DVD Length

[Trevor Andrew]

Problem is, the very first one I captured is a black and white, 93 minutes long. ( 1 hour 33 min. ) But putting that on my hard drive turns into 5.0 GB. That will not fit on a 4.3 GB dvd. I really don't think it can be done. It would have to be captured in a format that would copy it to my HDD in 4.3 GB or less. I hope this helps ya all.Good luck with this one and thanks for all your help so far.

Hi
Ok this is what I would use.

From the capture screen select DVD as the Format
Select the options Cogwheel
Select Video and Audio Capture property Settings
DVD should be selected
Select ‘advanced’
From the templates drop down box select DVD-NTSC for US,Or DVD-PAL for Europe
Change the bit rate to constant and 6000kbps
Select Digital Dolby for the Audio Format bit rate 256 kbps
Aspect ratio, a choice of 4:3 or widescreen 16:9.
Press OK to return to the previous screen where you can view the settings as:-

MPEG Files
24 Bits, 720 x 480, 29.97 fps
Upper Field First
(DVD-NTSC), 4:3
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 6000 kbps)
Audio data rate: 256 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio, 48.0 KHz, Stereo

These settings can now be viewed in the information window below the preview screen.

Field Order.
Normally if you are capturing from an analogue source then use ‘Upper’
If digital use ‘Lower’

With your video playing and being viewed in the preview screen

Select Options cogwheel---Select change field order.
Select –Detect—Select OK

Press capture.

Trevor

[cold2four]

Thank you Trevor!!!

Thats exactly the way that I wanted it put to me. Nice and simple. Now all I have got to do is hope that all those advance menus are there. I noticed that the manuals are very generic and cover a few of their ptoducts rather than just the one I purchased. I hate it when they do that!I have , by the way, done most of what is on your list , keeping my bit rate to 4000 kps to extend my capture time to 2 hours. But when I click on capture,, a window shows up stating that I have to change my codec to (1) YUV 1st and (2) RGB-24. I know this is compression but I cannot find any menu with the codec adjustments anywhere.

[Manzano808]

Bit rate calculators can be used to establish your settings.
I like this one :-- http://dvd-hq.info/Calculator.html

Howdy Trevor!

Either the calculator is whacky, or it's me. (most likely it's me )

I used it to capture video and in line with my recent post on the subject, I guess I'm in the Twilight Zone about all this. I captured video using it but somehow I ended up with too much for a single layer dvd:

1st saved project file: 1.9GB mpeg @ approx 42.5 minutes
2nd saved project file: 3.9GB mpeg @ approx 87 minutes

Properties for both are:

NTSC DVD
MPEG-2, Upper Field First
24 Bits, 720x480, 4:3
29.970 Frames/Sec
VBR Max 6500 kbps
MPEG Audio Layer 2
48000 Hz, 16 Bit, Stereo
224 kbps

Where did I goof? I thought I could put both of these onto 1 dvd. The weird thing is that your quick guidelines appear to differ with what this calculator told me (obviously I don't know how to use it) and it appears that your quick guides are accurate.

What about the "Shrink to Fit" function? Guess I'll give it a try. Or i'll have to "burn" to hdd and use DVD Shrink (never tried it yet)

Thanks!

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

You Wrote:-

1st saved project file: 1.9GB mpeg @ approx 42.5 minutes
2nd saved project file: 3.9GB mpeg @ approx 87 minutes

Where did I goof? I thought I could put both of these onto 1 dvd.

The bit rate controls the amount of memory used in one second.
You can only put 4.3Gb (4.7) of data on each disc.
You can put as many Mpeg files on a disc as long as the total memory usage does not exceed 4.3 Gb.(4.7)

When I use a bit-rate calculator I would input the total time (129.5 minutes) which gives me a setting that will fit to disc.

The bit rate shown on my guide are rounded down to 8000, 6000, 4000 kbps, representing 60 mins, 90 mins and 120 mins. The actual bit-rates used may be higher than these, But these are a quick guide to ensure that the video file fits the disc.

Most of my videos are about 60 minutes long, I use 8000 constant.
Over 60 minutes and up to 90 I use 6000 constant. Only when capturing from Vhs will i exceed this and use 4000kbps.

Dvd Shrink

I cannot comment on the use of this program, I do have it installed but rarely use it.
But many on this forum do use it with good results.
You would still have to render your projects to Mpeg 2 files, then use dvd shrink to fit to disc. This process would render the file again.

All the best for the coming season

Trevor

[rguthrie]

cold2four,


You wrote:

My tapes have no commercials nor are they home videos. They are hollywood movies.

In this case you don't need to encode at a higher rate considering your source is tape. In other words, even if you encode at 8000kbps, you're not going to get DVD quality video because your original source is from tape. Check out http://www.digitalfaq.com/dvdguides/cap ... source.htm for more information.

Hope this helps,
Ron G.

[rguthrie]

Manzano808,

You wrote

Either the calculator is whacky, or it's me. (most likely it's me )

I used it to capture video and in line with my recent post on the subject, I guess I'm in the Twilight Zone about all this. I captured video using it but somehow I ended up with too much for a single layer dvd:

You don't use the bitrate calculator for capturing! Use it when you render your final project (Create Video File) to determine what bitrate to use to fit your project onto your disk. If you need help on this part let us know and either myself or someone else will walk you through it.

Hope this helps,
Ron G.

[Manzano808]

Manzano808,

You wrote

Either the calculator is whacky, or it's me. (most likely it's me )

I used it to capture video and in line with my recent post on the subject, I guess I'm in the Twilight Zone about all this. I captured video using it but somehow I ended up with too much for a single layer dvd:

You don't use the bitrate calculator for capturing! Use it when you render your final project (Create Video File) to determine what bitrate to use to fit your project onto your disk. If you need help on this part let us know and either myself or someone else will walk you through it.Ron G.

DUHHH, that explains it!! Thank you thank you for your help! So what you mean is that when you go to share/create video you can choose your settings there instead of simply choosing "same as first video clip" or "same as project settings"???? And you can base these settings on the calculator? And that your original captured file will be rendered with and end up with these settings?, Sort of like a "Fit & Burn" kind of thing? Sorry i'f I'm way off here.

[rguthrie]

Manzano808,

Exactly!

Ron G.