Recording Times with the LG LRH-780

[Battisti]

(This is a question to owners of the LG LRH-780 HD/DVD recorder)
Hi,

I am thinking of buying the LG LRH-780 HD/DVD recorder, but before doing so
I need to find out exactly how long one can record on a Dual Layer DVD
at the maximum quality (XP). Can one record a *full* 2 hours of video?

I think that some DVD recorders (like the Liteon HD-760) record a few minutes less
than two full hours (at XP on DL disks), and this is a serious drawback for me:
I need to archive about one hundred 2hours 8mm Svideo tapes, and I don't
want to lose few minutes at the end of each tape, or to record at a lower quality
than XP.

Thanks a lot for your help!

[bobkart]

It's not quite 2 hours on any DVD Recorder assuming they use the maximum allowed bitrate for XP (or HQ as it may be called on some models).

I usually get about 115 minutes. 5 minutes less than 2 hours. Once again, this is not the "fault" of the recorder as much as it is the size of a DL disc as it compares to the maximum allowed DVD-compliant MPEG2 bitrate. The designers of the DVD Recorders do not choose this maximum allowed bitrate, it is in the DVD Specifications, they just conform to those specifications.

EDIT: Using a ballpark total bitrate of 10Mb/s, and a disc size of 8.55GB, I get exactly 114 minutes. Authoring takes up some space too, and 10Mb/s is a bit generous, usually it's either:

8Mb/s video plus 1.536Mb/s audio (LPCM) or
9.2Mb/s video plus 0.384Mb/s audio (AC3)

which comes to 9.536Mb/s for LPCM and 9.584Mb/s for AC3.

Rounding that to 9.6Mb/s, and dividing that into the 8.55GB disc size yields 118.75 minutes. And again, some of that space will be needed for authoring information. Also, there is a small amount of overhead in both the VOB files themselves, and the file structure that contains them, but it is just a tiny fraction of a percent of the total capacity of the disc.

[Battisti]

Thanks a lot for your detailed and informative reply.

This means that to backup 120-minutes Hi-8 video tapes
at the highest possible quality on DL disks, I need to
find a DVD recorder that is capable of "best fit"
(flexible) recording.

I think the LG LRH-780 that I was considering does not provide
such a recording mode, so I will have to look for another HD/DVD recorder...

[bobkart]

I use a Pioneer 633 for such things, the newer model (640) can easily do it.

One step down in recording quality (MN31) should be plenty to allow the extra 5-10 minutes to fit.

Be sure to record at that quality first to the HDD, then High-Speed dub to DL DVD, to avoid the "Title-Split" problem that happens with Real-Time dubs.

[Battisti]

Hi,

Thanks for your Pioneer recommendation
and the tip to first dub the tape on the HD.

Unfortunately the Pioneer 640 (the currently available model)
does not have a DV input, something that I found very convenient
to have on my Liteon 5005: it is nice to use just a single cable
to transfer from a DV camcorder...

But I guess I will have to compromise somewhere!

[bobkart]

Oh right. Yes that is unfortunate. I got used to having it on my 633, forgot the dropped it for the 640.

[Battisti]

I got used to having it on my 633, forgot the dropped it for the 640.

Yes, that's what they call progress

[abi77]

Hi,

i m locking for the free zone code for my LG LRH-780 HD/DVD recorder I need to find out exactly how i can make it free zone, because i have many dvd from France..

thanks a lot

[batkinson001]

i know this is a old thread but i think i found what you were looking for in this thread:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=42509