How to Convert to 352 x 240 DVD format?

ken c wrote on 1/7/2005, 5:24 PM

Hi - quick question: I want to compress down some of the 2-3 day seminar instructional DVD courses I've bought, some of them are 8+ DVDs in length.

I've used womble to rescale the vobs down to 352 x 240 size format, cutting the file size for each by 75%. That part's fine. I've got a bunch of correctly resized mpgs I now need to make DVDs out of...

Now how, in DVDA2, can I make new DVDs, say 2 DVDs out of the original 8?

The image quality of course is 'stretched', poor, but that's ok, my goal for these is to have either small middle of screen 352x240, or preferably, just 'stretched' 352 x 240 (into the 740x480 size) video format.

Trying to import the mpgs into DVDA2, I'd have to use a bit rate way down at 1 mps, far too lossy, even when making the project setting at 352x240, to get them in the project.... I'm a bit confused.. eg it says a 400 meg mpg becomes 1.9 gigs, in effect 're-expanding' the source back to 740x480 format, which isn't what I want, at 5-8 Mps .. I just want to create lower-quality vcd-type dvds, so I can pack all the 8 dvds into 2, at 352 x 240 resolution.

does that make sense? hopefully I've explained it.. any tips on what I can do in DVDA2 to compress them correctly? (maybe I should put this in the dvda forum?)

So, what I'm asking is, how can I get 400 megabyte 352x240 mpgs included in my DVDA2 project (whether I define the project to be vcd format same as source, or dvd size, it still shows 4x mps) at 5 mps so that they're still about 400 megs each?

thanks,

ken

Comments

TheHappyFriar wrote on 1/7/2005, 6:40 PM

You can't do what you want to do. the bitrate determines the size of the DVD files, NOT the resolution. A 352x240 file @ 5mbs will be the same size (in bytes) as a 720x480 @ 5mbs one.

You need to reduce your bitrate. If you reduce your audio bitrate down to 160 your video bitrate needs to be 2276 for 2 4 hours DVD's.

ken c wrote on 1/8/2005, 2:25 AM

Thanks ... I was hoping to just be able to put 4 gigs of 352x240 mpgs (which look "ok", compressed from original 740x480) onto a regular DVD disc, with a bit rate that's high enough to keep them looking the way they originally do..

for long multi-day seminars, the 8+ DVDs is a lot to keep track of, so I'd like to make compressed versions .. as I can w/mpgs

ken

scdragracing wrote on 1/8/2005, 10:46 PM

you have already re-compressed once using womble, you sure don't want to re-compress it a second time with dvda... the picture quality would be horrible.

since you can also put the bitrate anywhere you want with womble, all you need to do is to import the re-sized mpeg's into dvda for use as they are... do not resize.

farss wrote on 1/8/2005, 10:53 PM

What he's trying to do is create a DVD at half D1 which the DVD spec allows however DVDA doesn't, it's probably trying to scale it back to full NTSC.
I think you'll need an authoring app other than DVDA to get this to work.
Some DVD player out now can play raw mpeg-2 files if you've got one such beast you're sweet but they're not that common yet..
Bob.

Chienworks wrote on 1/9/2005, 3:39 AM

Over here in the states, just about any sub $100 DVD player will handle all sorts of raw files. Look for a player that lists MP3 and PhotoCD. These will play a data disc with a collection of MPEG files on them. My Apex 1200 even plays scummy 320x240 400Kbps downloaded from the web.

ken c wrote on 1/9/2005, 5:06 AM

Hey that's an idea - thanks! I didn't know any dvd players could handle raw mpgs.... I'll burn a dvd with 4 megs of mpgs in the root directory, see if any of them can handle it .. appreciate if you know of any specific dvd players that can play raw mpgs..

ken

TheHappyFriar wrote on 1/9/2005, 6:39 AM

try downlaoding a demo of TMPGend DVD Author. It does Half-D1 files (i've done them several times). But, even if you scale it back up & keep the same bitrate it shouldn't look any worse: when it's played back it scaled to that size anyway. Again, TMPGenc 2.5 should be able to do thisfor free (with the several day demo).

And of course use DVD+-RW's. :)

ken c wrote on 1/9/2005, 12:59 PM

great idea, thanks -- I'll try the TMPeg one, I had tried it long ago, it's not as flexible as DVDA, but it's still a great app, will do - thanks!

ken

bStro wrote on 1/9/2005, 1:30 PM

What he's trying to do is create a DVD at half D1 which the DVD spec allows however DVDA doesn't

From DVDA 2.0 Help: "Support for all valid DVD video resolutions: NTSC — 720x480, 704x480, 352x480, 352x240 (24 & 29.97fps) and PAL — 720x576, 704x576, 352x576, 352x288 (25fps)."

Isn't half D1 = 352x480?

Rob

ibliss wrote on 1/9/2005, 3:10 PM

I think it means that it will work with those files when you import them into a DVDA2 project, but it will still render them to 720x480 (or whatever) before burning them to disc.

ken c wrote on 1/9/2005, 6:13 PM

UPDATE: Thx HappyF .. your answer worked great... TMpeg DVD authoring software let me add all the 352x280 mpgs just fine, and authored out the vobs perfectly.

Now why do I have to go use Tmpg for mpg 1 dvd creation, womble /other products for getting audio with my vob streams, other tools for chopping simple mpgs... etc..?

I had hoped that vegas/dvda could "handle" most of these relatively simple video editing jobs... I wish I didn't still have to use 5 different programs... ah well. What vegas does, it does well.

Ken

bStro wrote on 1/10/2005, 8:36 AM

I think it means that it will work with those files when you import them into a DVDA2 project, but it will still render them to 720x480 (or whatever) before burning them to disc.

Nope. All of the frame sizes I quoted are listed as possible settings for a DVDA project.

File -> Properties -> Project video format.

Rob