Best way to break up long MP4 files into manageable chunks

[Steve Grisetti]

DVD Architect has a limit to how much it can squeeze down your video. 90 minutes on a 4.7 gb disc is just not going to go. Have you tried a 60 minute or 30 minute video, as we've recommended?

If you MUST have 90 minutes a single DVD, you may want to try this piece of freeware. I've never used it myself, but I remember others speaking highly of it.
http://www.afterdawn.com/software/cd_dv ... shrink.cfm

[cgwaters]

Thanks, Steve. I realize you recommended 30/60-minute segments. A few other posters mentioned 90-120 minutes as very do-able--so that's why I've been trying to attain 90 minutes.

Prior to downloading the Movie Studio and DVD Architect trials, I tried Koyote's "Video to DVD Converter" freeware http://www.koyotesoft.com/video-software/free-videos-to-dvd.html. It was able to compress all 180 minutes (!) onto one DVD. The quality was surprisingly good, too. The DVD played great on my DVD player; however, the audio was out of sync on my Blu-ray player. I figured (perhaps incorrectly) this was a problem with the Koyote software. In addition, the software provided only very primitive menu authoring. Since I wanted to edit the content as well as add markers to the videos (for use as the basis for menu scene selections) I embarked on trying Sony's software.

I'm a bit frustrated that I'm back to considering using freeware tools to compress the content. (For example: Why can those tools compress the content but DVD Architect can't? Any why do DVD Architect's estimates continually 'tease' me into thinking it will work?) Would it be possible to continue to use Movie Studio and DVD Architect to prepare the content and menuing...and then use one of the freeware tools to compress the final results so as to fit each 90-minute segment on a DVD (assuming the result plays properly on various players)? Worst case, I'll continue to use DVD Architect but lower the video bit rate of my 90-minute segments until each actually fits on a DVD...or just "punt" and go with 60 minute segments.

(I'm curious; I've purchased many movies on DVD over the years. Some of these have content well over 90 minutes in length. I don't think they're dual-layer DVDs; indeed, some of the older DVDs have the content in widescreen on one side, standard on the other. How are they able to accomplish that?)

[Steve Grisetti]

Commercial DVDs are usually dual-layer discs with a much higher capacity than 4.7 gb standard DVDs.

DVD Architect has a limit to how much it will compress your video. Other software (including, for instance, Premiere Elements) is capable of higher compression. This is not our fault, and it has nothing to do with the price of the software. This is the way Sony designed the DVD Architect.

It's up to you how you choose to proceed. But this is simply the reality of the situation.

[cgwaters]

Are dual-layer discs thicker? I have a few DVDs that feel thicker than others but the majority (perhaps 750 of them) feel as thin as the blank media I'm attempting to burn to.

DVD Architect has a limit to how much it will compress your video. Other software (including, for instance, Premiere Elements) is capable of higher compression. This is not our fault, and it has nothing to do with the price of the software. This is the way Sony designed the DVD Architect.

That there are other applications able to accomplish substantially greater compression than DVD Architect is telling; the compression UI/engine is obviously not among DVD Architect's strengths. Perhaps Sony feels the quality of the compressed result is too poor; or perhaps their developers lack the skills to implement compression properly; or perhaps it's just not a priority. (Personally, as a software developer, I see it as one of the latter two.)

I certainly don't fault you or anyone else on this board for my compression/burning difficulties with DVD Architect; on the contrary, I appreciate everyone's responses. And don't get me wrong; I *do* like Movie Studio and DVD Architect so far, otherwise.

It would be interesting to know if any of the freeware tools can be used to take DVD Architect's output (to the hard drive) and then successfully compress/burn it to DVD.

[Dave McElderry]

Following this thread after my initial statements, I had to wonder if my experience with fitting longer productions on disc was with Premiere Elements or with DVDAS. So I went back and did some digging, and found a family commencement project in DVDAS from two years ago that held a total of 99 minutes of video, plus a main menu and several sub menus. My workflow is to edit in Premiere Elements and output MPEG to DVDAS, then let DVDAS do the compression as necessary. I don't believe that I've tried anything longer than this with this workflow, although I can say that I've put up to nearly 2 hours of movie recorded from TV onto a single layer disc, but that was strictly working with Premiere Elements and did not involve DVDAS.

I have no experience with Vegas. Is it possible that the MPEGs that it produces are somehow more difficult for DVDAS to compress? Just a wild thought. Anyway, sorry if I led you wrong. I know what works with my Premiere Elements to DVDAS workflow.

