Well I found some old Kenan and Kel shows online that I wanted to put onto a dvd. They are in Avi format, and the file size per episode is about 200mb. The length is only about 22-24 min per episode...I would think I should be able to fit a few on the disk? When I add the files to burn them, I put 4 files on and it says that im using up about 6 gig of space....is there some setting I have wrong or something? or should I convert the files to a different format? I would be content with only being able to fit 4-5 episodes per dvd, but I dont see why i cant, because dvds should be able to hold 2 hours of dvd quality video on them...this is nowhere near dvd quality, although its not horrible. I dont want to have to use the DL discs as they are much more espensive and I use them for other things, I just want to be able to watch the movies on dvd... I have another question as well. Same project. I have 4 episodes now, and I have all of the chapters set up on them. And Im in the process of making the backrounds for the menu. When creating the menu I want to get rid of the video preview screen in favor of just text...I dont want to see the square video box, I just want the Episode name on the main menu screen. And is there a way to do this in a different font? If its possible at all. If anyone knows a more advanced menu creating program...that might be worth my money, Depending on how much it costs I would definatley want to look into it, Nero is good, but I like making professional looking menu's, More of a perfectionist thing, I think the nero ones look too dull.
you should be able to fit all four onto a single kvcd CD. tinpusher gets both the Doctor Who episode and the same week Doctor Who Confidential (a making of the episode show). both are almost an hour each so 96 minutes should be no problem. as for DVD's, it sounds like they should also fit on a single DVD in standard DVD format but as you pointed out, they are not the best quality so the DVD format cannot improve on what you already have. needless to say though, regardless of the input quality the output will be DVD quality.... but DVD quality of a blurry picture will still be a blurry picture that uses more space for the DVD size problem, I also noticed the bloat added when I use Nero. What are your settings? there are ways to change the background in the menu for a plain background verses a full animation. this might be part of the problem. AVI tells me that the files need to be expanded into DVD format but there should still be room for four episodes. OK, I just took 88.5 minutes of DR. Who (two episodes) and added six 4 minute fillers (total 24 minutes 42 seconds for grand total of 113 minutes thirteen seconds and there is room to spare) it is currently burning to a DVD+R these were all avi files that said they were divx (winavi places the logo as I suspect others do also) for a free divx converter see http://www.divx.com/divx/windows/download/ it is free for personal use, comercial use needs to buy a license my guess is either the files were not in DivX format or that you had two copies of each on the disk (the size for double of 4x22min would be about 6.8G) I have subscribed, so feel free to give additional info about your problem
My Settings for Everything is set to Automatic, i think its the default as I havent went back into change anything yet. The only thing I would usually change is the amount of passes to 2. The episodes are divx format. I think it could be what you said about having 2 copies on the disc, because if there was only 1 copy that would mean it would take up about 3 gig, which is abour right, since 90 min is 3/4 of 120. I do you know how i could check this though? I could start another project but then I would have to go in and redo all the chapters I think? or is there an easier way. thanks for the help
start from scratch and carefully add the eppisodes one at a time. that will help prevent double posting (in nero watch the bargraph at the bottom of the input screen after each "movie" has been added. it shoult increase about the same for each addition) and while it did work beautifully in nero it took six hours to recode and burn the almost two hours of movies although my machine is a fast 3.2G P4 processor with hyperthreading (two processors on one chip) and I have 2GB of real memory and oodles of virtual memory
Nero has been having some problems with .avi files. There have been reports of bloating of them when encoded. Since I can't seem to get my hands on any like you are using, I can't say for sure. I do know that my own .avi files I import from my camcorder will take a lot of CPU power when just being played in NV4.
