Comments

Chienworks wrote on 6/14/2006, 8:34 PM
Most commercial DVDs are dual-layer and can hold over 8.5GB.

If you render your project to DV .avi instead of MPEG2, then use the .avi file in DVD Architect there is an option to "fit to disc". This will let DVD Architect choose the highest bitrate possible that will still let your whole project fit on the disc.
studioLord wrote on 6/16/2006, 9:04 AM
"then use the .avi file in DVD Architect"
I suppose you mean....
When I get ready to "Make DVD" the "process" part of the process would be to choose .avi when "preparing"... then burn with the "burn" process to finish. I thought that there might be a program of some sort that compresses to make room foe large amounts of data. How do the"Big Boys" do it?
Thanks
Tim L wrote on 6/16/2006, 9:22 AM
MPEG-2, the format used for DVD's, *is* the compression you are talking about.

You would have to create a DV AVI file from VMS of your project (video, titles, transitions, etc.), then send that to DVD Architect Studio to let it compress it as MPEG-2. The DV .avi file you can produce from Vegas Movie Studio edit is relatively uncompressed, and will be huge. It contains the same kind of detail as the source footage from your camera. It will take about 13 GB per hour of video (sound included). Two hours would take about 26 GB.

When you use DVD Architect Studio to make a DVD, it will convert your video from .avi format to MPEG-2 format -- a much more compressed video data format. Parameters sent to the encoding algorithm let you balance the duration of the project versus the encoding quality.

In your 4.7 gigabytes of DVD space, you could have a short video with very high quality (lots of megabits per second), or a long video with less quality (fewer megabits per second).

In VMS, if you do "Make Movie" and select DVD, VMS actually encodes the MPEG-2 file right from your project. When you send it to DVD Architect Studio, the file from VMS is almost ready to use. DVDAS simply has to re-merge the audio and video portions, and split the files into smaller pieces with the appropriate names. Taking this approach -- make DVD from VMS -- you can expect to fit slightly over an hour on a 4.7 GB DVD.

If you need a lot more on one DVD, you will have to render a DV AVI file from VMS, and send that to DVD Architect Studio. DVDAS has a "fit to disc" option that will examine the length of your .avi file, and calculate how to fit that as MPEG-2 onto a DVD at the best possible quality. It will then re-encode your .avi file into MPEG-2 format, which can take a long time. But if you need to fit well over an hour onto a DVD, that's what you'll have to do.

Tim L

studioLord wrote on 6/16/2006, 9:30 PM
Okay.... So how do "the big boys" get so much video on one DVD?
That seems like a compression program of some sort.... right?.... and it probably costs a ton of money....
Thanks for the tips...
John
Chienworks wrote on 6/16/2006, 10:00 PM
It is a compression program of some sort, and it does cost a LOT of mony and take a LOT of time.

You also have compression programs of some sort, namely Vegas Studio and DVD Architect. Both of those programs compress video to MPEG 2, which is exactly the same compression "the big boys" use, since that's the only compression that works on DVDs. The biggest differences are that they use dual layer discs so they have twice as much room as you do, and they have much better source material which compresses smaller while still retaining more quality. The software they use also lets them tweak the compression process frame by frame to get the best image possible in the smallest number of bits. You don't have all the advantages they have, but by using the Fit to Disc option in DVD Architect you should easily be able to get 2 hours on a single layer DVD.
ggrussell wrote on 6/17/2006, 8:19 PM
>>.. So how do "the big boys" get so much video on one DVD?>>

With millions of dollars of equipment and software much more complex than anything available to consumers. I read an article about Pixar and Dreamworks. When rendering those animated movies, it can take an entire WEEK to render just a few seconds of the movie using a computer farm of a thousand computers. Consumer products just can't get close to that.

Multi-pass encoding can increase the quality, but that will also take much longer to render.
Chienworks wrote on 6/18/2006, 4:28 AM
Russell, well, that's not quite accurate. All that "rendering" time you mention is creating the original movie frames from the 3D models. It has nothing to do with generating the MPEG2 version for the DVD. I can assure you they accomplish the DVD rendering many thousands of times faster, probably not more than a day for the whole movie.
IanG wrote on 6/18/2006, 2:18 PM
The special features on the Shrek DVD have some interesting info about the modeling / rendering process.

Ian G.