So I'm starting to Think I'm Helpless >_>

I understand that in order to Make a DVD movie there are steps to follow. Now I've used Youtube and Google and they tend to say the same thing I got here. soI feel like my problem is Simple? and I cant see it .

Tools: Nero Prem 7 , Windata DVD+ R ( Will buy Name band DVD's)

Project : Sleepless edit: No names or links to copyright material. Read the rules!!
Size: 1.37 GB
Type: .AVI (Video Clip)
Process: When I'm at the DVD- Video Menu sub screen I lower My Bit Rate to 1,691 ( the lowest it will let me go) the Resolution is set to 720 x 480 ( CCIR - 601 D1)
The Encoding Mode is at HQ (2 pass VBR) The Video Format MPEG-2 ( cant change)
The Audio Format Dolby Digital (AC-3) 2.0 .
Then there is a 4 to 5 hour Transcoding . where it tells me the file is still to big .
Now I don't under stand?

My next step is to get DVD-9 but I know you can burn to a DVD -5 Because I have tons of them that something else burnt but now that I have a Burner I'd like to do it Myself. Maybe I'm still missing a step . Forgive me for taking so long to figure this out and asking so much from you all . thank you .

There should be an option to fit to disc. Use that instead of trying to pick the bitrate yourself. Nero will transcode to use the full disc capacity unless the file is to small, which this one isn't.

After Converting a 1.37 gb AVI, The VOB will be somewhere around 6-7 gb's. You will have to split onto two disc, unless you want Horrible quality.

A 700 - 800 mb AVI usually converts to 4 - 5 gigs. A blank DVD-R is 4.7gb's which you'll only be able to get a little over 4 gigs on the disc.

This is just my experience. I don't use Nero so I'm just going off of the program I use.

One thing I have to say for you, enigma--you don't give up easily. OK, at last we have some actual names and numbers to work with. Although Gnutella doesn't permit the mention of copyrighted works, I happened to read your msg last night before it was edited and managed to d/l the same exact 1.37GB DEVISE AVI file of, er, "Zachary Zipper." I then set it up for transcoding on my Nero 7 version of Nero Vision, v. 4.9.7.6. You are using Nero Vision 4, right?

Here's where it gets weird. Although Remoc is right that large AVI files yield large VOBs (after all, Zachary Zipper is close to 3 hours long), my NV4 can easily fit it onto a standard-size DVD. With the Quality setting at Automatic (fit to disc) it selects a bit rate of about 3470 kbit/s, which yields "Average" quality at 4.37GB used out of 4.38GB available. I found no limitation if I wanted to lower the bit rate below 1691 kbit/s. 1691 kbps results in the usage of only 2.31GB, but there's no point in going that low, since the result will really look lousy. You're quite correct BTW in holding the resolution to 720 x 480, since lower-res will also look lousy. As you say, video format is fixed at MPEG-2, and the only other variable is Encoding mode. You might try changing it to Fast Encoding (1-Pass), though that shouldn't change the physical size of the file, but at least you'll find out sooner that it won't fit.

There's only one item left to check--what DVD capacity are you using? There are three DVD size settings on NV4's Select Menu: DVD-9 (double layer, 7.95GB), DVD (the standard DVD-5, 4.38GB), and DVD-1 (8 cm) (teeny little 3" disk, 1.30GB). If by any chance you are set on DVD-1, that would be your problem, as you should be set to DVD.

Sorry, that's all I could come up with. You could always convert the resulting oversize Nero NRG file to an ISO with UltraISO and then shrink that down to DVD-5 size with DVDShrink, as I suggested in an earlier post, but that seems like a lot of trouble to go to. Good luck!

Lenny

so your saying that you took a 1.37GB file avi file and transcoded it at a bitrate of 3470 kbits/sec and got it to only take up 4.37GB?...IC....well, I don't have that exact file, but I do know that I had to edit out a bit of a movie I recently transcoded to fit on a disc (the size of the source file is 702MB)....I just put it into Nero7 Ultra and as opposed to editing out that tad of data, I chose to let Nero reduce the quality to long play (3382 kbits/sec) and it went from 4.45GB to 3.1GB...this says to me that a 1.37 GB file is going to show ~ the same resultant file size reduction (~30%), which make it transcode to about 6.1GB...enigma should either take the time to split the file (which can cause the sound to get out of sync if not done properly) or burn to a DVD9 disc if his player will support that format of a burned disc (I have one player that will, and another that won't)

It's not always a simple 1:1 correspondence--depending on what codecs were used in the original AVI file and other factors, I suppose, different files can be compressed by different amounts. Despite your calculations, I have just finished successfully burning that 1.37GB AVI file, with no edits and compressed at 3470 kbit/s (actually I just had Nero Vision fit it to disk automatically, and that's what it took), onto a 4.37GB DVD-5, so it can be done. Just when you think you know Nero, it hands you another surprise.

BTW, I recommend using Nero's quality setting "Automatic (fit to disk)" rather than choosing long play/extended play etc., because that way Nero will set the maximum bitrate possible, leading to better-looking results.

While using fit to disc.

If the file will fit using 1-pass (I don't see why it wouldn't), then it will also fit using 2-pass with much better variable encoding, thus keeping fast action sequences at a higher bit rate, while letting slow action sequences slip into lower bit rate.

Which is why I highly recommend using 2-pass encoding.

One thing I really don't get though is why someone would download an AVI for the sole purpose of transcoding to DVD. Just download the DVD and skip the process of encoding.

There's no question that 2-pass yields results superior to 1-pass. However, I wasn't recommending 1-pass to shrink the file size. As I said, "You might try changing it to Fast Encoding (1-Pass), though that shouldn't change the physical size of the file, but at least you'll find out sooner that it won't fit." enigma257 had complained that it took 4-5 hours of encoding before he was informed that the transcoded file was too big, and 1-pass would at least get him the results sooner.

As to why he'd download an AVI instead of the DVD, some videos are too new or old or rare to be out on DVD, and many ISPs charge by the number of GBs downloaded or even slow down accounts that download over a certain amount per month. My own ISP, Comcast, has a 250GB monthly bandwidth limit.

While I can't remember the exact filename, I feel pretty confident that a DVD is out of the same file. This was not too new or old.... Pretty much there is no such thing as too new as the group will need a source to make the encode.

I very much doubt he is using the right settings as I have never heard of anyone using fit to disc and the finished result not fitting. Either that or the DVD-r disc being used sucks.

A 250GB download limit is quite nice. Lots of people are more unfortunate.

I can't remember the last time I transcoded .avi to DVD to be honest. I just connect my Laptop to the TV and Stereo and viola ;)

I was referring to a screener posted only as an AVI, which he was trying to encode. Since "Zachary Zipper" is currently playing at a theater near you, it is indeed too new to have had a commercial DVD release.
I agree; the only way I could approximate his problem was by changing the DVD capacity to a DVD-1, and I did warn him to check that Nero wasn't set on that. Maybe he thought DVD-1 meant "fit onto one DVD."
True, and I'm not complaining; someone who needs to d/l more than one DVD per day should look seriously into getting a life. But if your ISP has more draconian limits you may well decide to d/l the AVI file and invest a couple of hours at home transcoding and burning it to a DVD (assuming you need DVDs because you're not fortunate enough to have a laptop with a large HD that hooks up to the TV and stereo), rather than use up your precious bandwidth GBs.