Hi folks
As you will be aware by the Q asked I am new to this.
I have uploaded from my jvc mini DVcamcorder my footage for editing using win movie maker, the file size is approx 12G avi, after editing I would like to place the finished video onto a DVD.
As you know a standard DVD takes 4.7G.

So the Q is how to place a file which is obviously too big onto a DVD?

I realise that the file requires compressing.

I will be using Nero 6 to burn the file.

Any help that would bring my knowledge up a notch will be useful.

Thanks

: Joe

First you need to compress to fit the DVD - take a look at Marcs thread on it here http://www.videoforums.co.uk/ftopic380.html

A great free tool to compress the raw AVI file is available here http://www.virtualdub.org/

Also use the search function on this site to find more detailed explanations of what you require. Best of luck with the DVD

http://www.dvdshrink.org/where.html

Joe,

Basically when you capture footage from a DV camera and place it on a hard drive, the file transfers as an AVI which is an uncompressed format. Ideally you need to compress it to MPEG Layer2 which will make the file a lot smaller yet keep it at a great quality. The software you are using to capture the footage should have an 'export' option which allows you to compress the movie into whichever format you think best. Unfortunately, Movie Maker being a Microsoft product will not allow you to export it as a MPEG of any kind, so you may have to go with AVI at a compressed rate or WMV. I can't remember the other formats it allows but it will usually indicate the estimated size of the file before you start the compression!

I'm not sure if you're planning to edit the footage but if you are, you should consider dumping Movie Maker and using something like Ulead Video Studio 8, Pinnacle Studio 9 or Adobe Elements Premiere.

Hope this helps

useful for recompressing an already-authored dvd, but irrelevant here, unfortunately. Also, i'd hate to see 12GB of mpeg-2 that'd been compressed to 4.3Gb, it'd look awful.

__________________
AMD Athlon 1700 (@2200mhz from 1466 sod the noise!) - 768mb pc3200 - 200GB Maxtor - Pioneer 106 - GF4 Ti4200 - twinhan/visionplus pci dvb-t - random pci analogue tv tuner - A7v600-x (to replace the a7n8x-d that died...) - random 17\" CRT
Sony STR-DE425 & Eltax c205s;
xBox w/20GB HDD- executer 2.3b;
xBox - standard;
Konica/Minolta dimage z10 w/2x512mb SD;
iRiver h340;
A silly amount of Cat-5 and usb cables

I would compress your AVI with Xvid or Divx. Your 12 Gig AVI should be
about 4 gig after your done, You mentioned "Windows Movie maker"
When working with AVIs, I have allways used Virtualdub.
http://virtualdub.sourceforge.net/ Lots of options to work with.

Then I would use Tmpge to convert the AVI to mpeg2 DVD 720X480
http://www.downseek.com/download/21411.asp

Then I would use Tmpge DVD Author to make the DVD.
It will be lager then 4.464 gig. But you can shrink it to fit on one DVD
afterwards with DVD Shrink.
http://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/download/tda16.html

But my origanl post was asumming you allready knew how to Author a DVD.

And the infomation I popsted above could be inconclusive since
I dont know the rezolution of the origanl AVI or if thier is more then
one file or movie. Just that it is 12 Gig.

Shock, you are a crazy man.

DV avi is compressed.

you want to convert to xvid or divx.

Xvid and Divx are compressed.

you then want to convert to mpeg2.

mpeg2 is compressed.

you then want to dvdshrink it.

dvdshrink uses recompression of sorts, and WILL reduce the quality.

WHY THE HELL DO THAT? Why not just encode straight from DV-avi to mpeg2? It makes no sense. It's about as bad advice as it's possible to give.

To the OP:

you have your 12GB dv-avi file. These aren't playable in DVD players. MPEG1 is. MPEG2 is. You want to convert to one of these. MPEG2 is best quality. If you've got 12GB of DV-avi, you've got about an hour of video. This will fit on a dvd with good quality, no problems. After you've edited it in win movie maker, it'll be even smaller, so you'll be able to assign a higher bitrate to it.

Once you've edited it and have it how you like it, look into an mpeg2 encoder, like tmpgenc as mentioned above. He got something right. It's a perfectly serviceable mpeg encoder. It's got a dead easy wizard, you can't go wrong. Once you've got that, you need to author your dvd. There are a lot of packages about for that, but tmpgenc dvd author is again easy to use. IIRC, it'll burn the disc for you as well.

Good luck! read marc's guides, read about the forums, but don't be too bothered if it doesn't work out first time, there's a learning curve. Have fun!

__________________
AMD Athlon 1700 (@2200mhz from 1466 sod the noise!) - 768mb pc3200 - 200GB Maxtor - Pioneer 106 - GF4 Ti4200 - twinhan/visionplus pci dvb-t - random pci analogue tv tuner - A7v600-x (to replace the a7n8x-d that died...) - random 17\" CRT
Sony STR-DE425 & Eltax c205s;
xBox w/20GB HDD- executer 2.3b;
xBox - standard;
Konica/Minolta dimage z10 w/2x512mb SD;
iRiver h340;
A silly amount of Cat-5 and usb cables

dvd shrink is real bad

its not a programme that any video editor should have!!!!!!!!

UN-INSTALL DVD SHRINK IF U HAVE IT, NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it doesn't even encode!
it transcodes!

theres nothing worse than that, the only advantage (which isnt a advantage :S) is that it will do it quick!

Yep, it should never be used for the kind of stuff we're talking about here. I wouldn't even advise people to use it for copying retail dvd9>dvd5, as it WILL lower the quality, noticeably.

__________________
AMD Athlon 1700 (@2200mhz from 1466 sod the noise!) - 768mb pc3200 - 200GB Maxtor - Pioneer 106 - GF4 Ti4200 - twinhan/visionplus pci dvb-t - random pci analogue tv tuner - A7v600-x (to replace the a7n8x-d that died...) - random 17\" CRT
Sony STR-DE425 & Eltax c205s;
xBox w/20GB HDD- executer 2.3b;
xBox - standard;
Konica/Minolta dimage z10 w/2x512mb SD;
iRiver h340;
A silly amount of Cat-5 and usb cables