HELP: Need to compress a 15GB AVI into a DVD!

[GTaudiophile]

A co-worker has a 15GB AVI file that he has now compressed to a 5.8GB MPEG2 file. He now wants to compress further using DIVX. And then buy a DIVX-capable DVD player.

Is he thinking in the righ direction?

 

[Drakkon]

does he want it as a DVD or as a DIVX file on a DVD?
he should have just gone from 15GB AVI to 4GB DIVX not the MPEG2 in between since its just going to have to uncompress the MPEG2 to encode to divx anyways...

 

[BlueWeasel]

What's the total length of the uncompressed AVI file? He could take advantage of the free Divx Converter offer right now to convert the file to Divx or use other free tools.

Why is he set on using Divx? If he's already converted it to MPEG2, then it would be just as easy to make a 5.8GB DVD compatible file and then use DVD Shrink to shrink it down to DVDR size. Then any DVD player should work.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Could someone go through the steps for me? I know jack about video editing/compression.

He started with a ~120 minute DV file from a DV camera.
He captured ~60 minutes of this file with Adobe Premier SE, resulting in a 15GB AVI.

His goal is to compress this file onto a 4.2GB DVD-R disc that is playable and just about any normal DVD player.

Can someone please list the steps?

 

[mundane]

I'd suggest just downloading a DVD Authoring program, many of them have free trials. DVD Lab Pro was one that impressed me the most, with a fully functional time-limited trial period. It'll do all of the conversion for you, with full compatability*, a nice clean menu, and should ensure that the resulting image file will fit on a single layer dvd.

*I think the only compat issue would be resulting from the disc type itself, +R -R, and the individual players performance on those disc types.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

Depending on his setup, he may be able to capture directly to MPEG2.
Check out Doom9.org and www.videohelp.com for conversion guides.

 

[mugs]

Does he have Nero? Nero has a program that'll take the DV file and author a DVD for you no problem.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: mugs
Does he have Nero? Nero has a program that'll take the DV file and author a DVD for you no problem.

Maybe, but the quality won't be too good, I think.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: diegoalcatraz
I'd suggest just downloading a DVD Authoring program, many of them have free trials. DVD Lab Pro was one that impressed me the most, with a fully functional time-limited trial period. It'll do all of the conversion for you, with full compatability*, a nice clean menu, and should ensure that the resulting image file will fit on a single layer dvd.

*I think the only compat issue would be resulting from the disc type itself, +R -R, and the individual players performance on those disc types.

How good is the compression algorithm? I have a similar need. I did amateur video at a couple of weddings about a year ago and the resulting AVI's are around 20-25 GB. I want to produce DVD's for both these weddings. Two or three DVD's for each would be fine, it's no big deal, but I figure I'll have to do some compression. The programs I've tried so far haven't given me decent results. I just know it's possible because you can get a very sharp 2 hour movie on a single layer DVD, prerecorded by the studios, so it has to be the compression algorithm that's screwing up my results. The AVI's are pretty sharp minidv tapes. I tried Nero and Ulead Video Studio (I have two versions of that, one coming with my minidv camcorder, the other with a TV card) and got frustrated.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: Drakkon
does he want it as a DVD or as a DIVX file on a DVD?
he should have just gone from 15GB AVI to 4GB DIVX not the MPEG2 in between since its just going to have to uncompress the MPEG2 to encode to divx anyways...

Not to mention also losing more quality.

 

[mechBgon]

But prerecorded DVDs are double-layer too, are they not? They get more elbow room

Anyway, I would use Adobe Premiere Elements, it has "squish-this-movie-to-fit-my-disc-just-right" capability. I got the Photoshop Elements/Premiere Elements bundle dealieo for about $130. And if output quality were of major importance, then I'd invest in some dual-layer media.

Bigger picture: will people seriously want to watch a movie of a wedding?

 

[bamacre]

He needs to start with that 15GB avi file. Never try to encode, and then re-encode, he'll lose more picture quality that way. Always work with original uncompressed video if possible. He just needs a DVD authoring program which will convert what he has to DVD movie files (and compress to single layer disk size). One is DVD Santa, but there is probably something a little better, or easier. That will create two folders with files, VIDEO_TS, and AUDIO_TS (the audio folder may be empty). Then he'll need a dvd burning app like Nero, that will burn these two folders of files onto a DVD+/-R disk. The result should play in almost any dvd player.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

I'll go against the grain here and say here's probably the fastest and non-complicated procedure you can follow.:

Make a DVD out of the existing 5.8 GB MPEG2 file... if you don't have a good authoring solution, check out videohelp.com for some freewares.

After you have this DVD, use DVD Shrink with Deep Analysis enabled to further reduce it to a normal 4.7 GB which can be burned onto any blank disk.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
But prerecorded DVDs are double-layer too, are they not? They get more elbow room

Anyway, I would use Adobe Premiere Elements, it has "squish-this-movie-to-fit-my-disc-just-right" capability. I got the Photoshop Elements/Premiere Elements bundle dealieo for about $130. And if output quality were of major importance, then I'd invest in some dual-layer media.

Bigger picture: will people seriously want to watch a movie of a wedding?

Well, they payed big bucks for professional videographers, so I know for sure they'll be more than happy to watch my amateur video - I think it's pretty good and it is a different perspective. I got some stuff the pros weren't there for.

How good is the Adobe compression? Is it reasonably competitive with the really good stuff?

Prerecorded DVD's are double layer only when there's more than about 4.7 GB that they need to include. Many prerecorded DVD's are actually single layer. I use DVDDecrypter (a free download) to do a lot of my DVD ripping and it tells you upfront and immediately if the inserted DVD is single or double layer. Here's a great site that tells you exactly how to use DVDDecrypter

 

[Muse]

I just discovered (Google Groups!) a relevant newsgroup and subscribed and downloaded all the headers my ISP has for it: alt.video.dvd.authoring

I just know they'll have the answers. I've read a lot of posts on this and closely related topics. It's not elementary stuff. Many people have many different ways of doing things, it seems. Of course, any single project may be relatively simple if don't right.

 

[mechBgon]

How good is the Adobe compression? Is it reasonably competitive with the really good stuff?

I think you can download a free trialware of Premiere Elements and get a firsthand look You can apply video and audio filters, which could be helpful if you need to even out the volume between people with mics and people without, and there's a de-noiser filter, and if your camcorder's motor is audible on the recording, try the notch filter. Break up the clip into sections and then drag-&-drop the desired filters onto the sections that need them.

Adobe PE takes some getting used to, it isn't the fastest either, but it has a good array of options and is fairly stable.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: mechBgon

How good is the Adobe compression? Is it reasonably competitive with the really good stuff?

I think you can download a free trialware of Premiere Elements and get a firsthand look You can apply video and audio filters, which could be helpful if you need to even out the volume between people with mics and people without, and there's a de-noiser filter, and if your camcorder's motor is audible on the recording, try the notch filter. Break up the clip into sections and then drag-&-drop the desired filters onto the sections that need them.

Adobe PE takes some getting used to, it isn't the fastest either, but it has a good array of options and is fairly stable.

My camcorder's audio seems pretty darned good. No problem with motor sound. The two things I'm most concerned about at this point are:

1. That the compression is close to top knotch. i.e. that the video looks very nearly as sharp and excellent as the uncompressed AVI's (which are very very good).

2. That the editing is reasonably intuitive and full featured. I don't need to do a lot of editing. Basically, all I'll want to do is remove a couple of minutes a couple of times, maybe lop off the last few minutes, too. It would be nice if I can drop in a still shot here and there, for a few seconds.

 

[GTaudiophile]

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