File too big? but it isn't...

Battle Beast wrote on 8/12/2011, 2:22 PM
I have a 2.5 GB movie file I want to burn to disc, but when I import it into DVD Architect, it says the file is over 11 GB! (the dvd menus is only 30 mb) Why is this? the file I have isn't as big as the dvd, so there should be AMPLE room for it! What am I doing wrong? do I have to remake the movie file with a smalled file size?

Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 8/12/2011, 2:28 PM
Wow, this gets asked a lot.
11GB is the unpacked size of "whatever" file you are giving DVDA that it needs to render to compliant MPEG-2 video.

You can go ahead and let it render; or you can do it the preferred way, which is to render a compliant MPEG-2 file for DVD in Vegas first. A ton of information is available by searching these forums.
;?)
SteppnStrong wrote on 9/29/2011, 7:14 AM
I just had a similar experience - the Disc Space Used was well under 4.7 Gb, but I had to keep deleting bits of what I was making until it ran without telling me the project was too big - it finally burnt when the Disc Space Used said just 581MB!!

It's just a simple text menu with raw video clips - nothing fancy & only 15min worth of run-time. Getting down to that size is ridiculous. This is with build 156. I had a problem with an earlier build, so updated. The earlier version burnt discs so long as the Disc Space was less than 4.7Gb.

What's the story? Anyone know?
PeterDuke wrote on 9/29/2011, 9:27 AM
In cases like these, where you think the movie should fit, do it in two stages:
1. prepare to a folder without burning.

2. if the result is under 4.7 GB, burn the folder to a disc.

DVDA is notorious for being too conservative, but not as much as you experienced.
SteppnStrong wrote on 9/29/2011, 9:15 PM
Thanks for the tip - trying it now. I'm glad that blank discs are cheap!
ChipGallo wrote on 9/29/2011, 9:22 PM
I have a couple of rewritable discs for testing. When it works, I use a DVD-R.
PeterDuke wrote on 9/30/2011, 1:01 AM
Yes I always burn to DVD-RW first, check that it is as I want it to be, edit if necessary, and then burn to DVD-R.
musicvid10 wrote on 9/30/2011, 7:57 PM
Just a note, if you are checking prepared DVD folder sizes in Windows Explorer, they must not exceed 4.35GB to fit on a 4.7GB disc. This is because of the way media manufacturers calculate their "GB" (don't ask).
PeterDuke wrote on 9/30/2011, 8:07 PM
Do a Properties of the burn folder and read the number of bytes and divide by 1 billion. We can do it easily, but it is too hard for a computer :).
Marton wrote on 10/7/2011, 1:19 PM
"This is because of the way media manufacturers calculate their "GB""

And this is the right way! Windows explorer just don't display it right, because it's 4.35GiB! If i remember, there is a patch exist for this, but Linux for example display the correct measure..

As for ontopic: DVDA often says, it will not fit on a DVD-R disc, but then the rendered folder is smaller than 4.7GB. And yes, i use dvd compliant mpeg2 files..
musicvid10 wrote on 10/7/2011, 1:32 PM
-- Type "1000000000 bytes to GB" in google. I would rather keep in line with the majority than curse the wind. There will be no popular movement to differentiate GiB from GB, at least not in my lifetime.

-- DVD Architect's initial estimate is conservative. Go ahead and prepare the folder to hard disk and then see if it is <= 4.35 (in Windows Explorer). If it is, you're good to go.