The "dirty little secret" of creating DVDs is that you have to encode the video into MPEG-2 format. This is a computer-intensive, time-consuming process. It has to be done either in Vegas or in DVD Architect. For many reasons, it is better to do it in Vegas. However, if you want to use the Fit to Disc feature in DVDA, you instead will want to render to a DV AVI file and then import that into DVDA and let DVDA encode to MPEG-2.

This is exactly why I created DVDPrep (available on the VASST Freeware page). It is a script that will do all the rendering for you with a single click. You still need to drag and drop the file into your DVDA project but you don’t have to be concerned with rendering templates at all. DVDPrep takes all the guesswork out of the process. Best of all... it’s FREE. ;-)

~jr

" ... For many reasons, it is better to do it in Vegas."
I've been wondering why it might be better to render to MPEG-2 in Vegas 1st. The main reason I can think of is for workflow: rendering can be so time consuming & computer intensive that, to avoid crashes, etc., best to give all resources to Vegas & let it happen there, then worry about writing to DVD. But, I'd imagine the engine behind the rendering would be the same for both programs? I'd be interested in hearing some of the other reasons suggested by johnmeyer.

Here is some advice, from a long time ago, directly from Sony:

DVDA Workflow (Sony advice on whether to render in DVDA or Vegas).

The second reason given is the most compelling. If you need to make small changes, and you use AVI files instead of MPEG-2 files, DVDA might have to re-encode the whole project. This is true even in DVDA 3.0 with smart re-prepare, depending on what change you made. The difference in simply preparing a project, and re-encoding the whole darn thing is HUGE.

Also, if you use 2-pass encoding, or want to tweak other MPEG-2 encoding paramaters, that can only be done in Vegas.

My biggest reason for rendering in Vegas is that I actually get an MPEG2 file out of the deal. If I give DVDA an AVI file, it goes from AVI to MPEG2 to VOB, but doesn't save the MPEG2 anywhere. Suppose I want to use that video in another project later on, or I have some need to give somene the MPEG2 file instead of a fully prepared DVD. I can either a) render the AVI file to MPEG2 again in DVDA, or b) get it out of the VOB, which usually means demuxing it -- and editing it, if I had included more than one video (for example, in a compilation).

Or, if I encoded the MPEG2 in Vegas, I've already got the file ready to if I need it again.

Rob

John, thanks for that link for one very specific reason:

It is the only time I have ever seen instructions for how to rename the first chapter on a DVD Architect timeline. You (meaning me) really do learn something new every day.

Rob

I had forgotten about re-using the MPEG-2 files in another, similar DVD project. Excellent point. I do this all the time, so it never occurred to me that I couldn't do this if I rendered in DVDA.

HI,
I just posted this over on the Vegas forum, but here you have some of the same questions and here's the problem I've run into:

I rendered my V6 project (1080 Cineform HD files) to DVDA specs for NTSC widescreen (using V6 template) and when I bring the rendered mpeg2 files into DVDA 3 they are being "recompressed". I tried this twice (rendered original timeline files) and both times DVDA would not use my "prerendered/prepared" files from V6 but would recompress before burning to disc. The results are awful ......

How can I get the best results from my Cineform HD files on timeline to a completed DVDA disc?

Also, the volume level on my AC-3 audio is quite low although nice and loud on timeline. How to fix that too?

Thanks much,
Teaktart