DVD uses MPEG. Avi is an editing and archiving format. avi is 13 gig per hour in DV format/codec. MPEG is variable. MPEG is a delivery format, not an editing format.
For purposes of math, figure 200 meg per minute. (it's actually slightly more than that, but it's a nice fat, round number you can remember quickly) MPEG is variable in size depending on bitrate.
It's not nuts, it's good vid. If you are starting with QT files that WEREN'T DV to start with, then set your Vegas system properties to reflect the output and preview settings to match the properties of your QT files. But if you're resampling upwards from a low rez QT to DV, expect a quality hit because it's a higher resolution and datarate when converted to DV from QT.
HTH

Your about right.

My latest project,: 6:30 mins in AVI produces 1.45gig rendered to MPEG for DVD it comes out at 0.358 MPEG. I could improve on this, but it still would give me around 18 mins of DVD for 1gig and then - if my maths is correct - 84 mins for a standard 4.7 platter. So, 84 mins is close to 1.5 hours, not too bad eh?

As I say I could "squeeze" more onto a DVD by fiddling with the coding up of the MPEG . . still experimenting with this. BUT at the end of the day, for me, it is all about getting the BEST quality to the client that I can achieve NOT about squeezing as much as possible onto the platter. I don't make full 1.5 hour films, I make shorts for organisations, and try to keep my production values as high as my knowledge allows.

However, am I correct int thinking you are concerned about the amount of HD space you are chewing up? If this is the case, get another HD. This is the best time to over dose on extra real estate. My belief is that you can't have enough GIG space. Besides my system drive, I've got 2x120=240 + 1x160 + 340 of ext firewire drives. This equate to 740gb. This is now tiny compared to what some of the Editors have here .. . the reason I say all this is to determione if your are considering to go MPEG and edit in this format - are you? My advice is don't. Get some extra HD space and edit in your own version of my PAL-DV AVI - yeah?

If you were asking purely as to find out how you get your GIGs of AVI onto a 4.7 platter, then don't worry, it is through MPEG compression.

Grazie

So it is possible to have 40 gigs worth of AVIs that could still fit on a dvd?

Is it best to render the clips as a mpeg directly then?

ok, i think i get it.

So at the end of the day, if I have about 21 gigs of 'raw' avi file, I should be ok then, right?

I'll re-read the manual, but should I keep the file in avi format when using dvd architect and allow dvd architect to convert the files to mpeg? Or should I render the files as mpegs from vegas?

Thanks for the help folks!

You should edit with .avi files and when you are done, render to mpeg-2.

40 gig of Avi is a little over three hours of footage. To get three hours on a DVD, you would have to use a very low bit rate to do that. That means your quality is going to be low. So it's a tradeoff. Even Hollywood movies that use DVD-9 (more data on the disks) and really expensive encoders sometimes have to use 2 DVDs for long movies.

Do a search on this board or the web for mpeg calculator, it will help you figure this stuff out.

REndering straight from Vegas will give slightly better results.
However rendering to a new avi MAY be quicker overall.
Rendering (actaully its encoding) from Vegas means it has to be calculate all the FXs etc and then pass the frame out to the encoder.
If you find something wrong with the encode like you chose the wrong bitrate the whole process has to be repeated.
If you render to a new avi and encode from that you can make minor changes possibly and/or alter the encoder settings withour having to have the whole thing done again.
Either way has its pluses and minuses, depends also where your source came from and how many FXs your are applying. If the material is DV and you're not doing things like CC then going to a new avi shouldn't involve any quality hit.

Bob.

My belief is that you can't have enough GIG space

too true... I am just formatting drive "VIDEO17". About 3000GB so far and rising!

I have 3 external firewire/usb drives into which I have removeable drive trays. Makes it really quick and easy to switch projects.

I remember setting up my first audio computer with TWO 12G hard drives...back then, that was all the space in the world. Now, I have two computers running 9 hard drives -- a little over a TB of space.

Invest in swappable bays and be glad hard drives are so cheap : )

I usually render to MPEG 2 from Vegas and let DVDA encode sound to AC3. Rendering sound is fast and if I do it in Vegas I have to render video and sound seperatly.

WB! Now THAT makes a shed load of sense! Thanks!

Grazie

If you encode to mpeg from Vegas why wouldn't you also encode to ac3 from Vegas?

When you're in DVDA you have to load the mpeg file and then tell DVDA the matching audio is in an .avi file. This means DVDA has to strip the audio from the .avi file then feed it into the encoder. I suppose that's not a big issue but you also loose control over the encoder setting and the defaults are not usually the way you would want to go.

Bob.

now . .which way to turn? .. left or right . .. ? ;-)

If you render to DVDPAL or DVD NTSC templates, this includes audio (PCM).
I always work this way too - let DVDA do the AC3.

Encode everything in Vegas. You have more control. Normalization and LMP can be controlled in VEgas but not in DVDA. Plus, you know for certain which audio you're rendering, and don't have to worry about an extra frame or half frame.

Ignorance here, what is "LMP " Spot?

Line Mode Profile thingy, sorry machine Vegas machine recording audio (French would you believe!) so I cannot check its exact name.

Cheers . .