I recently tried the option to export timeline to a dvd. The first timeline was 59 minutes and worked fine then I had one an hour half but wouldn't work. Saying it needed 5.7gb larger than a dvd. I was expecting it to automatically adjust the bit rate so it would fit or allow you to manually change it but I didn't see where I could do it.

May I suggest you to buy a DL (Double Layer) DVD? This would work.

Pete, my experience has been that using that method works on DVDs that no longer than an hour or so and that's it. I've never tried Jo's suggestion but can't see why it wouldn't work. The only problem is that you won't be able to specify a layer break point so maybe that is a problem :(

EDIT: Out of curiosity I just tried it with a 90 min. project on a regular DVD and got the message "The provided stream to write is too large for the currently inserted media."

Depending on the picture complexity, you can get a good DVD of somewhat over 90 minutes, sometimes over 120 minutes. Of course "good" is a judgement call, but I've never had any quality concerns at 90 or a bit more, even for high-motion content.

The burn the timeline method won't do it, though. Sony apparently included "burn the timeline" for some sort of dailies or quick review workflow. It isn't flexible enough for DVD mastering.

The DVD authoring workflow for mastering looks like this:
1. take the combined length of your content and figure out a video bitrate that will fit it all on a single-layer disk.
2. render video only, starting from the Mainconcept DVD video only preset, but plugging in your bitrate. Be sure to select "best" rendering quality if starting from non-SD content. For SD content "good" is fine.
3. Render audio only to Dolby AC3.
4. Bring these two rendered files into DVD-Architect and author & burn.

There are a lot of details not covered in those 4 steps; if you're not familiar with them I highly recommend downloading all the Vegas newsletters from jetdv.com, where forum moderator Edward Troxel goes into all the details of the workflow, including a table of video bitrates based on length, and discussing the various issues at a length I can't type out in a forum post.

Though these newsletter articles were based on earlier versions of Vegas, this workflow has changed little since v4.

Of course you do need to have DVD-Architect, not only for authoring, but also because some of the necessary encoder licenses come with it, not Vegas.

I had a client who wanted an unedited video for cast party. I don't have architect just wanted a quick way to send to client. I ended up using my mac system but at the time it was tied up encoding another project.

Thx for the detailed answer. Annoying software.

I think the issue is the "default bitrate" that Vegas uses. It's fine for shorter videos but would need to be adjusted for longer videos and does not do so automatically.

For that reason, Vegas comes accompanied by DVD Architect. When you decide to go and use that tool, you are forced to go through a lot of alternative render-options in Vegas.

For that reason, Vegas comes accompanied by DVD Architect. When you decide to go and use that tool, you are forced to go through a lot of alternative render-options in Vegas.

I prefer to think of it as getting the best quality I can. The default render settings for DVD Architect in Vegas leave a lot to be desired from a quality standpoint which is why I have a number of custom render templates. If the length of my video is outside of my custom templates it takes no time at all to come up with a new one.

This feature in Vegas would be awesome for me if it gave the option of "burning" an iso or .gi disc file from the timeline. That would be the perfect thing for my showchoir job where I produce multiple DVD's of each performance on-location with my Primera Bravo robotic DVD burner. From what I could see in the options, this doesn't seem possible.

This feature in Vegas would be awesome for me if it gave the option of "burning" an iso or .gi disc file from the timeline. That would be the perfect thing for my showchoir job where I produce multiple DVD's of each performance on-location with my Primera Bravo robotic DVD burner. From what I could see in the options, this doesn't seem possible.
You're right - it's not possible to create an iso from a timeline burn.

Although, if a timeline burn would otherwise work for you, you could burn a DVD, then use ImgBurn to create an ISO from it.

Direct from the timeline burns is also limited in time. And you can't change the bitrate settings to allow more time!

Its an extra cost but this is magic-
Vegasaur Instant DVD: Make ISO image and burn it to DVD disc (http://vegasaur.com/instant-dvd)