Film too big using Maestro

[stl]

I've been using Maestro successfully, except that the result is about 5GB; This is a 2:22 min film, the size of the M2V is about 3.1gb.

I think the problem is the audio because using an AC3 stream (about 1.5gb) produces this size but using an MP2 the result is 3.9gb.

The problem is that the MP2 has an unacceptable high pitched buzzing.
I tried trancoding in both headac3e and toolame with the same result.

My question: Is there a way in Maestro to compensate for this, for example by manually adjusting the bitrate?

[slk001]

My answer: No.

Why does your .AC3 have so high of a bitrate? For a 2:22 length movie, a 2/0 .AC3 file encoded at 384kbps would be approximately 200MByte long.

[stl]

I got the AC3 from DVD2AVI when I created a d2v for TMPG. This was then demuxed from a TMPG mpg file. Also it is 2ch when as I'm sure you know, usually they are 6ch.

The reason I did this was to avoid synch problems. But based on your info, I now think that I should go back to DVD2AVI and get the original AC3, or is there a way to reduce the size of the current file.

Thanks for the info BTW.

[stl]

slk001,
Thanks, you were right on the money, I simply went through the motions with DVD2AVI again, and used the resulting AC3 6ch audio track.

Maestro gave me an output of only 3.6gb, no audio sync problems like with my other prog and room to spare.