As for why your file size is growing despite losing resolution, it sounds like the source mp4 was encoded at a very low bitrate (lower than I'd recommend using), which mp4 (AVC/H.264) can get away with more than DVD Mpeg-2 because it is a more efficient codec.

@Jimbo

Create two DVDs and get on with it. Anyone who is watching a DVD will have to go pee five times in "3.75 hours". Anyone who who can go "3.75 hours" without having to go pee will only watch 83 seconds of your DVD without picking up their iPhone.

Thanks for all the help. I rerendered the 4 segments, and the only thing I changed was the bit rate to 4.2 Mbps, and the total for the 4 segments is now 6.8 gig, plus the audio will still be less than 7 gig. My last question is, would you guess that the difference in quality will be detectable on a 48" screen (between a 6 Mbps and a 4.2 Mbps render) ? Thanks again

It's going to be more grainy, but it's the best you can do with the format. It won't be unusable, by any means. I've put out plenty of productions back in my DVD days with bitrates that low, when the length of the production demanded it, and I never got any complaints from the client.

If the audio is rendered to PCM, that will use up significantly more data than AC-3 audio.

Dual-layer DVDs known to be problematic on many players. Single layer DVDs are pretty reliable. I once rendered a project for DVD-9 but ultimately decided to go with a single layer. I used 'DVD Shrink' to make it fit. Quality loss was minimal and ok with the client.

I've been recording onto dual layer DVDs for at least 10 years with no problems at all. Literally thousands of discs given to thousands of people.

Thanks to everyone. The client wants it on one disc. Plus, I can't help but think that rendering to the dual layer with 7 gig of data is better resolution than trying to crunch all onto one single layer. Will update you all when I actually play on TV. Thanks again for all your kindness.

Don't give up on me yet. I just took the 4 mpg plus ac3 files totaling about 7 gig through DVDA, and selected 8.5 gig media, and it rendered an iso file of 11 gig? I've rendered single films in single layer and dual layer plenty of times before with no problem, but this menu-based compilation is acting strange. Any ideas of what I'm doing wrong? In the past, the iso files were always about the same as the total of the mpg plus ac3? As always, thanks.

I may have solved part of my own problem. Turns out, apparently, that DVDA has its own bit rate, and even though I rendered my mpg2s in Vegas at 4.2 Mbps, DVDA was rerendering it at 8 Mbps, which was jacking up the file size. I changed it to 5 (in DVDA) and it brought the file size down to 7.9 gig. Is there a way to cancel the DVDA re render? I hate the thought of it recrunching the data, when the original render that Vegas did should be good? And, I thought DVDs could handle 24p. It looks like DVDa changes the 24p to 29.97? Thanks again.

DVDs are always 29.97 on the output. You would need to use the 24p with pulldown template so DVD does not re-render. (Some players are capable of outputting 24p, but not all of them)

I saw a "24p pull down" option. What does that mean? And you are saying that if I had rendered with that, then DVDA would not have had to rerender? And I presume your answer above is that, yes, DVD will automatically change to 29.97 even if you import 24p mpg files? thanks again

Why wouldn't you author a single 1080p BluRay?

What DVD wouldn't look terrible on a 48" screen?

You might try 2-pass encoding. It takes twice as long but often wrings out a little more space in a tight fit. Also when you finalize your mux, try disabling gpu and selecting only 32-bit floating point fx while throwing the "reduce interlace flicker" switch on all your clips for your final render. To avoid embarrassment, screen test your final with a dvd player and tv before letting your client do it.

^Why disable GPU and only use 32 bit fx to do all that in an 8 bit project?

Jimbo, DVDA is re-encoding because you're feeding it media that can't be burned straight to DVD. Be sure you are using the MPEG 2 DVD Architect widescreen 24p template.

As described above, pulldown enables 24p footage to fit into DVD's required 29.97fps frame rate.

^Why disable GPU and only use 32 bit fx to do all that in an 8 bit project?

@fr0sty I found that they can add varying amounts of snow and speckle when viewing the deliverable via a bluray or dvd player on a tv. Particularly visible on big black piano shaped objects. Which was quite irksome after thinking everything looked golden previewed on my computer monitor with Vegas and other viewers. I think I went through half a stack of media and many trips back and forth to my living room trying out every conceivable fx combination. Some I could not use at all, like sharpen and black restore. Most were fine as long as I stuck to 32-bit versions. This has persisted since around Vegas 12. Just had occasion to do a vhs capture with Vegas 18 authored to dvd and spot checking indicates nothing about that has changed. Btw... no Capture Video menu choice in Vegas 18.

Btw... no Capture Video menu choice in Vegas 18.

Have you looked into Options > Preferences > Deprecated Features?

Using 32 bit project to bring wild pixels back into 8 bit range at render adds collateral shadow noise. Conservative application of any high-pass filter options is a better idea.

when I grow up (and I'm 66) I want to be like you all. So much to learn. I learned what a "pull down" was. I learned that if you render the MPG2s at the native footage of 24p, then DVDA will have to rerender for sure. (Which I did, and got good results, and in the space required, by using 4.2 Mbps on the Mpg2 renders and 4.8 Mbps on the DVDA render.) I'm rerendering the MPG2s just for fun WITH the pull down option (that renders the MPGs at 29.97), and at 4.8 Mbps, hoping that when I pull up in DVDA, it will not have to rerender, (since they are already at 29.97), but I suspect that I will need to specify 4.8 Mbps in the DVDA render, so it might rerender anyway. (my project is 4 files, with a DVD menu, so it may rerender anyway. Thanks again for all the help.

You don't need to do that. Put your 480 p24 footage (flagged 29.97i) in a DVD Architect 29.97i project, and author to disc or folder. If you did the rest right, it will Smart Prepare without re-encoding the video. The resulting Soft Telecine playback is the best you can get on NTSC; the pristine 24p will remain in your .vob files, which can be extracted and used in Handbrake or MakeMKV, for instance.

Pulldown removal, aka Hard Detelecine, is actually for removing mixed-field interlace artifacts from Kinescope, which was shot for playback on analog sets. There are several schemes for pulldown removal, none of them pretty.

DVDA will not accept a 24p file without the flag. The 24p with ws template will add the pulldown information.

Here's how soft telecine works.

This is the pristine 24p pulled right off the DVD.

Now here it is after the player reads the 29.97i playback flag. See the difference?

@Former user is correct that you have to add the flag first, in Vegas, but not add Resample.