Need help with best practice burning DVDs HD

[wpatters1229]

I have a Panasonic HTC-700 which records video in 1080i60 frames. 3 picks up and is remarkable. I used to know how to render video and burn DVDs but now with all the variables presented with this camera and this application I feel like a newbie.
I know how to edit etc.. but when it is all said and done I need to know what is the best video file to render and then how to burn to a DVD. I can burn dual layer DVDs but not Blue Ray...too expensive and am not so sure necessary for most of my videos...family activities and such.
So any experienced processes would be great. The videos I pull off the camera are AVCHD with M2ts file type.
I edited the videos and then rendered them as AVCHD NTSC -HD-1920. The file size is between 6 gig and 8 gig which means they will fit on a dual layer DVD. These videos are of content that is almost 60 minutes in length.

With all that said, am I on the right track for getting top quality videos of these projects? Never have used Dual Layer DVDs so how do they play? Do you have to flip them over when you play them or what....sound dumb but why waste time when you are not sure.

Thanks for any help.

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

Duel Layer discs look the same as single layer except the hold double 8 Gb.

No you do not flip them over, that used to be the case if your going back a few years to “vinyl records”, they were plastic discs with a groove, now Im just showing my age………….

Bluray

Burning HD to normal discs is known as a “hybrid disc”. But you need a Bluray player to play them. They will not play on a standard DVD player.
So the question is have you got a bluray player?
Duel Layer discs
I have just started using them, seems ok with one coaster out of 6 DVD’s.
Some users say there are problems with this type and stick to single layer.

If I were intending to make a HD hybrid disc I would first master the process on a single layer, then advance to Dual Layer.

[Ken Berry]

Curiously enough, I did not read the original post as asking anything about hybrid DVDs, though I could, of course, be wrong... I simply read it as how to convert HD AVCHD into the best quality Standard Definition DVD, though of course it is important to know about hybrid discs and what they will play on or not...

I personally have never in my life burnt a dual layer DVD and have always contented myself with single layer discs. Moreover, if you *are* talking about hybrid discs, then I have even less experience -- though I suspect that might be a complication too far... At least I have never heard of dual layer hybrid discs, and I have the suspicion that Blu-Ray players are not geared to play them anyway...

But if we *are* talking about SD DVDs, then of course you are going to take a hell of a quality drop going from AVCHD 1920 x 1080 at, say, 18 Mbps to SD 720 x 576/480 at, say, 8 Mbps... Nothing you can do about that. But setting the bitrate at 8000 kbps and making sure the Field Order remains at Upper Field First will help guarantee that you will be getting as good as you can...

[Trevor Andrew]

I can burn dual layer DVDs but not Blue Ray...

I edited the videos and then rendered them as AVCHD NTSC -HD-1920. The file size is between 6 gig and 8 gig which means they will fit on a dual layer DVD.

Maybe i was picking bits out of the post, but i assumed this to be HD on a standard all-be-it duel layer disc.
Best if wpatters1229 replied

[wpatters1229]

To start with I am almost as old as WWII and have quite a collection of those flat vinyl things. Actually some run at 45 speed!!! A few I am on...actually playing!!
Anyhow enough silly thoughts. I do have a blue ray player...bought it so I could see Avitar in all it's glory on my Flat Screen HD.
This new "toy" is making me crazy since it does fantastic video but am just trying to get it onto the best media without having to burn a blue ray disc. The actually video is almost two hours long but is cut into a first half and second half. Rendering it into the format I mentioned gets it just below the capacity of a dual layer disc. I figure one disc per half. I did one disc early on as a test with a different format for the video and used the Factory to burn it onto a dual layer and the sound was breaking up.
Part of the process I do not like is having to use the Factory to burn the disc since it basically goes through this whole rendering process again. Maybe I should just use some other program after the file is created to burn it onto a DL disk. Having menus and all that are not necessary. Maybe there is a way using this app but I am missing how to do it.

Thanks

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

When you say Factory, do you mean DVD Movie Factory 7.
This is the one you should be using.

If you have created a compliant video file then it should not re-render.
Check the TV type as Pal or NTSC to match your video file.
Lower left -- one of the preferences icons.

Sorry for short reply, not much time

[Ken Berry]

Although it still remains rather unclear, I think you were right, Trevor, and I was wrong! And it also appears that I may have been wrong about burning a hybrid dual layer disc! Moreover, I was involved in a discussion of this exact question back in 2008 when others suggested that they had successfully done so. However, it appears that with such discs, matching the dual layer blank DVD to particular burners is even more important than usual: http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... 9c#p161061