For actual Disc burning, the disc must fall within certain parameters or it won't play in DVD players. That is my understanding. HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
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Hmm. Then why offer any options at all? If there are no choices, why present a dropdown? That doesn't make much sense Chuck Puckett
"I don't want to steal the show. I only want to borrow it for a while"
http://www.puckettpublishing.com
http://www.chuckpuckettsongaweek.com

The dropdowns are for all the different discs/burns. Some have more choices than plain ol' DVD. They keep the UI the same or it could be confusing. HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

As a UI designer myself, I could make the argument that when no options exist, the space for dropdown should convert to a non-interactive label (for instance) or other "non-choice" control, since it is the "choice nature of a dropdown that offers no choices" that seems more confusing to me.
But enough of aesthetics: If one chooses 4.7 GB DVD, you are saying that the only options are MPEG-2, Highest Quality. Frankly, I'm surprised those are the ONLY choices for DVD. But I guess my original question is now answered. Chuck Puckett
"I don't want to steal the show. I only want to borrow it for a while"
http://www.puckettpublishing.com
http://www.chuckpuckettsongaweek.com

Chuck, if ou need other than HQ the smartfit gives you almost unlimited "recipes" but you are blind to what they are until you burn and then see the encoding specs/properties. I personally would never choose LQ on a burn under 60 minutes long. HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

Yes, I chose SmartFit, and I of course wanted HQ. I think it's the not knowing what "smart" things SmartFit is doing that makes me uneasy.
Anyway, it's all burning now (only 10 hours to go . We'll see what decisions PD made for me... Chuck Puckett
"I don't want to steal the show. I only want to borrow it for a while"
http://www.puckettpublishing.com
http://www.chuckpuckettsongaweek.com

TEN HOURS? What the H are you burning, War & Peace? HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

It's a Wonderful Life. 1 hr, 11 min. I should have said "rendering" not burning. The burn takes no time at all.
This is on an HP Pavilion 6700/16GB of very fast memory/Nvidia GTX570. Video came from a Sony 1920 x 1080p Full HD 64GB corder.
It did seem like a long time to me. The rendering was 70% complete when I left home this morning, 8 hrs into it, but claimed it still 11 hours to go! Chuck Puckett
"I don't want to steal the show. I only want to borrow it for a while"
http://www.puckettpublishing.com
http://www.chuckpuckettsongaweek.com

Something is wrong, you are using HD video and rendering to a DVD-compliant Mpeg-2 and then plan on placing that on a DVD using Smartfit? I will not comment on copyrighted material, however, are the facts I state correct? Maybe it's time for a new thread, this long render time is a different beast than your original post. HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

Keep in mind, PD11 uses a two step process in the "Create disc" module if burn to disc is selected. The first leg creates the video folders in the user specified area controlled in preferences, and then in the second leg it burns these video folders to disc. Since it has not started the second leg of the process, the burn, it calculates the time remaining equal to the rate of encoding assuming the second leg takes as long as the first. Once your burn initiates when your next 30% encoding is completed, PD can then establish what rate it can burn data, the time to completion will drop significantly when PD11 updates estimated times if your burner supports say 16x DVD.

Jeff

it was a dress rehearsal of the play

Otherwise, yes you are correct. I chose DVD (4.7), not Blu-Ray. MPG2 is only option, the est. size (5290) seemed reasonable to use SmartFit to get it on one DVD.
I had used the Produce tab to create MPG4 and custom bit rate of 9300 to get a 4.7 GB file. I used Windows DVD Maker on that, it only wrote/used ~60% of the resulting DVD, but would not let me do chapters (other than arbitrary chunks), so I came back to PD11 to Create Disc.
I understand the "70% complete, still needs 11 hours" is bogus. But it DEFINITELY takes 10-12 or so hours to render. That 70% report was after it had churned all night (7-8 hours) Chuck Puckett
"I don't want to steal the show. I only want to borrow it for a while"
http://www.puckettpublishing.com
http://www.chuckpuckettsongaweek.com

Rule of thumb. If want the DVD to play on a standard DVD player, ignore file size and remember that you can get about one hour of best quality video on a single layer DVD.

How long is your video? If it is around 2 or so hours, use a double layer DVD. Most modern players will have no issues with it.

Most of that time is probably the computer trying to make the video as small as possible to try to fit it on a single layer DVD. .
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BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

As for the interface, I am sure it is done for simplicity and consistency, but there have been more options for DVD in the past. PD11 changed a lot of things. We will just have to wait and see what future updates may bring. __________________________________
CORNBLOSSOM