 episodes to a disc without changing anything. Fit 6 movies on a disc. Best solution.

If you choose option 1, then ConvertXtoDVD or FAVC are the best choices. FAVC is free, ConvertXtoDVD is not.

If you choose option 2 then ConvertXtoDVD is out, as it only does full-D1 resolution. FAVC is still an option.

Regardless of your choice, use Imgburn for burning your discs. Use build mode and you can burn avis as data as well.

[bogb]

Hej.
I am using roxio easy media creator, to put more episodes of an serie on a singel DVD

SC

[Midzuki]

I am using roxio easy media creator,

[lordsmurf]

It saddens me to see more and more people using crap, instead of learning from years and years of knowledge found on this site's forum.

Roxio?
DVD Santa?
WinAVI?
(Insert Name of other Crappy All-In-One Here)

You may as well just go back to VHS in SLP mode if you don't care how the video looks.
Or just watch it on an iPod screen, forget DVDs.

[brentonboy]

Wow! Thanks for the excellent advice! You are so awesome!

First off--I'm not upset that the source quality is low--I've watched them on my computer and they're "good enough," though I don't want to degrade the quality too much more in the conversion to DVD.

The videohelp website says that AVIs have a bitrate of 192kbph. In DVD Flick, I can set the bitrate to 192 Kbit/s . When I do this it fits like 20 episodes on a single disc!! If the original media is 192kbph, is there any advantage to using a higher bitrate on the DVD?

I am still able to fit 16 episodes on one disc if I put the bitrate at 608 Kbits/s.

So I guess my question is this: should I set the bitrate based on the source bit rate, or will my files look better the higher the bitrate that I use (if so, what is a reasonable bitrate to use).

I was thinking about the Half-D1 guns1inger mentioned--I could probably use that format on ALL the episodes that already have a resolution of 368x496 and lower without losing any real quality, right?

[brentonboy]

i'm having a problem with FAVC, but i'll post on a new thread.

[lordsmurf]

Can you just use an encoder, and convert to MPEG, then author? Do the two steps separately, to control quality and settings. There are free options, and low-cost options. TMPGEnc Plus is dirt cheap and a long-time favorite encoder. And then for authoring SVCD2DVD and TDA are great low-price choices.

Free would be HCEncoder or QuEnc one of those. May need a short AVISynth script to work with those (or maybe not). DVD Author GUI and GUI For DVD Author author for free, may take the reading of a guide to understand them.

No lack of knowledge on here. Either do it quick, or do it good. I say skipp the quick all-in-one, and do it good!

[brentonboy]

Can you just use an encoder, and convert to MPEG, then author?

I don't know what that means. What does that do as opposed to the other way? Unless I can figure out what is actually happening and what all these things being suggested mean, I'm probably better off using one of the terrible all-in-one products, right? I'd rather know what I'm doing. Mostly I'm still confused about what bitrate I shoudl use.

[mats.hogberg]

off using one of the terrible all-in-one products, right? I'd rather know what I'm doing.

Thing is, One-Click-Wonder apps simply doesn't let you know what you're doing. That's the whole point. They hide all dirty details from you, so you (supposedly) don't have to know what you're doing.

/Mats

[KBeee]

Buy a DVD player that also plays AVI's

[lordsmurf]

off using one of the terrible all-in-one products, right? I'd rather know what I'm doing.

Thing is, One-Click-Wonder apps simply doesn't let you know what you're doing. That's the whole point. They hide all dirty details from you, so you (supposedly) don't have to know what you're doing.

/Mats

And if it makes some wrong choices in this process (which it almost always does), you're screwed, and the quality of output looks really crappy.

Hence the hatred of all-in-ones by folks who know anything about video.

If you don't know what encoding and all is, start reading the glossary and the guides around here. I'd love to help more o this, but I don't personally have time. Hopefully another poster can help more. I've done what I can for now.

[guns1inger]

Bitrate is the simple part. Go to the tools section and look at the bitrate calculators. There is an online one at this site, as well as ones you can download and run off-line.

[brentonboy]

off using one of the terrible all-in-one products, right? I'd rather know what I'm doing.

