how to calculate movies sizes

[hespinoza]

I'm using sony vegas to get my movies from analog to digital.

One of the issues I'm facing is how to properly calculate the movies sizes. When I captured video, I end up with about 2GB, when I convert to the format to transfer into dvd, it turns out to be 5GB, which of course won't fit in my dvds.

So my basic question is how to make sure that what I produce will fit in any determined dvd size?

It seems that I'm wasting lots of time cutting the video, sending it to the right format and finding out it won't fit in my dvd.

Maybe a basic tutorial on how to, or explaining what is the process between wmv to mpg/wav, frames, rates, etc.

Any help will be very appriciated.

Thanks.

[guns1inger]

It is a simple equation. Size = bitrate X running time. The simplest method is to use a bitrate calculator. There is a selection in the Tools section (see Menu to your left).

I am taking a guess here, but from your question I assume you are capturing to WMV via Windows Movie Maker, then editing in Vegas. If this is the case, I would suggest you capture to DV avi via Vegas (or WinDV, or Enosoft - basically anything but WMM), then edit and convert.

[hespinoza]

I maybe abusing your knowledge but mine is pretty limited at this time when it comes to video editing.

Why is reason you're not recommending window movie maker?

[Baldrick]

You can use windows movie maker, but do NOT convert/shrink it to wmv because you are losing a lot of video quality then. It's best to capture and edit in highest quality as possible(like dv-avi) and in the last step convert it to dvd or whatever format you like.

[hespinoza]

Makes sense. The only reason I used Windows Movie Maker is because I'm transfering from old VCR videos and old camera, I'm connecting using RCAs connector on both. Is there any other program that can capture through this setting? WinDV seems to only capture via FireWire (IEEE 1394) interface.

One more question though. I understand what bitrate is, the higher the bitrate the higher the file and the higher the quality of it. So is there a guide to know what's the best bitrate when capturing from analog/digital? Or a table that will show bitrate quality, for example something like:

bitrate up to 3000 - poor
3000 up to 7000 - good
7000 up - excellent

[guns1inger]

The quality vs bitrate is based on many factors, so there is no clear answer.

What codec (compression) are you using when you capture (mpeg, lossless etc) ?

What is the quality of your video (noise, damaged) ?

What is the content (action, stable, talking heads) ?

For analogue capture I like Virtual VCR and capture to huffyuv (lossless)

[hespinoza]

I was afraid of that. I guess practice and lots and lots of time will bring me to a more confortable point in dealing with video editing.

Thanks so much for your help. I'll try Virtual VCR.

I'll definetely keep in touch in this forum. It is a source of knowledge brought from heaven.

Thanks.