size of file burning to dvd

[big harold]

I am a newbie. I think I understand the bit rate changing idea but I can't seem to get to work. I'm trying to get 4hr 44min 21 sec on one dvd. I changed the bit rate to 4400 from 8800 since I can get about one half of the above time above with one dvd and the instructions say to reduce the bit rate It tells me still won't fit .States 16.54 GB required 4.38 avail. can I override this at some point in burn process. I am able to compress and get 6 hrs on a dvd from dvd recorder Thanks

[Ken Berry]

I know one man's meat might be another man's poison, but in my humble opinion, trying to squeeze 4 3/4 hours of video onto a single layer DVD is likely to produce a disc with quality which is just about unwatchable. You would probably need to be using a bitrate of around 2500 kbps, and again IMHO, anything much below 4000 kbps is pretty bad quality. So from my point of view, even the idea of then upping the ante and trying to squeeze 6 hours is unthinkable...

(And before you say it, I know that commercial DVDs use quite low bitrates that give excellent quality. But they use a totally different method of production, with multiple passes and the video is stamped into the disc, whereas we amateurs have to actually burn them.)

The only alternative I can think of would be if your DVD recorder/player was rated to play DivX. That way, you could convert your video to the DivX version of an .avi file and burn them to a DVD as data files. If your recorder/player is DivX rated, it would recognise the format and play the video. And you could certainly fit 6 hours on a single layer DVD with good to very good quality. But you could not distribute copies of the disc to friends unless they too have DivX rated players.

[ArcAngel]

For a 4 3/4 hours of video onto a DVD-5, use CIF or Half-D1 format:

MPEG files
24 bits, 352 x 240, 29.97 fps
Frame-based
(DVD-NTSC), 4:3
Video data rate: At least 1150 kbps (maximum of 1800 kbps)
Audio data rate: 224 kbps
MPEG audio layer 2, 48 KHz, Stereo

[daniel]

You would probably need to be using a bitrate of around 2500 kbps, and again IMHO, anything much below 4000 kbps is pretty bad quality. So from my point of view, even the idea of then upping the ante and trying to squeeze 6 hours is unthinkable...

Although I agree with the subjective aspect, and support ArcAngel's advice of using half-D1 format for 2.5Mb/s, you should try some day and re-check your opinion.
With VBR dual-pass 3Mb/s _average_ give very decent results for usual video footage if the input is of good quality (not high speed sports or a VHS copy obvioulsy). Pixellation is few and far between.

Direct capture from cable PAL TV for instance, with it's limited color space and 625 lines definition is very good, and especially with hardware encoders.

Mind you, DVD shrink does a very good job too with pre-analysis option.

Also consider that 224kb/s MPG audio is the recommended PAL-DVD value, but in tight situations it does not harm much to go down to 160 or even 128kb/s, and spare a little more for video rate. I never tried Dolby at all but I guess the same applies vs the default bitrate, whatever it is.


Personnally I would not fit 4 hours on a disk, but split in two parts at the least. If you expect me to watch 4 hours of video in one session, you'll have to shake me very hard to wake me up...


In the good old times before CDs we had a break every 20 minutes in music listening, too... And between each song for chart toppers. Ah, memories.