Building a DVD from a Premiere Timeline

[Euphman1]

First off, I just found this wonderful site, and am totally in love with it. I can see all of the problems I have had (especially with Premiere 5.0, 6.0, and 6.5) that I have pounded my head into a wall about. It's wonderful and frustrating to see the solutions posted...if only I had known before...

My question has to do with creating a DVD from Premiere. I have a video project that's 1 hour and 48 minutes long. I'm totally new to burning a DVD, and I ordered a DVD burner that came with no software (sigh). Here's my current process...feel free to explain to me what I'm doing wrong.

First off, I have been using the Lycos Mpeg plugin for exporting the timeline to am mpeg file. I have read up on most of the functions, but ran into a problem with the Video Stream Data Rate. At first, I set it to 8000kbps, which I read was the ideal. The file was like 6.4 gigs or some such nonsense, and didn't fit onto a DVD. I tried several different Data rates: 6000 (looked nice, but still too big), 4000 (grainy - won't work), and settled on about 5100kpbs. Oh, and exporting this project to a .mpg file takes anywhere from 4 to 5 hours.

Second, I open the file in Ulead VideoStudio 7. It's software my friend recommended to me that allows me to burn the DVD and make/edit chapters and such. I tried out Roxio 6, but found this easier to use and more versatile. However, the program takes about an hour to build files and such, and THEN after an hour tells me it won't fit onto a DVD (when it should, because the DVD holds 4.7 GB and the project is only 4.4 or 4.5).

Finally, I am burning onto Memorex DVD-R discs.

OK. I know I'm missing some thing here in the process...probably many things. I'm looking for any help at all. Is this the best way to export? Is there a plugin for Premiere that would make this easier? Can I stop pounding my head against a wall? Help would be wonderous, so thank you in advance.

-Rob

 

[EdwardMartinIII]

Hi Rob,

Do you mean the Ligos plug-in? It should have some presets that allow you to export approproately for DVD. Just click the "Load" button instead of fiddling with the settings. Choose NTSC DVD assets. Unless your system is PAL. If you don't know, it's probably not.

I use DVDLab from

http://www.mediachance.com/

to build my DVDs. The tutorial is a no-brainer, it lets you know immediately if there are any encoding problems with your streams, and it tells you if you're trying to cram too much on the disk. The demo is fully functional for something like 30 days, so you actually can test it. And if you like it and decide you want to buy it, it's, like, eighty bucks.

Hope that helps!

Cheers,


Edward

"Cut a hole in the door. Hang a flap. Criminy, why didn't I think of this earlier?!" -- inventor of the cat door

 

[cdogg]

Also, check out [URL unfurl="true"]http://www.doom9.org[/url] and [URL unfurl="true"]http://www.dvdrhelp.com[/url]. There are a lot of guides there to explain various tools and methods to creating working DVD's.

If I'm not mistaken, many store-bought DVD's use a VBR (Varying Bitrate) that normally only averages 2500kbps.

Roxio is a bit rough around the edges when it comes to working with VOB files that are already split into chapters. I recommend using Sonic's DVDit and/or Nero's newest CD/DVD edition (version 6) to burn DVD's and create menus. As far as a plugin for Premiere, I'm not sure...


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[cdogg]

"[blue]many store-bought DVD's use a VBR (Varying Bitrate) that normally only averages 2500kbps[/blue]"

I take that back. It is usually around 9800Kbps for DVD MPEG-2 quality.

 

[Euphman1]

Lycos? What was I thinking? Yes. Ligos. Heh.

Ok, then I guess this is my only real question. I've been following the other currently running thread on "Export to DVD, best way" and found out that I'm already doing a lot of the right stuff (although I'm totally going to investigate frameserving). Here's my question then.

My timeline is 1 hour and 48 minutes long. The only way I can fit that on a DVD is if I export the timeline from premiere to an mpeg file (using Licos) with a video data rate of like 5100kbps. It looks somewhat grainy. Why can't I just do the standard 8000kbps - the one that looks nice and is recommended for the best quality?

