Compressing to DVD

Ulodesk wrote on 9/15/2013, 11:00 AM

I am trying to render an HD project to a DVD, since the recipient has no BD drive. It was recorded in 1080 60i on a Vixia. My intention is to maintain the 16:9 format; I realize that the HD goes out the window on DVD.
The project is 2 hrs, and, after assembling the footage on the timeline, I have tried to Make a Movie, but get the message that this will not fit on a DVD (single layer, which is what I have). I can't find anything about compression, and don't know enough about the codec choices I can list in various options to make a choice that gives me anything else; I keep ending up with about 9.1GB.
I tried opening DVD architect and looking up compression in the index, which indicates the mpeg2 will do the trick, but then, DVDA wants, it appears, an assembled file from which to make the DVD.
Does this mean that I first render the file in MS (12 Plat, 1184) and then use this (too large) file in DVDA? I had been under the impression, from other posts, that DVDA can take care of compression right from MS, but I can't discover how.

Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 9/15/2013, 11:23 AM

Don't use "Make Movie."
Use File->Render As, and choose the appropriate MPEG-2 DVD Architect video template, and Dolby AC3 DVD Audio template, to produce compliant files for DVD Architect. Adjust the bitrate so the files fit on your DVD.

This has been covered hundreds of times, and a simple search of the forums will lead you to a wealth of detailed information. Best.

Ulodesk wrote on 9/16/2013, 9:54 PM

Thank you for your reply; I'm sure it's bothersome to see the same questions coming up repeatedly. I have spent well over an hour, based on it, trying to understand the DVDA templates, template customization, etc., and searching in Help, the quick start guide, and the forum (e.g., compression, render as, DVD), and unsuccessfully looking up bitrate calculators, and remain no closer to being able to burn a DVD. Well, maybe closer without realizing it. And I admit to not having gone through the hundreds of pages of potentially relevant listings.
In DVDA I can see the audio and video templates you cited, but am stumped: After selecting the DVD NTSC widescreen template, which I will have to customize to lower the bitrate (even if I divide my project into halves), when I select the audio tab from the same customization dialogue to select the AC3 template you recommended, I see nothing in the dropdown but the video templates!

All of us greatly appreciate the time you, Steve G., and others invest on this forum. I 'm something of a self-help person, but I am having a terrible time trying to find my way through the extensive detail required using the documentation the Sony provides. I am not able to schedule taking a course somewhere, or I would. If there is a book, or training videos, you would recommend that cover editing more in-depth, I'd be glad for any recommendations.

I would like to add, that I am further mystified by a current Sony ad for VMS seeming to cite a "fit to disc" feature, which elsewhere (in the forums) appears to be a "great suggestion" not yet implemented. (And I sure don't see it.)

Chienworks wrote on 9/16/2013, 9:59 PM

The templates that musicvid refers to are in Vegas, not in DVDA. Does that help at all?

I do agree though, a "fit to disc" assistant would be very helpful in Vegas.

vkmast wrote on 9/17/2013, 2:51 AM

This is about VPro, but anyway, from Q&A re the webinar http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegaspro10webinar02Creating DVDs and Blu-ray discs with Vegas Pro and DVD Architect Pro[/link] (aired 3/31/2011)
- - -
Q. Will there be an option to "fit to disc" for Vegas Pro in the future? I would use that almost every project if there was.
- - -
Still in development I guess.

Ulodesk wrote on 9/17/2013, 8:49 AM

Thanks; I guess I did not express myself clearly. Yes, the templates are in Vegas MS, choices available through "Render as". The issue of trying to use both a video and an audio template to render the same project, however, remains mysterious to me.

musicvid10 wrote on 9/17/2013, 10:21 AM

No mystery.
DVD Architect will not recompress your audio, video, or both, if you give it separate, compliant streams.

gpsmikey wrote on 9/17/2013, 7:26 PM

What may not be intuitively obvious is that you have to render twice - the first time with the template for the video, then you go back and "render as" again, selecting the audio mp3 template. If you use the same file names for output (extensions different though), then DVDA will pick both up when you point it at one of them. I also wasted time trying to figure out how to "render as" the audio and video in one pass until I realized you have to do it twice - once for the video and once for the audio.

mikey

Ulodesk wrote on 9/17/2013, 10:10 PM

Thank you! And no, it certainly is not intuitively obvious. I'm sure it's written in some instructions somewhere, so I wonder why I didn't come across it.

Onwards.

GaryDZ wrote on 9/17/2013, 10:22 PM

gpsmikey:
Not mp3 audio - AC3 audio

MSmart wrote on 9/17/2013, 11:46 PM

To be specific for audio, the Dolby Digital AC-3 Studio > Stereo DVD (or Stereo DVD, AGC on) template.

TOG62 wrote on 9/18/2013, 12:20 AM

Or, indeed, the 5.1 versions, of your source is 5.1.

Steve, London wrote on 4/3/2014, 6:15 AM

It seems some trial and error pays off. I have just completed an HD project in Movie Studio and got very poor looking results when I rendered it using the recommended MPEG-2 template for DVD Architect. I then tried rendering it in HD as an mp4 file and let DVD Architect do what it needed to do to compress it to a DVD, and it looks great.