DVD formats

[Frank Burch]

Can you burn a DVD in any other format or resolution other than the standard DVD format that every DVD burner automatically chooses? Can you burn an AVI file without converting it? I know it would take a lot of space (about 20 mins on a DVD) but is it even possible?

[Ken Berry]

If by 'DVD' you actually mean a 'video DVD', then no -- you have to use DVD-compatible mpeg-2 (or in limited circumstances mpeg-1).

But if you are just referring to a DVD disc which contains video, yes, you can use any program that can burn files of any type to a disc. But that would be a data disc whose data just happened to be video. And you would need a player (apart from a computer) which could detect the format and play them. Most DVD players, for instance, can see and play DivX video on a data disc, but beyond that, things are very limited. The Sony PlayStation 3, for example, can see and play a wide variety of video formats burned as a data disc, though they have to be in a folder on the disc labelled 'VIDEO' (and it has to be in upper case!!)

[Frank Burch]

Thanks Ken. No I meant burning my own HD video file to a DVD. I don't often do this becuse of the loss of quality (a DVD is not HD), but occasionally I want to send a video to friends in Australia and I only know 2 ways to do it: burn a DVD or put your video on the web. The latter would seem to me to be a far better solution, but I have not got down to learning how to do it. So I burn a DVD. But my video, converted to DVD leaves half the DVD empty. That's why I was wondering if it would be possible to use a higher resolution to get better quality and fill up the DVD. The answer being no, the web solution seems the better choice (unless I'm talking nonsense again?).

[DVDDoug]

But my video, converted to DVD leaves half the DVD empty. That's why I was wondering if it would be possible to use a higher resolution to get better quality and fill up the DVD.

There are two setting that can affect quality -
Resolution = The number of pixels (i.e. 720x576)
Bitrate = The rate at which the pixels are updated (i.e. 7500kbps)

It's the bitrate and playing time that determine file size, not the resolution. (High definition video normally has higher bitrate as well as higher resolution.)

The DVD spec sets an upper limit for bitrate. There is a chart on this page showing the allowable resolution & bitrates for video-DVD. (You generally won't see much improvement above 6000 or 7000 kbps.)

Here is a bitrate calculator.

The answer being no, the web solution seems the better choice (unless I'm talking nonsense again?).

Depending on where you post your video, there may be bitrate limitations/reductions that result in less than DVD quality, even with HD resolution.... I'm not sure, but I don't think YouTube hosts "Blu-Ray quality" or even "DVD quality" videos. (Many DSLconnections, including mine, are not fast enough for real-time DVD-quality video.)

[Frank Burch]

Thanks Doug, that makes it clear.