405 Gb .avi file ?

sc6jd02 wrote on 5/22/2014, 5:02 PM

Following on from my earlier post about increasing volume.
I have a 1.58Gb mp4 file (1 hr 48 min duration) on which the volume is too low. I asked if the volume could be increased with Movie Studio and was advised by Steve Griseti to try normalising. I tried this and it seemed to do the trick and I then tried to render the file. In the first instance I tried rendering to an mp4 file using AVCHD. This ran for 5 1/2 hours and then said that there were 15 1/2 hours left. I then canceled the render.
I then decided to try to render to a .avi file. I was informed that this would take about 2 1/2 hours, which is more reasonable. I started the render, but after 1 hr 10 minutes of the file had been rendered I was informed that the rendering could not be finished because I did not have the correct permissions or was running out of disk space. I checked the .avi that had been produced to this point and found that it was 405 Gb in size, so I was running out of disk space. Is it normal that this size .avi be produced from a 1.5 Gb .mp4 ?
Any advice gratefully received.
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300
Core speed 2Ghz
6 Gb DDR2 RAM
Nvidia GeForce GT 220 with 1 Gb RAM.
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit.

Comments

Markk655 wrote on 5/22/2014, 7:29 PM

What resolution is your original? Why are you rendering to .avi? It sounds as if you are using uncompressed .avi....

Other formats may be more appropriate. What is the intended purposes of the rendered file?

sc6jd02 wrote on 5/23/2014, 5:16 AM

The original file is an MP4 optimised for Nexus 7

Video Settings
Resolution: 1280*800
Encoder: H264
Video Bitrate: 2000 kbps
Frame rate: 24 fps

Audio Settings
Encoder: AAC
Channels: 2 channels stereo
Sample Rate: 44100 hz
Audio Bitrate: 128 kbps

Tried to render to avi because I thought it would take less than the 21 hours required for mp4.

I tried setting the project properties by sampling the mp4 file, but as far as I can see from the alternatives I am given, I am only able to render to an audio file.
The purpose of the rendered file is to be copied to my Nexus 7 as an mp4 and played in MX Player. I have video conversion software.

Chienworks wrote on 5/23/2014, 9:14 AM

File size is a function of duration multiplied by bitrate. The 2000Kbps you list for the original video is rather low and therefore the file is rather small. AVI isn't actually a video format. It's just a file type that can contain any number of different formats, and most of those can have whatever bitrate you assign. Apparenly you let it default to a rather large bitrate, hence the enormous size of the output.

What you're trying to do is something that Vegas really isn't that good at. It generally assumes that you are editing the video and therefore re-writes a new version of it. Not only is this very time consuming, it degrades the quality of the image and is also completely unnecessary when all you want to do is alter the audio. There are a few freeware programs out there who's sole purpose is to fix the volume of the audio track in-place within the video file. They can usually accomplish this in 1/100 the time it takes to regenerate a new video file. You could also use any of several de-muxers to pull the audio out into a separate file, edit that in Vegas/Sound Forge to fix the volume, and then re-mux the new audio back into the original video file.

Do some google searching for 'levelator' (i think) as well as demux/remux.

TOG62 wrote on 5/23/2014, 9:57 AM

Levelator really has a different function. It is useful for flattening audio material with a very wide dynamic range. Something like Audacity would be a better bet.

Chienworks wrote on 5/23/2014, 10:54 AM

Thanks TOG. I wasn't sure if i was remembering correctly. While levelator probably would do the job, it may also add more compression than desired.

sc6jd02 wrote on 5/23/2014, 12:21 PM

Thanks for all of the advice.
I tried Levelator, but that only handles .wav and .aif(?) files. I would prefer a program to adjust the volume in situ. I will follow up on the suggestions, though.
I tried rendering again using Sony AVC/MVC Internet 1280*720 - 25p. This only took about 2 1/2 hours, which is reasonable. The file size, though, increased from 1.5gGb to 4.51Gb. I then converted this file for Nexus and the converted file was 1.58Gb.
I have, however, ordered Movie Studio Platinum 12 today, so I will see how I get on with that.
Thanks again.