ok Ill try that, the wierd thing is...when i originally added the files, It said I only took up about 3 gig of space, like I should have when i first set it up, I added all of the avi files at the same time, assuming they would all fit, I deleted all of them but the first 4, and it said that it would fit. Thats when i went and made the chapters, After I was finished creating the chapters I realized that it now said I was taking up about 6 gig. Ill try again though As for the time it takes, Yeah it takes me a while too, I used to be running on a realllly slow computer, it was just a p2 with i think 128mb of memory, and a celeron processor, it was just something that my dad got for free when my laptops motherboard went ( 700 repair...not worth it ) Now I just last week got a sony vaio laptop with a gig of ram and a centrino processor..it actually got the burning done at about the same speed, 5-6 hours. I just put it on when i go to bed though So i dont care if it takes hours, ill get it in the morning. Soon Im also getting a dell xps...maxing out almost everything with 4 gig of ram, dual 512 mb Geforce processors, and a dual core 3.6 i think, since the 3.8 is something like 500 more...well see how that pans out, I think when i get that ill jsut spend some money and get great software, im looking into the sony vegas software, as i might be able to get it through my dads company if he allows me to. Im gonna try a free trial first to see how I like it. Its pretty expensive at 600 bucks, but that would allow me to make great menus and dvds. thanks for the help, ill try doing it over again.
Is is possible that when you added the chapters that it created a second copy of each? I know when you tell Nero to make a movie (after already adding an AVI file) and using the a file already in Nero, (the AVI you started with) the new movie is added (thus a duplicate of the first) it might be that adding chapters makes a second movie. I just cannot imagine it taking 3gig to just say where to start/stop chapters but also, why do you need chapters for 22 minute TV shows? (I assume it is a sitcom show which usually builds on the previous situations for its comedy)
You say you downloaded an AVI file thats approx. 22 mins but 200MB file. This tells me that they cleaned up this file from a vhs recording to make it as close to DVD quality. This is why you can only fit about 4 episodes. If you have nero 7 you can change your settings from automatic. You can change the dvd recording time from high quality all the way down to super long play. However you will notice a drop in video quality. The default is set to standard quality (2hrs)If your adding menus and all the fancy stuff then you will eat up more space on the disc.
@DegenX what is the best compromise (in your opinion, so no one will say you are wrong, I want you opinion) ...best compromise between cramming as much as possible onto a DVD and good quality video (and sound) EDIT: (I got Nero7, just need to know what are the best bells and whistles to start with. Too many options to experiment with them all at first, it would turn into a coaster factory)
I would record at no more than long play, you will be able to fit about 5 or 6 episodes, no noticeable change in video quality, choose either single or double pass encoding. I prefer double pass to ensure optimal quality but it will take longer. As for audio I usually choose dolby 5.1, but its really up to you. I create a menu but I usually just check off the create chapters automatically. You can add a backgroud picture or video and audio file, but remember that this will eat up space. They are only tv episodes so there really is no need to have specific chapters. But if your really picky then your going to have to reduce the amount of episodes per disc to create a fancy menu.
as for why do I need chapters...I dont really need them, as Most of the time I would watch an episode I would watch it in full, I just figiured I minus well just incase I ever had to stop it for some reason, then I could just get back quicker than fast forwarding. I redid the program, this time adding the files seperate, Before Adding the chapters, It said that I used up about 3.5 gig...about right in my opinion, I added the chapters, and it was still about the same, Im just finishing up the backrounds and ill probably burn it Im not sure what went wrong with it the first time. Oh, and Incase anyone was wondering, the place I got the files from was myspleen.com...the site seems kind of strange, and it uses bit torrent, but it worked fine, they have alot of different episodes from alot of shows, so if your ever looking for classic episodes or whatever, might be worth a glance.
Glad you are getting it done... as for the show the info is a bit late... I found Demonoid is tracking for the first three seasons, (I've got first two and the third is slow but coming along)(only 2&20 of a pool of 3&37) the torrents were DLed from MiniNova.org but they only offer the torrent, they don't track them
Ive never seen that site before, looks good though. Hows the quality of those seasons? Or is it the same files just under a different site Ive been looking around for good quality episodes but Im not sure where to look oh, and i searched under sony vegas...it came up with a few results, how legit is this site? i might try them... thanks
