How do I make and get more time out of DVD-R on my computer??? (1 Viewer)

[Ryan Wishton]

I was wondering what do I need to download things from a VCR onto my computer and then transfer to DVD...

I used an Adaptec Videoh which seemed to work getting the items downloaded, but the problem is there is not enough time allowed... For example, you can only get about an hour at best quality for a DVD... You would be lucky to get 90 minutes at the lowest quality... It came with MySonic DVD software...

What I am looking to do is transfer my recorded tv shows, home movies, and things like that to DVD... But, I cant figure out how to put hours on a DVD... I know DVD's will give you up to 4-6 hours... Our Summer Vacation Videotape was 5 hours, so obviously 90 minutes on DVD is not enough at low quality... I would need 4 DVD's for one tape... Do I have to have a set top DVD recorder for the tv for these purposes???

Any help appreciated???

Maybe you can recommend some good software or equipment to use for this purpose and if I am doing anything wrong???

I am not the brightest when it comes to computer technical talk, so go easy on me... Thanks...

This is what I was using....

http://www.circuitcity.com/detail.js...&catoid=-10266

Adaptec VideOh! USB 2.0 DVD Converter/Video Editor

 

[Patrick Sun]

Actually, a dual-layer DVD will offer nearly 4 hours of recording time, but recordable DVDs are single layer, and can only hold up to half as much (nearly 2 hours, YMMV). And no, dual-layer DVD creation is not commercially available at this time.

On commercial standalone DVD recorders, you can choose to have the recorder to stretch out the recording time to a little over 2 hours by lowering the recording/encoding quality. Perhaps there is a setting for this on your software/setup.

 

[Ryan Wishton]

Ok, but there is one thing I dont understand...

People speak of some set top DVD recorders that have SP, LP, and EP modes just like a VCR that basically compresses the material to allow 2, 4, or 6 hours off of a 4.7 GB DVDR... The quality downgrades with each setting...

I was in the thread for the Panasonic E80 and it mentions this...

Is there any computer software or equipment that will do that???

 

[Don_Berg]

You can use TMPGenc software to encode video+audio for DVD MPG2 and vary the bitrate - this is what determines how much time fits in the fixed 4.7GB DVD space. One hour on a DVD corresponds to about 10Mbit/sec, two hours is about 5Mbit/sec, and so on. The best quality results from using a slower two-pass encoding scheme where you select the average bitrate (say 5Mbit/sec for 2hour) and the maximum bitrate (say 9Mbit/sec). For real-time encoding (which is lower quality and is what the standalone DVD recorders use) the ATI All-In-Wonder video capture cards for PCs includes their MultiMediaCenter software that records and encodes to MPG2 format realtime with scheduling like a PVR to your harddisk. You can configure it for resolution and bitrate to match those XP,SP,LP,EP settings of the DVD recorders, you can then create a DVD-R,RW from the recorded MPG2 file(s) with a DVD authoring program - an excellent shareware one is TMPGenc DVD author.

 

[Ken Chan]

Standard NTSC DVD resolution is 720x480, the same as DV (much higher than plain VHS), and what is generated by converters like the VideOh! All consumer-level programs are geared toward this resolution. But because you're restricted to single-layer, you only get about 90 minutes.

You can double the time by using half-width resolution, 352x480, which matches VHS pretty well. This is a standard DVD resolution, but not well-supported by consumer programs. You can double again by using VideoCD resolution on a DVD, 352x240, which discards half the scan-lines. While some consumer programs do support this resolution, they may only support using it on CDs to create genuine VCDs, and not on DVD.

If you find a program that does VideoCD resolution on DVD, you can get six hours on one single-layer DVD-R. Although frankly, VideoCD is not that great-looking, but maybe good enough. DVD recorders use similar low-resolution, low-bitrate modes to get six hours.

//Ken

 

[Ryan Wishton]

Thanks for the info...

This just seems kind of like a hassel... Maybe I would be better with a DVD recorder for these purposes...

The one thing I dont like about the DVD recorder is not being able to create my own menus, etc... The one thing I liked the computer for is that I can basically create menus any way I want with whatever pictures I wanted...