DVD video gets cut off, but preview shows dvd as good

Question

Having a problem getting my video to output from dvd burning without getting cut off.
Computer is Win xp pro, 3gb ram, 2.33ghz cpu, 40gb free hd space
Using Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0.2.
I have video which I've recorded from my Sanyo xacti 720p avc camera, which records in mpeg4 format. I've converted the video(s) to mpeg 1,2 for dvd using my "Need4 Video Converter 5.9". At first I tried putting several mpeg1's into my premeire project, then I also merged all the video files into one, but still had the same problem.
I put the video(s) into my premiere project, added some titles on the other video track. Also added some music on another audio track. So, the total size of the videos is about 3.5gb. I preview my project it looks great, I added some dvd scenes and used a nice template with scene selection and captions..the works. Now I try to burn it several ways, to a dvd, to a file folder on high or low settings, but everytime I only end up with about 1.5gb of data, and 25 mins of video, so it is cut off. My original video is an hour and 50 mins.
The encoding takes about 3 hrs after I hit burn. No errors or anything.
So, I cannot understand what I need to do. I don't want to convert to a smaller or lower format, bcz I dont' want to lose quality. I'm at a loss bcz I've tried so many different formats and combinations, let this stuff run for so many hours this past weekend, and still can't get it to work. Is there some kind of setting I'm missing? Something in premiere?
I've read some best practices on the forum, and I understand to use bit rate of 7mbs or less, and to burn on slow speed. Is it at all bcz I'm burning it to my hard drive? but i don't think this is my issue. is it the old software? it came with my Sanyo camera, so I would think its good enough.
Please help if you can. I was thinking my next shot might be to convert it down to a much smaller size, and maybe it will fit(but quality may be an issue). Thanks in advance. -Ron

Answer 1

Ron,
Yes, PE is a scaled down version of P-Pro, but also has some additional features, plus an easier way of doing many things, that its "big brother" does not. As to the ability to Export/Share frame sizes, I think that most are included in PE (would have to open each and explore precisely to tell you if it's all there). I do not think that this is your issue.
As to the conversion, I'd step back to your original footage, Sanyo MP4, right? Unless Sanyo is using a proprietary CODEC to create the MP4's, you *should* be able to Open these files in QuickTime and play them. If you have QuickTime Pro (costs about US$30 to upgrade to "Pro), you *should* be able to Export and choose DV-AVI as your Export setting. Note: the term ".AVI" can mean so very many things. What you want is DV-AVI. This is the "native" format for PE - what it converts all other file formats to, to edit. The quality loss going with this format can be measured in a lab, but is almost totally impossible to see on any TV with the human eye. Doing this will likely enhance your entire editing experience.
As for quality and conversions and compression, your camera has already done one conversion, when it wrote to MP4. You cannot get around that. Conversion to DV-AVI will be "virtually" lossless, though the file size WILL increase. The reason is that with MP4, not all "frames" exist with full content - part of its compression. With DV-AVI each "frame" will exist with full content. Be prepared for LARGE files, but files with all of the info.
Then, when you Burn to DVD, you WILL recompress your data to MPEG-2 format, the DVD standard. You will loose some quality there, but it cannot be avoided. It is how DVD's hold their Audio & Video data.
I still do not have any ideas that would directly affect your movie not burning completely. If the Duration of your movie has exceeded the capacity of a DVD-5, you would/should get an error message to that effect. You do not.
One thing to go back and look for in your original Project's Timeline would be "gaps" in the Video. These can cause problems (or sometimes not). I zoom my Timeline way up, and use the PageUp & PageDn keys to "step" through the various Clips. The CTI (Current Time Indicator - that little doobie that marks where you are on the Timeline) should move in a linear fashion from Clip to Clip. If you see it pause, or hiccup, then zoom WAY in to the max and study the Timeline there. Are all Clips butted up to each other? Now, you can have Clips on Video Tracks above #1, that would allow you to have "gaps" in the Video on VT 1. That is OK, but if you have any spots on the Timeline, where there is NO Video, you'll likely want to fix these. You can close up the gaps by moving the Clips, so that they do butt up, or if you want "black" there, just go to the New icon and choose Black Video. Size it to fit the gap, and you will be fine. You can also extend the Clip before the gap, or after the gap, if that does not mess up your editing. Several choices and each should be based on what you want to have happen. If you find a bunch of gaps (even one can be deadly) try to Export/Burn again. Note: I've seen one 1-frame gap cause problems, but just had to re-edit a Project where I fixed 900+ gaps, and that Project had already Burned 4 DVD's. Go figure.
Last thing to look at would be to hit the "\" key in Timeline mode. This will zoom out to show the full Timeline. Do you have anything stuck out by itself, past where you thought the end was? This should yield other problems, but not the one you are experiencing. Still, who knows? It's also a good thing to do, when you believe you are done, just to check that something didn't get "orphaned" out beyond where one normally looks on the Timeline.
Good luck,
Hunt
[Edit] 01:50 is longish for a DVD-5. You will not be able to set a very high bit-rate (Quality slider), but you should still get the full Timeline, or an error message.