i followed ChickenMan's guide on how to convert divx to dvd-r. for all the settings i used whatever ChickenMan used. after the conversion, the Pulldown_Encoded_Video_NTSC.mpv came to be 4.71gb, which is a little too big to fit on a dvd-r. i then changed the cd size in Dvd2svcd from 4440 to 3900 and converted, but the file size came out the exact same. i then changed the Max. average bitrate from 7200 to 5195. i used Bitrate Calculator to figure the new bitrate. the Pulldown_Encoded_Video_NTSC.mpv came out 4.71gb yet again. can someone tell me what i'm doing wrong?

That's odd. I use this all the time, admittedly with the D2sroba frontend. Try it maybe.
My bitrate settings are Max:8000, Min:2000, Min avg:2000 (unchecked), Max Avg:7200, CD size 4464.
Under Misc tab I've got the DVD2VCD level set to advanced (sure it makes no difference).
On the encoder tab you haven't got the Calc bitrate as max box checked have you?
My encoder is Cinema Craft.

Can't see anything that would make a difference.

If all else fails you can always author the DVD & then shrink with DVD Shrink, although this is far from ideal & might affect the image quality.

Have you tried using another bit rate calculator? This one hasn't failed me yet:
http://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm

Encoding then shrinking... yuck...

One of the thing that the D2sroba front end does is to resize oversized mpv files - it's just done it for me.
It uses requant.exe which is a command line app the command being
"C:\Program Files\Video\DVD2SVCD\Tylo\dist\Requant.exe" -level 96.14 -o "D:\Work\Encoded_Video_CCE_PAL.mpv" -i "D:\Work\Encoded_Video_CCE_PAL.oversz.mpv" -auto -close
All as one line.

Might help you if all else fails.

There is another alternative app that you could use that seems to work very well. It's The Film Machine http://members.home.nl/thefilmmachine/

bcn_246: i used that same calculator.

TimC: i saw in ChickenMan's guide that he had Calc bitrate as max checked, so i checked it also. i'll try it again unchecked. can you explain what i'm suppose to do with what you just posted? sorry, i'm not familiar with his program.

The Requant.exe program will take an oversized media file ( file name following the -i paramter) and shrink it by a specified amount ( "-level 96.14" in this example) and give you a reduced size file ( -o xxxxxx). Clearly you have to calculate the reduction % yourself.
You would create a command file in notepad substituting the real locations & filenames & then run that command file from the command prompt.
I've never done this as it's automatic with the D2SRoba front end.

Personally I always use the D2SRoba front end to DVD2SVCD. I also use Cinema Craft encoder which you'd usually do a 3 or 4 pass process with but the D2SRoba does sampling to work out vbr rates & stuff & does just a single pass. I've not found any quality differences but processing is way faster.

The Film Machine would work in very much the same way as you're doing now & could require that you shrink after the video has been compiled.

the filesize came out 4.71gb once again. i also use D2SRoba with DVD2SVCD. i give up on Cinema Craft Encoder.

thanks for your help Tim.

If you're using D2SRoba then final resizing should happen. On my D2SRoba form I've got all the boxes checked, specifically those that mention sizing. I notice in the guide it says to uncheck the transcode box ( as if it's too big we can run Shrink afterwards). This is clearly the problem area. Check the box & resizing will be done for you.

What have you got set for audio in DVD2SVCD? I set my bitrate to 384 so that I retain enough space for my AC3 sound. I either use the AC3 audio in the avi file or convert to AC3 within DVDLabPro.

In the CCE tab I have unchecked the "Calc. bitrate as max" box. Don't know why but I'm going to try it with this checked.

I see what ChickenMan is doing with his settings for sizing. Let's get the maximum video quality , add the sound and if we need to reduce the overall size then we shrink it , otherwise if the sound was smaller than we expected then we've gained video quality at no cost. Like it.