Finished Project: Can you burn to folder then change project

[EleanorAliza]

Hi Everyone,
I have finally finished my 320 photo slideshow, which comes to 30 min. on the timeline. But preview files say 8 gb. Will this fit on a regular 4.7GB DVD? Does it burn files smaller to fit the DVD?

After I have burned the finished project to a folder on my harddrive, can I then go back into the same project, change a few things, and save as a slightly different name and burn to another folder. I want to make two slightly different copies of basically the same 320 photos for two different people.

Or does in not allow this after you have burnt finished project to a folder on your harddrive. If so I want to make a copy with a separate name to change later on before I burn the original.

Thanks so much, awaiting your replies.
Aliza

[Dave McElderry]

Aliza, is there some particular reason that you want to burn to a folder? If you're planning to put your project on a DVD you can just burn the disc directly from PrEl. Just choose burn to disc. You'll notice a Quality setting. If you choose Fit Contents To Available Space, the program will automatically use the highest quality possible to create the disc. Don't worry about the 8 GB. Anything less than about 70 minutes will burn at the highest quality possible. Even going beyond that the quality loss won't be noticeable until you approach 90 minutes. Some folks here even find that they don't see significant loss up to 2 hours on a single layer 4.7 Gb disc.

No matter what output you use, burning straight to a DVD or to a folder, it won't affect your original project. You can always go back and make any changes you want and burn all over again. BTW, if you haven't done so already, be sure to save a backup copy of your project file, just in case it should become corrupted or something. You don't want to lose all that work. You can do that through File>Save a copy.

[EleanorAliza]

Hi Dave,
Thanks for such a quick reply. The reason I burn to a folder is because I was once told that it is easier and less chance for any type errors within PRE4 if you burn to a folder, then use an outside burning program to burn the DVD. I use Roxio. I just add the two folders inside the finished project folder that I told PRE4 to burn them to) ("Open DVD" & "Video-TS") to Roxio and burn to DVD. I was also told that when you want to burn additional copies it is that much faster to burn from folder, then reburning from PRE4 itself all over again.
Does any of this make sense?
Thanks, Aliza

[Bob]

There are advantages to burning to a folder.

In a perfect world, you should always be able to burn directly to DVD without problems. Unfortunately, variations in operating system, hardware, drivers, and even other programs can interfere with that ability. Because of that, it's fairly common for Premiere Elements users to encounter a problem burning to disk. Burning to a folder, avoids those problems. Burning to a folder is also ideal for making multiple copies of a DVD.

The Open DVD folder isn't necessary and can be deleted from the burned folder. Premiere Elements doesn't use it and DVD players don't use it either. You only really need the Video_TS folder. Older DVD players may require the (empty) Audio_TS folder, so include it for compatibility reasons.

[Dave McElderry]

In most any given situation I tend to choose the simplest solution that works. For a single copy of a DVD I've hardly ever had any problems burning from PrEl - maybe once or twice in all the years I've been using it. So I just burn and go. I'm rarely in a big hurry, so if there's a little extra time involved it's not a factor. If I want multiple copies I use Nero StartSmart Essentials to make copies of the disc. I knew that you're fairly new to the program, so I was trying to simplify.

So mostly it depends on your chosen workflow and how the program performs for you. There is certainly nothing wrong with burning to a folder if that's what you'd like to do. No matter how you burn your completed DVD, the results are the same. You'll have no problem fitting a 30 minute project on a single layer disc at highest quality.

[EleanorAliza]

Wow, you guys are all great!
Thanks for everyones input, I think I feel safer burning to a folder, then burning directly from PRE4 to DVD. I think another reason was that if you no longer use PRE4 in the future, but want to burn another copy, you can do so using any availabe burning software. But if you burn directly to DVD in PRE4 it doesn't give you that option, you must use PRE4 to burn again. Is this correct?
Not that I would ever ever try and learn another video software, this one serves my needs just fine.
But , you never know.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone
Aliza

[Dave McElderry]

That's correct. PrEl will need to re-render if you want to go back and make another copy straight out of the program. If you were to lose or damage your burned disc, or found it to be unplayable for any reason, AND you were no longer using PrEl, then you could always go back and burn a disc from folder.