Help with high quality low size video capture to dvd 4 7

I'm using Adobe Premiere 6.5 and I have the DIVX 5.X plugin installed. I am capturing video thru my digi camcorder using firewire. Replaying captured video on my computer is perfect, but the files are super large. A 5 minute video is a little over 1GB!! I swear I have spent all weekend tweaking and changing the settings of the compression methods of each plugin and they all come out exactly the same. 15 sec = approx. 80MB. I must of tried over 30 different variations.

Does anyone know how I can capture say 2 hours worth of video and fit it on one DVD disc without loosing any noticable quality. I need to know a somewhat easy program that I can use and the type of compression. I know in theory this can be done because by backing up 2 hour DVD movies, they fit on a 4.7 GB discs and the picture looks very similar, if not the same. Is there a way to capture this to my harddrive while using the compression so I can record it straight to a disc right away? So there is no need for converting or anything like that. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Well If you have Premier 6.5 then you should also have a Mpeg encoder Plugin, Like the Adobe encoder that comes with it or even better something like CinemaCraft encoder But if not it is No Big Deal...When Captureing to DV Format there are Not any real settings in the Codec setting to make the File smaller because the File is allready compressed on your Camcorder so all you are Doing is Just Losslessly Transfering the data from your Camcorder to your Hard drive...So Just Transfer the Video Footage to your Hatd drive useing Premier it should take about 10-15GB per 1 Hour of Video, after you have it on your Harddrive you can do your editing and add your Transitions and effects with Premier and then if you have a Mpeg encoder Plugin Just render your File to Mpeg2 at 720+480/576-Pal with Mpeg 1 Layer 2 audio at 48000hz with a Bitrate of about 4700kbs for the Video and about 384kbs for the audio and then the Encoded file should be under 4.3gb and with Quite Good Quality as long as your Captures were of High Quality....If you do not have a Mpeg encoder Plugin then you will have to render your Project as a DV AVI file useing a DV Codec Like the "Microsoft DV Codec" or some other DV Codec(I don"t know were you got the Idea that you would Need the DivX Codec?)..After you have rendered your Project to a DV AVI file it should be about 30gb ,Now you will need a High Quality Mpeg2 encoder Like the MainConcept Encoder or Tmpgenc to encode the DV AVI file to DVD Compliant Mpeg2 with Mpeg1 Layer2 audio at 48000hz(Don"t use Wav/PCM audio because it takes up too much space on the DVD) and use the Bitrate settings I mentioned Above...After you have encoded your DV AVI file to DVD compliant Mpeg2 you will need a DVD authoring Program to Format the Mpeg2 file with the Menu"s and Chapters you choose and to Burn it to DVD-R, a Good easy one to use is Called "DVD Lab"...I have Done Quite a Bit of this Type of Stuff and I work as a Video Editor For a Liveing for a Major Studio so If you need any help you can PM me with your E-mail address and I"ll try to help you out as Much as I can...It all sounds Pretty complicated because it is if you have never done it before and it could take Quite a while before you get it perfect and you Might need some extra Software to do it Properly Like a Good Quality Mpeg2 encoder and there are only about 4 of them, and it would help to get a Dolby digital AC3 encoder because it is the Best Audio Format for DVD"S...well if you need help let me know...Cheers

 

Thank you Minion for the detailed help...I will get started on it this weekend. I'll post what I come up with if I need any aditional help. Again, thx!

 

Hello, A few questions.
I'm a filmmaker, living in Paris, France..
What would you recommend as a Mpeg2 video codec, reliable, lossless and that could be edited without any specifically designed card?
Would you use Divx codec while capturing video from camcorder or any oter source than DV Cam?
I have Adobe Premiere Pro and noticed that only DV in could be captured; is that true?
What's your feeling on Premiere Pro versus Final Cut Pro?
What kind of software do you use daily in your editing work?
Could you contact me off list - stan.orand@free.fr -