how to compress mpg2 files

[Kaecha]

I am trying to make my niece's wedding video on a dvd, but the files are too large as mpg 2 files to fit on a dvd. The combined minutes are somewhere around 2 hours, but done up this way and with the space used to make menus I need 3 dvd's to make this video for her!

I know the dvd's are supposed to be able to hold at least 2 hours of video, but I've never ever come close to that with my home videos.

I realize that the menu takes memory too but my program (sonic dvd) only allows 6 buttons before putting another screen up and that all takes up precious memory.

I'm not sure if I'm on the right forum either, if not please direct me me to the correct one.

[mroggenbu]

if you use TMPG as an encoder, you can create mpeg2-files (as required for DVD-solution) and enter (the final slide in the configuration wizard) a specific bitrate between 3000 and 8000 kb/s (or was it b/s?). By this way it should be possible (depending on the aspect of the picture) to get up to 2 1/2 hours on a DVD in high resolution.
if you want to get more than 5 hours, you must convert it to simple mpeg-format, which is normally used for video-cd and has a lower resolution, but which can also be put on a DVD...

For the final step, I personally use the authoring tool of TMPG (additional program), where it it possible to put multiple tracks on a DVD, setup individual menues and author chapters...

cya...

[Kaecha]

more info

Thanks for helping me out -- I really appreciate it, I'm such a newbie at this.

Do I need to download any codecs when I download the TMPG?

Once I do this video up with the program, it should play on any dvd player?

[mroggenbu]

as far as i know, the TMPG encoder requires no additional codec.
they can be foun here:

http://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/download/index.html

unfortunately the TMPGEnc Author appears to offer no trial use... but it's really quite good for rookies (as i was some months ago)!

the authoring tool produces the complete structure as it would appear on a DVD and if it's burned on a DVD+/-R which is categorized as video-type by the burning-software (i use Nero), it can be played on almost every DVD-player.
"almost", as it may happy that cheap DVD+/-R-media may have problems in some players...

[Kaecha]

burning software

Sonic came with Easy CD/DVD Creator, I don't know if there is a special place to tell it that it is a video file or not. (I'm not at home right now, I just have very slow dial-up there and sometimes it doesn't work very well and keeps hanging up on me, so I came to work today since the store is closed I won't be interrupted.)

I was hoping to do the download here too and then burn it to a disk and take it home to install. Hopefully I won't have any problems doing that.

I went to the link you included last post and in the trial versions they offered TMPGEnc DVD Author 1.5 (TMPGEnc DVD Author 1.5 Ver.1.5.20.62)

Is that the correct one?

[setarip]

One set of procedures (other posters may/probably will suggest alternative methods) would be:

1) If not already DVD-compliant, use "TMPGEnc" to convert the MPEG to compliant MPEG2-for-DVD format - Use "TMPGEnc's" DVD wizard/template to accomplish this (This step may not be necessary, if your MPEG-2 filies are already in DVD compliant format)

2) Use "TMPGEnc DVD Author" (a different program than "TMPGEnc") to easily create the required additional DVD files and structure (and chapters and a menu, if you wish)


**If the combined filesize of the DVD "package" written to your hard drive is greater than 4.37Gb, use DVD Shrink (or similar) to compress


If your O/S is either Win2000 or WinXP, TMPGEnc DVD Author can also burn your DVD. Otherwise, use NERO to burn in "DVD-Video" mode
(As an alternative to "TMPGEnc DVD Author", you could use "DVDLab")


Let us know of your success ;>}

[Kaecha]

thanks alot!

I am heading home in about an hour and then I will be definitely trying this out.

Once again, thanks so much!

[setarip]

"Once again, thanks so much!"

My pleasure ;>}

[Kaecha]

me again!

Hello again,

I spent the weekend encoding with TMPGEnc and watched the results and realized they were not good. So I looked into why not by reading up the help file provided (and which I printed out).

Realized that I did the files up as mpeg-1 files (groan). So today I am spending some time encoding the original files to dvd, using the wizard for every file. The first one I did looked fine, but of course the files are video and audio, so I am hoping that will be fine when burning to a dvd disk.

There aren't any issues with the video and audo being separate are there?

I bought TMPGEnc and the authoring program (for sale as a bundle) on Saturday and it will take a while before I feel comfortable using them, but I'm sure they will work for me fine eventually.

Once I get these files done up again, I'll try the authoring program, which I understand I can use to burn with.

[Kaecha]

files are now larger?

Hey everyone.

I've spent the day encoding the files again, this time using the wizard which had "dvd" highlited on the bottom for the out-put file. It made my 36 files into m2v and wav files.

My original file folder was 5.1 GB and now the TMPGEnc files are in a folder with a size of 9.73 GB.

I've tried to use shrink but it doesn't recognize the m2v and wav files so I have to try to find the vob files. Where on my computer would these files be?

I've used the wizard and accepted all the defaults except the bit-rate which I changed to 8000. Is this too big? If so what bit-rate is acceptable for a good quality play-back?

I've had to delete the original files off my hard-drive so if I have to re-encode them again, can I do it from a dvd drive or do I have to copy them back to the hard-drive?

[setarip]

"I've tried to use shrink but it doesn't recognize the m2v and wav files so I have to try to find the vob files. Where on my computer would these files be?"

You have to load the .M2V and .WAV files created by "TMPGEnc" into "TMPGEnc DVD Author"...

[megamachine]

It sounds like you are on the right track, but DVD Shrink only recognizes fully authored DVD structure, so you need to load your video and audio streams into TMPGEnc, as setarip suggests, and author the DVD first. If you get a message that the authored files will result in an "out of standard DVD" you can ignore it, since this is only a problem if you want to burn as the next step. In your case, the next step is loading the authored DVD into Shrink, and then re-authoring it to fit on one DVD for burning. Hope this helps.

[Kaecha]

not really successful but...

>>>Let us know of your success ;>}<<<

Hello all -- I've finally managed to get the wedding video on one DVD. I encoded it and then authored it and then shunk it down, but when I played it no menu came up, it just started playing, and the playback was jerky. I decided I'd had enough of fighting with this and put it on 2 DVD's with a menu so they could pick chapters to play or to play it all.

I used the encoded files as after I re-encoded them with the bit-rate smaller (from 8000 to 3000 this time) they were small enough to go from 3 dvd's to 2. These files played fine, it was after shrinking them that the playback was jerky.

I downloaded NERO and got a demo version that will last until the end of this month, I'll probably end up buying it too.

I'll keep playing with this stuff, I'm sure I'll get it figured out sooner or later.

[megamachine]

Glad you made some progress on this project, and that you found something that works for you. While you are trying out Nero for burning, you might also want to check out the freewares IMG Tools Classic and DVD Decrypter, both of which can also burn DVDs, and which many people on these forums recommend.

[Afterlife]

For what it's worth... are you compressing the audio, or leaving it as a PCM? compressing it will save tons of space for the video. I'm sure you'll come across all that in Tempgenc's help files sooner or later anyway.