Solved What did I do wrong - Rendering?

Hi,

I did it before and it worked, as it should. Not this time.

One project needing three DVDs was finished and was almost in my son's possession, when I noticed that the Volume 2 was to big to fit on a DVD. Not having the .vf file (very long story), I worked with the already rendered .mpg file cutting it, to make fit on the DVD so I could merge the cut portion with Volume 3 which was smaller. I save volume 2 & 3 as .vf files to render them. While rendering I had a message ''No recompression required''...naturally I did have to render to get the new .mpg files.

When the rendering task was done, both of my rendered files were all black in the video track with no sound on the audio track. I had done that before with excellent results...By chance I have back up files of Volume 2 & 3.

So I can give this finished project to my son ASAP, I rendered it in a .mp4 format rather than a .mpg which was causing the ''No recompression required'' message in the Preview screen.

I'd like to know, if possible, what went wrong so I can eliminate replicating this situation in the future and what is the best quality rendered file format for my projects that are copied on DVDs and never sent to outside or offline sites?

Thanks

Michel

Hi Michel

I hesitated to reply to this particular post, because it seemed extremely complex to try and understand at the time I read it. So I waited a while before attempting to understand what you did.

This is not the answer you probably want to hear, but it is the simplest and clearest way I can explain it. I have had plenty of frustrating experiences using DVD Architect over many years now. I have learnt that when things go wrong, it is always best to go back to the "drawing board" and try to fix everything in Movie Studio first (when applicable). Trying to do shortcuts in DVDA, often leads to more frustration and time wasting.

There is a simple answer to your question - you must make sure to keep all your original Movie Studio .vf Project Files. Then if you need to adjust something, because the project has changed in some way, you can go back to the original content.

When rendering video for DVD that is too big to fit on a single disc, the only method I would ever use is the one I teach in my tutorial on this topic. You must render your large videos with Movie Studio and use the Custom Bit Rate settings generated by Mark's Bit Rate Calculator. This is because rendering with custom bit rates in Movie Studio, will always produce superior results to what DVD Architect can do.

Yes DVD Architect can compress large videos for you, however Movie Studio will generally do a better job.
DVD Architect always works best if all the videos you use in your project, have been pre-rendered to the correct specifications and sizes using Movie Studio.

Regards
Derek

Hi Derek,

Yes your are more than right when you say that I must keep my .vf files. The problem is that when keeping those files you must also store all the media files that were used to make them. Need space for that.

I have so many .jpg files that I can only keep so much on my 2 T. HDs that I must transfer the 2nd. year of data on DVDs. Right now, I'm ripping my 2500 CD collection so to reduce the shelving space in my office. So I do need storage space on my HDs? Yes I know I will need another BIG HD.

The pictures I needed for this project were accidentally copied to DVDs like all those 2 year old pictures mentioned before. In this case I was sure that my son would be satisfied with the project I was presenting him of his 1 year old daughter.

I remind you that it's a close to 5 hours, 3 DVD project. He was not consulted on the music part of the project, so that is what I had to modify with him. So like I told you on my post, I was able to use the already rendered .mpg files of Vol. 1, 2 & 3, edit the music he wanted with each of those files, save them as .vf files and render them again with MS13. You mention DVDA in your reply. It was never mentioned on my post nor was it used in my project at that point. I only use DVDA for Menus. I have very little knowledge of that application

I must tell you that BITCALCULATOR is a great little application. I used it many times and will continue using it. I thought that it could not be used within this situation since I was working with a .mpg file as my base.

So I was just wondering while rendering each of these Volumes (1, 2 & 3) I would see ''No recompression required'' in the preview window and see the finished .mpg product as all black with no sound?

Since I had posted my message on Feb. 7th on the forum. I wanted to present this project to my son ASAP. I went to a friend of mine who had recently purchased Vegas Pro. He DID NOT encounter the same problem I did and he was able to render the three .vf files or .vg in Pro, I think, in no time. So what was my problem? I will be more prudent in trying to keep .vf files that might be useful in the future. It's was my fault, I agree!

You do not have to add anything more Derek. I was just explaining a problem I had this week with this BIG project of mine. If you ever have more info on that matter, I would appreciate you passing it on.

Just one more questions, if you don't mind. I notice I have 4 posts in MY Topics. As you know I've been active on your forum since the beginning. Do you delete old posts and if not where can I find my old posts as referrals to questions I might have pertaining to subjects you already replied to a few years ago.?

Thank you

Michel

Do you delete old posts and if not where can I find my old posts as referrals to questions I might have pertaining to subjects you already replied to a few years ago.?

Nothing ever gets deleted from this forum, unless it is spam.
When I go to your Profile, there are 59 posts attributed to you.
There are 6 pages to scroll through and they are all there.

You can also do a search on your topics.
Press Search in top menu bar and enter "Michel" into User Name field and press SEARCH button at bottom of page.
All your posts will display.