Burning old tv episodes

[Angryjeff]

I recently got a dvd burner for my birthday and I've been collecting a lot of older tv shows (no longer being played and have NEVER been realesed on video/dvd). I was just wondering what would be the best way to fit as many as possible on a 4 gig dvd. I'm sure this question has been asked before but I tried reading some of the other posts and honestly I got confused (still new at video editing). Thx

[p0rnLiME]

I recently got a dvd burner for my birthday and I've been collecting a lot of older tv shows (no longer being played and have NEVER been realesed on video/dvd). I was just wondering what would be the best way to fit as many as possible on a 4 gig dvd. I'm sure this question has been asked before but I tried reading some of the other posts and honestly I got confused (still new at video editing). Thx

What format have you stored the shows in? Do you have to be able to watch them on your dvd-player? ... information, information and information

[jimmalenko]

I recently got a dvd burner for my birthday and I've been collecting a lot of older tv shows (no longer being played and have NEVER been realesed on video/dvd). I was just wondering what would be the best way to fit as many as possible on a 4 gig dvd. I'm sure this question has been asked before but I tried reading some of the other posts and honestly I got confused (still new at video editing). Thx

The problem with fitting "as many as possible" is that quality has to have a say somewhere along the lines.

Please provide information such as file type (MPEG, AVI), bitrates (in kbps for both audio and video) and resolutions (352 X 240 is a common one).

Programs such as GSpot, AVICodec or even VirtualDub can tell you this information.

[Bearbegr]

If you want to watch them on you DVD player, convert them all to Mpeg 1 format. I have a bunch of half hour eps, and fit 15-18 on one DVD, with menues and all. I know people are asking for a lot of info. and I found (since im new) that asking even more questions just confused me more...

[jimmalenko]

If you want to watch them on you DVD player, convert them all to Mpeg 1 format. I have a bunch of half hour eps, and fit 15-18 on one DVD, with menues and all. I know people are asking for a lot of info. and I found (since im new) that asking even more questions just confused me more...

9 hours on a DVD must really be pushing the viewing pleasure envelope.

[Garibaldi]

I have been working to do the exact same thing as you! Here is the process I use. I capture my video into mpeg-2 ntsc dvd complaint mpeg 2 file. I then use demux to split the mpeg into m2v and mp2. I then import those files into cuttermaran. This is a great little program because it lets you go along and cut out parts of the video you don't like, and then merge the parts you like into a new m2v and mp2 files without rendering! After you do that and have your mpeg file, import it into TMPGENC. Choose the template that is right for you, I like to use the DVD NTSC low resolution one because you can lower the bitrate and I have actually gotton 6 42 minute (that an hour without the commercials) episodes on 1 dvd disk by lowering the bitrate to 1800. VHS tapes don't have that great quality anyway so 1800 is great for quality. You could probably fit more on a disk by going lower, but you may start seeing quality reduction. Then go through and choose the options you want and render. Once that is done you can use various programs I would highly recommend DVD Author GUI. Its a great freeware program that is easy to use once you follow the online guide. It creates your VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders with the vob and ifo files inside. Then just burn those folders to a data dvd and your set. I hope this works for you. Good luck backing up your tapes.