I've been authoring and burning AVI files, anywhere from 500 MB's to 1.37 and above to disc for awhile now with no trouble. But now I have these two files, one a 545 MB and the other a 505 MB AVI, that, when placed together in the same burn project, causes red flags to go up in the software.
ConvertXtoDVD said that both together were too large, (though I've since had to uninstall that program) and Ashampoo Burning Studio says that the the files will burn but it will have to make adjustments for them to fit
I just don't understand why I have burn AVI's that are much larger and never had any problems, but now two slightly over 1 GB in size files together are causing problems. Is there some other factor to take into consideration that I'm missing?
You don't shorten running time, you lower Bitrate when converting which lower's file size. Sound's like 2 avi are a bit much for 1 DVD; around 3 hour's is max on a regular DVD and preferably around 2 hour's although the quality is personal preference.
So, theoretically, you can have two 500 MB files but each one can have a different running time? And you can lower bitrate and that lowers file size, but that never changes running time, is that correct?
Yea this whole thing with these two files really threw me for a loop! Each file was listed as close to 2 hours in length, but when I played them back, they were actually more!
Luckily, the burning software that I am temporarily using until I can get the hang of another one, Ashampoo, was actually able to squeeze both files down to where I got them on one DVD, though I'm not going to go that route again!
Yes, they will be of different length, avi size and running time are not connected, Bitrate determine's final comverted size but also quality, Bitrate = quality. If you're able to set Bitrate, get a Bitrate calculator. I would assume your two avi converted to one DVD weren't the greatest quality.
The DVD specs support "half D1" frame sizes for non-anamorphic sizes: 352x240x29.97 (NTSC), 352x288x25 (PAL). These frame sizes require, on average, 25% of 'actual' bitrate. (Theoretically, there is no such thing as 'actual' bitrate.)
Conclusion:
To squeeze as much video duration to fit a DVD, lower bitrate as much as possible. To maximize quality for a given bitrate, ensure efficient bitrate usage via multi-pass VBR encoding. If target viewing device is 32" or lower, reducing frame size to "half D1" is helpful, reducing bitrate further to just 25%, allowing four times more content.
Counter argument:
The cost of DVDRs today is so cheap. The speed of burning has also increased to 16x or better. Is it still worth it to skimp this way?
