DVD recording time limit

Aen · Post by **Aen** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 10:09 am

Hi, I've never tried to work on movies that are more than 30 mins before. Now, I've to create a wedding movie on DVD to VS8 and would appreciate if anyone can advise me how long can a DVD take, or will VS8 automatically "split" the movie into different DVDs for me if it's too long?

Thanks.

rwindeyer · Post by **rwindeyer** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 11:09 am

VS8 won't split the movie automatically. It will just tell you that the file is too big for the disc. However:
When you go to burn the DVD (Share - Create Disc) click on Project Properties (little cogwheel lower left) then Change mpeg properties, then Customise. Check out the Compression tab.
If you use a bitrate around 8000 (top quality) expect to get about 60 mins per disc - 70 if you also use AC-3 audio.
A bitrate around 6000 (very good) will get you 1.5 hours at least.
A bitrate around 4000 will do at least 2 hours at fairly good quality.
So select the compression according to the video length and you'll be fine.

Aen · Post by **Aen** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 4:43 am

Thanks Ron.

I'll try this out. Btw, any idea how long will the rendering take, or if I can skip the rendering process since the video file is taken from a DVD camcorder producing a MPEG2 with AC3 output?

Thanks.

rwindeyer · Post by **rwindeyer** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 1:09 pm

It will probably still be rendered, unless you have exactly the same mpeg properties as you want to end up with. As a rough guide, about 3 times the length of the video.

Aen · Post by **Aen** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 3:30 pm

Thanks Ron. Really appreciate your advice.