I am using Sony Vegas to edit then render some AVI files into a single MPEG2 file for making a DVD in the accompanying Sony DVD authoring software.

My problem is that the MPEG-2 files I end up with are always about 30% larger in this DVD authoring software than they are in programs such as Vegas or even Windows Explorer. For instance, an MPEG2 file that is 3.0 GB in Explorer or Vegas is all of the sudden 3.9 GB in DVD, or a 4.0 GB one jumps up to a 5.2 GB one.

Has anyone else had this problem and if so, is there a solution? It is awfully frustrating to spend the time rendering a file only to see its size increase over the 4.7 GB limit of the blank DVD and have to go back and edit and render again to make it smaller. Thanks!

I probably will be no help to you because I don't use that software. Several years ago I was using DVDit software for DVD Authoring and Mpeg2 encoding. I discovered that a 4.3 GB Mpeg2 file would totally fill a 4.7GB DVD. I was told that this was due to the way that the manufacturers calculated the capacity of DVD's. The same math system that they use on hard drives. The storage capacity is always less than what the manufacturers say the hard drive size is. Something to do with the difference in how binary and decimal math is specified. The bottom line is that a 4.7 GB DVD only holds 4.3 GB of data. This fact may not be the reason for the problem you have. A 30% error is a lot more than difference between 4.7 GB and 4.3 GB. I don't know what is causing that much of an error.

Dave

Thanks Dave, I do think what you suggested does have something to do with it. I am just disappointed that I can fit only about an hour's worth of material on a single-layer DVD, I was expecting to get more.

Perhaps I should lower the bit rate for the video, I think I rendered all of this around 8.

I think 8 is probably higher than you need. I use stand alone DVD recorders now and I don't pay any attention to the bit rate. I specify the SP recording time which puts about 2 hours and 9 minutes on a standard 4.7 GB DVD-R. It uses a variable bit rate averaging around 5, I think. I record mostly SD TV from PBS and I don't see any improvement by using the 1 hour XP speed. So all of my recordings now use the 2 hour SP speed. I can't see any difference between live TV and a SP recording.

Dave