I'm going to fiddle with exporting to a standard avi uncompressed file and use that TMPGEnc program, but I can't figure out why this is a problem.

Thanks again,
Rob

 

[robmcl]

Althought the

http://www.dvdrhelp.com

site has already been mentioned, I just wanted to add specifically that there is a section for "tools". One of the best I've found is this bitrate calculator...

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/calc.htm

Simple type in the duration of your video etc etc...very easy to use. Includes "Authoring" overhead etc . It can be downloaded to use it off-line in your browser, and it's freeware!!

HTH...Rob

 

[Euphman1]

robmcl -

Thanks so much. I love that link. I've been poking around dvdrhelp.com for the past day or two religiously. It appears that the more I learn about DVD burning and everything that goes with it, the less I really know.

Ok, that bitrate calculator shows I'm doing everything right. So how is it that standard movie DVDs hold 2 to 3 hours of video at the highest rate, yet I can't get a bitrate for my hour and 47 minute project higher than 5400kbps? What kind of media should I be recording on to?

(author's note: This is where someone finally hits me upside the head with the basic information I've been missing all along, and I finally get to stop smashing my head into a wall)

Thanks,
Rob

 

[calculus]

Comercial DVDs are actually double density (supposedly 2 DVDs pressed together). Apparently they did this so that those of us with a DVD burner can't copy their DVDs. Most DVDs will hold about an hour of video, although recently I've put an hour of video on a DVD with a lot of room left.

calculus

 

[WizyWyg]

I've gotten up to 2 hours jsut fine on a DVD. With menus.

 

[cdogg]

calculus

Actually, it depends on the compression. If you use VBR (Variable Bitrate) as opposed to CBR, then you should be able to get up to 2 hours or more on one 4.7GB DVD. If I'm not mistaken, this is the case for most if not all movie DVD's that you buy retail. VBR is intelligent enough to encode at higher rates when there is a lot of motion, and keeps the rate low when there's not to save space.

Store-bought DVD's that are double-density usually use the extra space to accomodate movies that go over the 2-hour mark, not to mention DVD extras and secondary languages.

Also, this thread isn't about taking store-bought DVD's and copying them onto regular 4.7GB DVD's. Euphman is trying to get a 1-hour 47-minute personal video project to fit onto a single DVD. With the right type of video bitrate (VBR), he should have no problems.




~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[Najemikon]

Just a quick note, as I've only dipped into DVD burning, but I've had the same problem of space on discs.

I have the Pinnacle dv500 capture card with Adobe Premiere 6 & a Sony DVD+R writer. That came with NeoDVD & if I tell it to compress/write an AVI file from Premiere, it warns that there isn't enough space, even when I've only captured an hour. There doesn't seem to be any settings I can change in there to alter that.

So I tried Impression. It came with the Pinnacle kit & has a Premiere plug-in, measures the space properly & starts to burn the disc. There, it fails! It doesn't like the blank disc or drive. Don't know which & by then I'd reached breaking point!

Finally tried Roxio Easy CD 6, which is quite frankly, dreadful. Now I'm on Nero 6 Ultra & it works like a dream.

Now I had never found any way of manipulating the AVI to make it fit on NeoDVD or work on Impression, yet Nero just does it straight out of the box, which I found a bit strange...

 

[WizyWyg]

I love Nero and I've dabbled with DvdLab (I like it Edward, but found two of the four discs I made had "digital" slow down in the footage that was burned to the disc - I can explain if you wish to know more about it). I've used Ulead's DVD Maker since its first incarnation and love it ( has no trouble with recognizing thedrive ) and used SpruceUp before DVDit! bough them out. I also have used Dvdit!

so my preferences in order of workability:
Ulead,
DvdLab
Dvdit!
SpruceUp
Nero