Greetings ya'll!
I have some very old family video from 8mm that i recorded commentary on and need some good Vegas 12 render settings that will cram a lot on to a DVD.
Its all B&W video and the audio does not have to be pristine. When i use some of the default templates it wants to span it over 2 DVD's.
Can you give me some settings that will cram a lot on to one DVD. Its not like i am going to lose any quality of video...as its 40+ year old 8mm.
Thanks for any help on this.
Dennis in Memphis
The optimal length for a DVD is one hour. This allows the max bitrate and quality. Two hours is very acceptable with a small tradeoff of quality. Anything more than that (on a normal single sided DVD) will drop in quality dramatically. DVDs are cheap. I say spread it over as many DVDs as it takes while keeping each at two hours max. Even though it is low quality, I still prefer the max quality available.
What settings should i tweak to reduce the file size?
File size is determined by two things: Length of video and the bitrate. Once you determine the length you want to make your video, then you need to adjust the Bitrate. There are bitrate calculators out there (most are free) that will help determine the best bitrates for the length. You will probably use a variable bitrate so you have to set the max, min and average bitrate. Do a search either on this forum or on the web for bitrate calculators. They are very helpful.
You may find this tutorial very useful.
Why not use dual layer DVD? I use it for most of my projects. You render your your video and audio in Vegas. In DVDA you just need to set the project property to 8.5GB and let it rip. DVDA will then tell you where to insert the breaking points. After you insert the break points it will go on finish your video output.
If you insisted on using single layer dvd. Then I suggest you use Mark's bit rate calculator. You crunch in the audio and video bit rate and how long is your video. It will tell your bit rate and how your video quality will be.
You may find this tutorial very useful.
Yo VK, this is HUGE! Thanks for sharing this.
It's a common misconception that noisy old video means that you can get away with a lower bit rate and not lose any video quality, the exact opposite is true. The greater the difference from one frame to the next, as would be the case with noisy video, the more bits it takes to encode the video without losing quality. Noise-free, low-motion video requires far fewer bits to maintain high quality than high-motion and/or noisy video.
BruceUSA, I don't generally recommend dual layer burned DVDs because they can be problematic. Some people seem to have no problems, where others (like myself) have found inconsistent playback based on the players and the quality of the burner.
BruceUSA, I don't generally recommend dual layer burned DVDs because they can be problematic. Some people seem to have no problems, where others (like myself) have found inconsistent playback based on the players and the quality of the burner.
Well, thats what i am thinking. These DVD's will be going to my country kin folk in the ozarks and not sure what players it will be played on.
When I did this with my old 'n' ancient video files - and again with my Dad's Super 8 cine stuff that I had converted to .AVI, I used Blu-ray as my go to. Loads more disc space. 🙂 There is a setting in DVDA for putting 4:3 SD onto BD. If I didn't have a BD player, I wouldn't hesitate to use DL DVD. I used them for almost all of my wedding DVDs over many years with very few problems. I accept though that the work flow and quality/type of discs is crucial. I wouldn't imagine that this particular project is going to many different players though?
Edit: Just seen your last post Dennis. My Dad lives in 'the sticks'. He's the most techy 86 year old I know! LOL.
Edit 2: Another option is the ol' reliable DVD Shrink programme - if you can find it.
Edit 3: I should also add that I frameserve out of Vegas to TMPGEnc Video Mastering Works for this. So easy; Just set the disc type/size, add the percentage of disc to use - say 96% to allow for menus. Bob's yer uncle. 😉