Thing is, One-Click-Wonder apps simply doesn't let you know what you're doing. That's the whole point.

exactly! that's the point i was trying to make. telling me WHAT to do is fine, but unless someone can explain WHY, it's not much use. if i don't know what is going on, what is the difference between that and an all in one program? but i don't want to use an all in one. i want to know what is going on--therefore i will continue to ask questions until i know what is actually really happening--not just "what to do."

i still have this question about AVIs and bitrates. can i burn the DVD at 192kbps without a loss of quality, since the original AVIs have a bitrate of about 192kbph anyway (according to a page i found on this site)? would there actually be any difference between a bitrate of 3000kbph and 192kbph??

i already asked this in my post above but i think this is a clearer and more direct way to phrase the question.

[manono]

would there actually be any difference between a bitrate of 3000kbph and 192kbph??

i already asked this in my post above but i think this is a clearer and more direct way to phrase the question.

Not exactly, since you are, among other things, mixing bits and bytes. Unless the 192 is referring only to the audio. And is ph "per hour"? The question wasn't answered earlier because it didn't make any sense. And still doesn't.

The videohelp website says that AVIs have a bitrate of 192kbph

I think you misread something. If you want to know the video bitrate of an AVI, open it in GSpot and find out.

still have this question about AVIs and bitrates. can i burn the DVD at 192kbps without a loss of quality, since the original AVIs have a bitrate of about 192kbph anyway (according to a page i found on this site)?

You can't convert an AVI to MPEG-2 video without loss of quality, no matter the bitrate. However, since the chances are good that your AVI source isn't so good to begin with, a small further loss of quality may not be all that noticeable. MPEG-4 bitrates aren't equivalent to MPEG-2 bitrates. You can't take an AVI with a video bitrate of, for example, 1000 kBit/sec and use the same bitrate for the MPEG-2 conversion. It's usually said that you'll need 3-4 times the bitrate for the MPEG-2 conversion to minimize the quality loss. As was suggested earlier, do more reading and less asking of uninformed questions.

[mats.hogberg]

telling me WHAT to do is fine, but unless someone can explain WHY, it's not much use. if i don't know what is going on

Well, if there's one process documented and guided, it's AVI to DVD. Take a look under Convert left. 50 guides, no less, on that subject alone. No one is going to step by step tell you what to do and teach you how to do it. You'll have to learn.

i still have this question about AVIs and bitrates. can i burn the DVD at 192kbps without a loss of quality, since the original AVIs have a bitrate of about 192kbph anyway

No. Every conversion from one format to another compressed format will (no matter how you do it) result in a more or less worse quality product. The source and destination bitrates are totally unrelated. The higher bitrate you use, the closer to the original you'll get (but never as good as).
To reasonably keep AVI (DivX/XviD) quality when converting to DVD mpg, use 3-4 times AVI bitrate. AVI=1000 kbps -> 3-4000 kbps mpg. A rough rule of thumb. (That 192 kbps surely can't be video bitrate? Sounds more like audio bitrate.)

/Mats
<edit>Bah! manono beat me to it! </edit>

[lordsmurf]

Bitrate allocation matters too. You cannot convert to 720x480 @ 3000-4000k and have it look good. That resolution needs a higher allocation of bits, with a total bitrate in the 5500-8000 range.

[mats.hogberg]

True. 1/2 D1 (352x480 NTSC) would be better at those bitrates. Another thing most oneclickers wouldn't consider.

/Mats

[brentonboy]

Sorry if I was sounding defensive or aggressive in my previous posts--I have nothing but gratitude for those of you who have responded, I greatly appreciate your time!

...you are, among other things, mixing bits and bytes. ... And is ph "per hour"? The question wasn't answered earlier because it didn't make any sense. And still doesn't.

Oops, sorry about that typo. I obviously meant kbps. I had thought I might have been mixing bits and bytes, but after checking wikipedia I thought I had it straight... guess not. Also--I looked at that page again--I WAS looking at audio, not video!

Well, if there's one process documented and guided, it's AVI to DVD. Take a look under Convert left. 50 guides, no less, on that subject alone.

I looked at those, but... well there are 50 of them. It's a little overwhelming. I did gain some helpful stuff from a few of the articles that seemed the most relevant--but they seem to raise more questions than they answer. I really appreciate the answers you have given here--it has cleared things up a lot, and now I feel that I will get more out of the articles when I read them.

I have more questions, but none of them really belong in this thread as they are pretty specific. Thanks for all your help!