QT/Comprssd file too big 4 dvd

Hi friends,
I have a low budget film that I need to compress so we can do a test listen of our surround sound mix.

I haven't had problems with size in the past and therefore need a bit more guidance with troubleshooting.

The feature is about one hour and 32 minutes. I export to a QT which ends up being 19.55 GB. The surround mix is 4 GB and after being run through A.Pack, compressed to 313.9MB (wow!).
After running the QT through Compressor 2 (Best Quality MPEG2, 16:9) and connecting it with the 5.1 mix, the total size of the project- minus a DVD menu which needs to be added- is 4.5 GB. I'm using 4.4 GB dvd's.

I also exported a QT, unchecking "self contained" as a test.The size of the film got down to 11.87 GB. I ran that through Compressor 2 (Fast Encode, MPEG2, 16:9) and the file came out as a white frame, and very tiny MPEG2.


Is it simply a matter of upgrading to a 4.7G DVD? Is there another way to problem solve the QT size issue? Is Fast Encode a better choice for larger size files?

I work on an iMAC G5, 1 G of Ram, FCP4.5 HD, 160 G Lacie


Thank you so much!

Corrinne



Corrinne Theodoru

Corrinne,

The faster the encode bit rate of the encode, the larger the end resultant .m2v file will be. It is easy to encode over 2+ hours with audio into <4.2 GB.

Make sure the bit rate encode is generally below avg rate of 5.0 and try using Constant Bit Rate so there is no spiking of the bit rate. BTW- all DVD's are 4.37 GB in total file size.