Encore2 Running Out of Space on DVD-5's

Question

I have a Project that is to be a 3-DVD set. These must be DVD-5's, as the clients machines will not play DVD-9. I am running into two little problems.
First, the Project:
All Assets are DV-AVI from PP2. These are basically slideshows with a few MOV files added in, and simple Cross-dissolves, plus pan & zoom on each still image. Unfortunately, the Assets have grown to the max. I anticipate very slight growth before final (back in the NLE part of things).
DVD-01 consists of five Timelines: 1 very short Play First going to Main Menu and four much longer Timelines. Main Menu, Scene Selection Menu and Button Transitions to these Timelines, plus a Play All Playlist from Main Menu. There is Audio on both Menus.
DVD-02 consists of thirteen Timelines: 1 very short Play First going to Main Menu and twelve Timelines of varying length. Main Menu, Scene Selection Menus of four Timelines each, and Button Transitions to these Timelines, plus a Play All Playlist from Main Menu. There is Audio on all Menus.
DVD-03 consists of six Timelines: 1 very short Play First going to Main Menu, four much longer Timelines and one Credits Timeline. Main Menu, Scene Selection Menu and Button Transitions to these Timelines, plus a Play All Playlist from Main Menu. There is Audio on both Menus.
Now, for my two problems.
First problem: Even using Encore2's automatic Transcoding, these three DVDs are just barely over the limit for a DVD-5. Not much, but Im getting errors. Question: Ive got DVDShrink, but have never been too pleased with how it handles full DVDs (Menus and all). It seems to be more useful for *other* things. Does anybody know of a similar program that does a good job of very slightly compressing from an ISO, or DVD folder? Obviously, Im most interested in total functionality of the navigation. None of my Assets has much motion, except for slow pans & zooms, plus the Transitions. In lieu of that, my next request would be for some guidance on setting the Transcodes manually. The one problem that I have with using my limited bit-budgeting experience (via various bit-budgeting calculators) is trying to figure the overhead of these Menus and their Button Transitions. Does anyone have a good rec. for DV-AVIs of just pan & zoom stills with Cross-dissolve Transitions?*
Second problem: The Play First is a tiny 04 sec. lead-in with SFX Audio transitioning to the Main Menu. Ive never done any lead-in this short, so maybe that is the problem. In the burned DVD (three set-top players), I get that black couple of frames, that we see in Preview, but disappear on the burned DVD. In my case, its still there, and *seems* longer actually, than it appears in preview. If people feel that its too short, I can add a Title, prior to the fade-in of the still of the Main Menu. Obviously, with problem #1, I dont want to increase the size of any of these more than I absolutely have to.
Thanks for your thoughts,
Hunt
* I am also exploring doing a 4 DVD set, but the Timelines constitute major chapters in the Project. To separate them to span 4 DVDs will be tougher, than it might at first appear. Still, if it gets down to it, I can always re-do the Button Transitions, etc. My big problem will be with the scripting of the entire Project. Id rather keep it to 3, as there is a natural break, but all of my headroom is gone and I do not even have my Audio added yet. The DVD set that I am finishing up now is just for final editing. As I said, I anticipate that each Asset will probably grow very slightly. Life is never easy.

Answer 1

Neil,
Thank you for that information. I was having some problems with Menu Audio & Button Transition Audio:
http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.59b76269/18
Jbowden pointed out the problem with mixing Audio sources at the Menu level. In the tests, where I got everything to play properly, you Timelines were silent (at this stage in the Project). The Menu & Transition Audio was PCM/WAV, and played perfectly, when burned. Your comments now point me to another test, that I must run. I had not gotten to that one, just yet, but between your's and Joe's comments see why most of my other tests failed. Hopefully, I can now say that "I see the light."
For this Project, I now believe that I'll be doing only stereo for the main Audio, and can output to DD in AC3. I'll also change my Menu Audio and my Transition Audio to the exact same, DD stereo in AC3.
Thank you for pointing out that it is just the runtime, that I need to calculate my Menus' & Transitions' overhead. For the Menus, I assume that their runtime will be based on their Audio, which will be 30sec.
Many thanks to you, Joe and Ruud, for helping me through this. I have one request: if you have a second, would you take a look at the link to the other post (above), and comment on the aspect of linking Button Transitions to Timeline? I've seen several printed references to doing it that way, but cannot get a Timeline to link to a Button Transition. My success came from just using a muxed Asset. I *think* that the authors of those references just got it wrong, but it could still be OE on my part.
Greatly appreciated,
Hunt