Noob question about DVD length

Beefcake wrote on 6/14/2008, 12:24 AM

Hello,

I have been working on an HDV project for the past couple of days. I have been preparing and editing my video clips in VMS Platinum, and I have been using DVD Architect 4.0 to create my DVD with a menu and chapter points.

Roughly how long can my DVD be time-wise using HD footage? I am using Memorex DVD+R discs with 4.7GB capacity/120min. But will HD footage limit the length of my DVD to shorter than 120min?

I guess another way to ask the same question is this. I know based on the size of my files that they will not fit as is. I have 47min of clean video ready to burn, and it's over 6GB in size. When I render & burn these files in Architect, will they compress at all? Or should I plan to only be able to fit about 30-40 min of HDV on my 120min discs?

I would love to squeeze the entire first year of my daughter's life on 1 DVD. I anticipate I will have about 90min worth of HD footage before I try to burn the DVD. I hope I don't have to use 3 DVDs :)

Thanks,
Todd

Comments

markymarkNY wrote on 6/14/2008, 5:37 AM

The compressed video will certainly have a loss in quality. To prevent that you have several options besides making 20 min videos on a standard DVD:

1. Get a double layer (DL) DVD burner for 8.5GB discs
2. Get a Blu-ray burner for much more capacity but this is can be expensive because you also need a player, blank discs, etc.
3. Write the files back to the camcorder's DV tape (if that's the media) and output the video directly from the camcorder to your TV. You can also archive files this way.
4. Save your rendered files on your computer until some point in the future when you can upgrade your hardware. In the meantime, I suppose you can just compress the video so it fits onto a DVD, knowing that the quality is worse but that you still have the originals for the future.

Wolfgang S. wrote on 6/14/2008, 8:03 AM

Be aware, that the DVDA4 is only able to prepare standard definition DVDs. You would have to upgrade to the upcoming DVDA5, to be able to prepare Blu Ray discs (what would be a good idea, since your footage is HDV footage!).

warriorking wrote on 6/14/2008, 8:09 AM

With AVCHD footage I can average about 30 to 35 minutes on a 4.7 Disc and just a little over an hour on the 8.5 Dual...

Beefcake wrote on 6/14/2008, 8:16 AM

Thanks all for the comments and suggestions. Looks like I will be pricing a DL Burner.

Do most standard DVD players these days have the capability to read DL? I am thinking of my family and friend whom would be the recipients of some of the DVDs I make.

Thanks again
Todd

Wolfgang S. wrote on 6/14/2008, 9:10 AM

Most DVD-Players are able to playback DVD-DL - that should not be an issue.

But think about the other possiblity - to invest in a Blu Ray writter, for example the LG H20L. Taking such a writter, you will be able to burn DVD-DL too, but in addition you will be able to burn BD-R and BD-RE (if you use the upcoming DVDA5). And that would maintain the full quality of your HDV footage, instead of reducing the HD quality to the lower resolution of SD.

warriorking wrote on 6/14/2008, 10:21 AM

You can get Dual layer burners starting at 30.00 from Newegg...My 2- Liteon Dual layer Lightscribe burners cost me 32.00 apiece...My problem with the new Bluray burners is that they are still way over priced ,as well as the Media discs costing over 10.00 per disc ... I can fit a little over a hour of AVCHD footage with no HD video loss on fairly cheap Dual layer discs for a lot less....maybe later when the price drops will I consider buying Bluray Media....

MPM wrote on 6/14/2008, 11:28 AM

Another possibility that's been around for some time now, is to use DivX or Xvid... Many players will handle it, though you have to look for just what features they'll support - Toshiba for example likes to add DivX features as you move up the price scale. HD res DivX & Xvid can look pretty darn good, & encoding, particularly in V/Dub can be very fast. Or you can encode your HD to VC1 wmv, & be fairly well assured the format will be around for a looooong time, & just stick the same footage on a BD disc once everything's price competitive.

markymarkNY wrote on 6/14/2008, 4:38 PM

warriorking

Can you please briefly give us the workflow you use (in Vegas?) to create an AVCHD DL DVD, I would greatly appreciate it.

warriorking wrote on 6/15/2008, 7:46 AM

Sorry to say I have not used Vegas for that pupose yet, I use Pinnacle to creat my AVCHD video, reason being ,vegas will burn a AVCHD disc that my PS3 Bluray recognizes but it requires me to manually open and explore the folder, then I must choose the correct file before it will play, Pinnacle as well as Nero enables my Player to start the AVCHD video automatically without the additional steps..Nice to know the new release of DVD architech 5 will fix this problem as well as build some nice HD Menu's...I have used Vegas to render a outdoor concert I recorded on my HG10 HD Camcorder, I converted my AVCHD footage to Mpeg2 for playback in a regular DVD player, the rendered quality was amazing, sound was subpar, but when I get my Rode video Mic it should improve..

Terje wrote on 6/15/2008, 8:39 AM

Can you please briefly give us the workflow you use (in Vegas?) to create an AVCHD DL DVD

1/ Wait for DVD Architect 5
2/ Hope it has the capability

Currently you can't do this in Vegas. I have been using Ulead DVD Moviefactory.