Basic DVD disk space question. Plz assist....

keuler wrote on 7/17/2006, 11:09 PM

I captured a 2 hour VHS tape and am now attempting to burn it to a DVD (DVD-R format). The label on the blank disk says 4.7 GB, 120 minutes. However, when I load my project into DVD Architect, I get the warning at the lower right that says Disc space used, 6.9 GB, and the burn attempt naturally bails. So my question is, how can I get 2 hours worth of captured video onto a "120 minutes" DVD? (I've not been able to find any setting that would allow me to, eg, compact the files somehow, or use a different type of disk?.

I know that 120 mins should be possible. Movies on commercial DVDs seem to regularly pack more than 2 hours of video onto one disk.

Comments

PeterWright wrote on 7/18/2006, 2:37 AM

Under File / Optimize DVD there is a button "Fit to Disc".

This will recompress the video at whatever bitrate is necessary to fit on disc.

Because of the recompression and possible quality issues it is better to give DVDA a DV avi to work with, as MPEG 2 is already compressed more than DV. The difference may not be all that huge, though.

ScottW wrote on 7/18/2006, 5:12 AM

Most commercial DVD's are double layer and so have twice as much room available to them.

A bitrate calculator is quite helpful in this situation:

http://www.videohelp.com/calc

Says that in order to get 120 minutes of video on the DVD, your video bitrate should be around 4,800 kbps if you are using AC3 for sound at 192kbps.

--Scott