Toggen .ogv to avi

[ClarkePeters]

I use Thoggen to rip my dvds for backup (with .ogv extension). It's great in that I can rip a whole two hour dvd down to just over 300mb file size and it still plays great on the computer (although for files I might burn back to a Dvd I save them around 695mb).

Now I need to burn them and I'm having a time of it because the files convert back at too large a size. I tried using mencoder converting from ogv to avi, but the avi is 840mb so by the time I get it in iso form, it's over five or six gigs.

mencoder -o out.avi -noidx -oac copy -ovc copy SpongeBob.avi

I need it to be around 650 -700mb as I have always had success at this size going from avi to iso (Using ffmpeg, dvdauthor, then mkisofs). Is there something I can add to the above code to reduce the resulting output, say reduce the bitrate or something?

The other option I used was using VLC to convert the .ogv to .mpg (mpeg-ps) and then using ffmpeg to get it dvd ready, then dvdauthor, then mkisofs, but that iso was too large too. I also used avidmux to try converting the avi and also the mpg (each individually converted from the ogv) but again too large.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[eye208]

I tried using mencoder converting from ogv to avi, but the avi is 840mb so by the time I get it in iso form, it's over five or six gigs.
If you have an Ogg video file that you want to turn into an MPEG-2 file for DVD, why do you turn it into an AVI file first? You are inserting an additional encoding step that is totally unnecessary. Waste of time, waste of quality.

I need it to be around 650 -700mb as I have always had success at this size going from avi to iso (Using ffmpeg, dvdauthor, then mkisofs).
If the MPEG-2 file turns out too large for a single-layer DVD-R, it's because the chosen bitrate is too high. The bitrate of the input file doesn't matter at all.

[ClarkePeters]

Thanks eye208, I think you hit the nail on the head. It's the bitrate I need to change for the output file, let me give that a try.

[ClarkePeters]

AvideMux has a bitrate calculator;
for me, one dvd-r one-layer 4.7gb disc, I just set it to mpeg and dvd5 and it adjusted the bitrate. It's converting now, we'll see how that works.

Here is the flash tutorial that walked me through it.
http://mulder.dummwiedeutsch.de/etc/adm_wink/avi2dvd.htm