Is there a maximum possible bitrate for h.264 (from DV iMovie)?

I know... but thank you anyhow, if I didn't knew it (and you could know, that I knew, from my post) it is still usefull info.

I just wanted to make a data disc

and no: 8.8GB do not fit on a single layer 4,7GB DVD. It doesn't even fit on a 8,5GB Double Layer disc. This is, why I wanted to make it just a bit smaller, but utilize the hole space of the DL-DVD (despite some 400MB for another data file).

So, I choose 23mbit/s video plus 320mbit/s audio to get an average file size of 7,5GB, to have some extra space left (of that 8140mb, that the 8,5GB are).

I know 23mbit/s h.264 is hilarious, but since you can't tell iMovie to export the DV file as DV and use a smaller bitrate than the bitrate in the project, I had to use a codec. I could have used mpeg2 (if I had QT-Pro), just to get the 8,8GB file fit on the 8140MB DL-DVD (while additionally mpeg2 would have been playable on a TV-DVD-player). But I wanted to create a data disc.

A USB stick is not an option, since the person would have to send it back to me. Also, A USB-stick is formatted in FAT-32, so no file can be bigger than 4GB. No I can't format it to NTFS, because I have a Mac and I can't use HFS+, because the other person has Windows. I don't want to install TuxeraNTFS again, because the last time I tried it, it broke my HDD file system.

The file is btw an old SD documentary I taped on a VHS. I want to keep as much of the old bitrate as possible. Hence I decided making a data disc, which will only be viewable on a computer.

Any other thoughts?

Karsten Schlüter wrote:

lime-iMacG3 wrote:

… since you can't tell iMovie to export the DV file as DV and use a smaller bitrate than the bitrate in the project, … I want to keep as much of the old bitrate as possible.

sure did iMHD5 export as DV!

That's its 'native' format, iMovie-a (≤v.6) was a dv-editor by concept.-

there is no 'smaller' bitrate in DV - dv is a very straight codec, by standard 13GBs/h - done.

and for sure you can save larger files than >4GB on a fat32 formated media - I'm doing so 'daily' 😁 some of my cheap sport-cameras use fat32-SDCards, recording 2h continously, creating a bunch of files.. on import, those files get 'consolidated' by the edit software.

again: just drag'n drop your precious material on a stick - done.

... it is less complicated than you make it think. 😉

You did not understand the sentence 🙂 iMovie does not export DV in smaller bitrates. That means, it exports DV, but only in the maximum bitrate of 57MBit/s (as told by QT, when you open a DV file, that you exported from iMovie).

Also, you must be using a System that can read FAT32+. FAT32 (without the "+") can only write up to 4GB. I use Tiger (10.4.11).

I did knew, that FAT32 can only take 4GB big files and I forgot and tried to copy a 9GB file once and it did not work, so I know for sure. Not just since this thread. 😉

Is there any other way than drag and drop files in OS X (I do it that way since OS 9 in 2001)?

I am not as stupid as you make me feel think. 😉

I read up on Toast again and there you can force Toast to fit a DVD file that is bigger than 8,5GB to a 8,5GB DVD. (I just did not want to let Toasts crappy compressor do it, but instead use h.264 for minimum quality loss, even if the human eye can't tell. The source is analog SD material btw.).

So, it seems Toast can only auto-"fit-to-disc" / compress original video-DVD files (VIDEO_TS folders with mpeg2), ist that right?

So, it is not possible to compress my DV file as is to a data-DVD?

Will I have to use the compressor and set a bitrate to create a mpeg2 file (which will end in a maximum bitratte fo 8mbit/s) or is there any other possibility? I'd like to keep the file as big and as less compressed as possible.

So, is there no chance in getting the 8,76GB file bigger than 5,77GB (h.264) after compression?

PS: on the sports camera thing, the fact that it can record it on fat32, is that it writes several files under 4GB which are aligned together by the software, that does not mean, that it is one big file. I bet you can't drag a 9GB file to your camera, Karsten.