shrinking an avi video for iDVD

[Merkyworks]

so i have some bike racing videos that im trying to burn using iDVD but the files are a little to large for single layer. the files are varying in size from 1.1-1.6 gig in AVI video format. when i just drag one of the files into a project its says its to large and when opening up project manger its been expanded to 6+ gigs and wont fit. so what can i do besides burning to dual layer dvd's, what program do i need or perhaps already have that can compress the video enough so that once dropped into iDVD it will fit on a single layer dvd. also am i going to be dropping the quality of the video so low that its not going to look good?

 

[r.j.s]

You can drop the quality in iDVD, but the problem is probably their length ... how long are the movies?

EDIT: In iDVD preferences, what is the encoding setting set to?

 

[Merkyworks]

on average 2hrs in length and in idvd the its already set to best performance and video mode was NTSC.

 

[r.j.s]

I think standard DVDs hold only 2 hours max of NTSC video ...

You might try using Burn to reduce the quality further.

 

[Merkyworks]

well used burn and it encoded into mpg formant but it was still 5.3 gigs so unless there is another way it looks like i would have to use a dual layer dvd. most dvd players can play dual layer now right?

 

[r.j.s]

most dvd players can play dual layer now right?

Yes, most, if not all, will.