Making a DVD smaller

fr0sty wrote on 7/3/2019, 7:11 PM

You should be able to get around 3 hours on there at decent quality by rendering 2 pass VBR at around 5.5-6mbps, especially if you use compressed audio like ac3.

mark003 wrote on 7/3/2019, 7:57 PM

Thanks fr0sty, I forgot I can optimize in Architect.

mark003 wrote on 7/3/2019, 8:33 PM

Oh, I read that wrong. Trying 2-pass with VBR.

Former user wrote on 7/3/2019, 9:25 PM

There are bitrate calculators online and available for download that will make this less of a guessing game.

Remember, only two things determine video file size: length of the program and bitrate. If you can't change one, you have to change the other.

fr0sty wrote on 7/3/2019, 9:49 PM

you can ignore most of the other stuff, just make sure your frame rate, media size (DVD9 8.5gb) match. you want the average, min, and max bitrate info it gives you.

https://dvd-hq.info/bitrate_calculator.php

Musicvid wrote on 7/3/2019, 10:31 PM

Here are your numbers:

Length: 185 Minutes

Video (2 Pass VBR)

Minimum 2,000,000 (Important!)
Average 5,500,000
Maximum 9,000,000

Audio (AC3 Stereo 320 Kbps)

Let Architect choose your Break Point for you. If you choose your own it probably won't work.

If your DVD will be distributed or given to others, put it on 2 - DVD5 discs. They are cheap insurance.

@fr0sty Now that Sun Java is dead, my Videohelp Bitrate Calculator no longer works. The one you linked is a worthy successor, Now, if it could be downloaded ...

Chief24 wrote on 7/3/2019, 10:47 PM

@fr0sty @Musicvid @Former user @mark003

From the 'Ol Archives of MovieStudioZen: Tutorial

Happy Burnin'!

Musicvid wrote on 7/4/2019, 3:09 AM

Dr. Zen's minimum bitrate was left at the default, which is way too low to prevent blocking and squiggles in fades and transitions. 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 will suppress or eliminate the problem.

mark003 wrote on 7/4/2019, 7:02 AM

Thanks all! I got it. I need a class just for this!

rraud wrote on 7/5/2019, 8:48 AM

About five or so years ago, I used 'DVD Shrink', I don't recall all that much about it now, except I had the project rendered for DVD-9, but decided not to use dual-layer discs. DVD Shrink worked well and saved me the time of re-rendering the 40+ files. I don't recall if it worked directly on the original rendered MPG-2 files or the DVD authoring folder with the VOB files and such.
DVD Arc has an 'optimize' function to shrink files to fit (re-compress), but it is much slower than DVD Shrink

Musicvid wrote on 7/6/2019, 12:12 AM

Sadly, it's an orphaned program. But it does give you better control over break points than Architect.