[Steve Grisetti]

Assuming cg is using Main Concept MPEG-2/Program Stream NTSC as his/her Render As from Vegas/Movie Studio (or lets Movie Studio create its own DVD-ready files via the Make Movie wizard), the video it outputs should be identical to the DVD-ready MPEG Premiere Elements shares.

[Dave McElderry]

Assuming cg is using Main Concept MPEG-2/Program Stream NTSC as his/her Render As from Vegas/Movie Studio (or lets Movie Studio create its own DVD-ready files via the Make Movie wizard), the video it outputs should be identical to the DVD-ready MPEG Premiere Elements shares.

10-4 Steve.

[Bob]

Fit to Disk tries to estimate the bitrate needed to bring the project to just under the disc capacity. But, remember, it is just an estimate.

There is no way to know the exact size of the project until the prepare process is done. The bitrate you select is a target. Compression will vary depending on the content of the video (and every video is different), some parts can be compressed higher than others, and the bitrate will change accordingly. DVD Architect will attempt to make the average bitrate match the target rate. But, it may not be possible for DVD Architect to do that. If the actual average bitrate achieved is higher than the target bitrate that Fit to Disc selected, the project may still be too big to fit the disc after the prepare process and will need an even lower target bitrate to fit.

I'd recommend manually setting the video bitrate to a lower value. Based on the bitrates you mentioned, I'd suggest 5.0. Hopefully, that will fit and the video quality be acceptable.

What is the size of the folder on the hard drive that DVD Architect created?

[cgwaters]

Assuming cg is using Main Concept MPEG-2/Program Stream NTSC as his/her Render As from Vegas/Movie Studio (or lets Movie Studio create its own DVD-ready files via the Make Movie wizard), the video it outputs should be identical to the DVD-ready MPEG Premiere Elements shares.

10-4 Steve.

FYI, I'm using the Make Movie wizard.

[cgwaters]

Fit to Disk tries to estimate the bitrate needed to bring the project to just under the disc capacity. But, remember, it is just an estimate.

There is no way to know the exact size of the project until the prepare process is done. The bitrate you select is a target. Compression will vary depending on the content of the video (and every video is different), some parts can be compressed higher than others, and the bitrate will change accordingly. DVD Architect will attempt to make the average bitrate match the target rate. But, it may not be possible for DVD Architect to do that. If the actual average bitrate achieved is higher than the target bitrate that Fit to Disc selected, the project may still be too big to fit the disc after the prepare process and will need an even lower target bitrate to fit.

I'd recommend manually setting the video bitrate to a lower value. Based on the bitrates you mentioned, I'd suggest 5.0. Hopefully, that will fit and the video quality be acceptable.

What is the size of the folder on the hard drive that DVD Architect created?

Thanks for the explanation, Bob. The size of the project folder is 4.09 GB.

Upon returning from work tonight, I checked the status of the burn. DVD Architect said that the burn completed successfully. I played the DVD on my PC; it appears to be OK! So then, what was the purpose of this morning's warning, before I left for work: "Your project is too large for the selected media. Would you like to continue anyway?" (to which I answered, "Yes")? To your point, Bob, I would have assumed that the prepare/rendering process had completed when it displayed that warning; OTOH, the timestamp for all of the files in the project folder are all just after midnight--which was about an hour after I went to bed. In any case, apparently the warning proved to be false.

[Bob]

The capacity of a standard single layer DVD is 4.7 GB. That's expressed in the decimal system which is what disk manufacturers use to describe capacity. The rest of the computer world expresses capacity in the binary system. When you see the size of a file on your hard drive, it is in binary units. 4.7 GB decimal is 4.38 GB binary. The DVD disc must be formatted and have a file system installed. That subtracts about another 0.2 GB leaving us with about 4.18 GB available for us to use. That's why I was interested in how big the folder was on your hard drive. At 4.09 GB, it will clearly fit, but you are getting close to the max. Also, because only whole sectors are written on the disc, there will be some lost capacity. Don't try to push too close to the limit.

Yes, it looks like the warning was issued before the prepare/rendering was done.

[cgwaters]

That's very interesting!

BTW, the DVD plays great on my DVD player and Blu-ray player.

I suppose the size of the content could just have easily resulted in an unusable DVD. With that said, I'm not sure what to do the next time I repeatedly encounter that warning when attempting to burn a DVD.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

viewtopic.php?f=93&t=13290#p112547

Dual layer DVDs are no thicker than 'ordinary' DVDs.