How to cram several TV episodes on one disc?

[caipirina]

i am tired of these disc sets that have like 2 episodes per disc (Deadwood) while others can put 8 one hour shows on one (Without a trace, ok, they are flippers .. still 4 eps per side).


Now I want to make a back up so that I have like 4 -5 eps on a disc, and right now I am trying the join function in DVD2One ... but the machine tells me it needs like 4 hours for that .. so I use the time to hear what alternatives / tutorials there are ...

I think that with the outcome of DVD2One i just have all the chapters of 4 episodes in one long row .. so, if i wanted to go to episode #4, it will be a lot of 'step fwd' pressing ... how can I create a menu easily and navigate to those episodes ? I hear sizzle and toast can do that, i have toast, but would not even begin to know where to look for a menu edit function .. and sizzle i have yet to try ...

I am only looking for a quick, easy method .. don;t want to get too much into the menu creation process ... something as easy as iDVD woul be nice.

thanks a lot

[terryj]

Unfortunately, you are getting into the realm of what
the PROS do, and the only way to get all of what you want
( 8 one hour shows to a DVD-5, with navigatable menus)
is to move up to DVDSP3, with Compressor.

Using Compressor, I can get 8 1 hour shows ( actually with
commericals cut its 43 mins a show), into a 2.0 Constant BR
with 192 audio onto a DVD-5 ( standard dvd-R),
and create a simple but navigatable menu.

Anything else out currently is either gonna limit you in
ability or quality that would be freeware/shareware.

[lordsmurf]

None of this takes "pro" anything.

352x480, VBR bitrate (2.5-4.0 range) and 192k-256k stereo audio.

Many discs you buy in stores are DUAL LAYER too. So either buy DL media, or put less.

You can easily fit 3 hours in top quality on SL media (DVD5), maybe up to 4 with minor sacrifice (much of this depends on the quality of the encoder).

BitVice and Mpressionist are two encoders to look at.

You have to re-author and re-encode for all this to happen. Those "insert disc and hit the duh button" programs won't cut it.

Author in DVD Studio Pro. Burn in Toast.

[terryj]

None of this takes "pro" anything.

Author in DVD Studio Pro. Burn in Toast.

Hmm, can you say.....

Look before you leap?


btw, when I say "pro" I mean "PAY FOR AN APP"
rather than "consumer" which means " Freeware/Shareware".

There is a growing consensus ( at least on this board from recent posts)
that using a "Pro" app is out of the range of many people who
would like to use a "consumer" app, because of cheap, lazy,
you pick the excuse.

My point was that to accomplish what he wanted, he would have to
use a "pro" app.

By your own admission ( and inserting feet in mouth squarely)
he would also have to do that, because he would need:

Bitvice ( considered a "pro" app)
DVDStudio Pro ( again, )
and
of course to some degree Toast.

original post:

I am only looking for a quick, easy method .. don;t want to get too much into the menu creation process ... something as easy as
iDVD [consumer] woul be nice.

[lordsmurf]

None of that stuff is expensive. You can buy the whole package for under $650 new. If you shop smart, and buy used (older version), you can easily get away with just a couple hundred bucks. Your OS alone cost $100+ ... is that "pro" too?

"Pro" is countless thousands of dollars.

I think you need to re-evaluate what you consider "pro" hardware/software. I'm not the one sticking feet in mouth.

Also, when you dumped money into a Mac, you should have known software was going to be more limited and more expensive that what is available on the PC. If you want the dirt-cheap route, you're using the wrong system. And for the record, your average cheap ass will complain about "consumer" priced stuff too. They're just clueless idiots, period.

If that's what the original poster want, he/she's out of luck. Wrong system to be a tightwad on.

[caipirina]

hey ladies, no catfights in my thread

i seek answers, not entertainment.

anyways .. thanks for the help so far ... gotta love the 'duh button' isn;t that what we all want?

I finished joining 2 discs with 2 episodes each (btw: on HBO, 1 hour episodes are actually pretty close to one hour .. not 43 mins ... at least in case of deadwood)

what is interesting is that i can step forward within one episode, until the last .. from there i cannot step to the next episode ... i have to fast forward that chapter .. and then, when that one is done, it starts playing the next episode .. weird ...

again, thanks for the input gentlemen

[sjk]

Using Compressor, I can get 8 1 hour shows ( actually with commericals cut its 43 mins a show), into a 2.0 Constant BR
with 192 audio onto a DVD-5 ( standard dvd-R),
and create a simple but navigatable menu.

How are those shows originally encoded (e.g. format, bitrate)?

[terryj]

Your OS alone cost $100+ ... is that "pro" too?

actually mine came FREE----with the computer!

but that's neither here nor there...

And for the record, your average cheap ass will complain about "consumer" priced stuff too. They're just clueless idiots, period.

on this, we agree....

[decay]

buy a standalone DVD recorder for $200 and put it into 6-hour mode. it's roughly VHS quality, but you CAN cram it on there.

my Panasonic DMR-E30 does that.

dk

[caipirina]

i think i can do the craming just fine with DVD2oneX .. i tried 4 episodes of deadwood, which comes on 2 DVDs and the result looks just like the original ... what i need to know now is how I add a very simple menu ... what app i need for that ... thanks again

[terryj]

Using Compressor, I can get 8 1 hour shows ( actually with commericals cut its 43 mins a show), into a 2.0 Constant BR
with 192 audio onto a DVD-5 ( standard dvd-R),
and create a simple but navigatable menu.

How are those shows originally encoded (e.g. format, bitrate)?

Originally brought in from VHS through Canopus to iMovie,
imovie to QT mov [352 x 240], proceesed through compressor
at min of 2.0 high of 5.0, then audio is actually done at 160kbps,
not 192kbps through compressor.
I averaged at 45 minutes, but some of the
shows were actually 41 to 43 minutes long, on constant bit rate 1 pass.

Quality was very average, but i did as an experiment to see what
would work. The most I do now is 4 episodes ( hour long)
or 6 epsiodes ( if half hour long) onto dvd-5.

[terryj]

i think i can do the craming just fine with DVD2oneX .. i tried 4 episodes of deadwood, which comes on 2 DVDs and the result looks just like the original ... what i need to know now is how I add a very simple menu ... what app i need for that ... thanks again

re-read my posts or lordsmurfs...without an authoring program like DVDSP, you can't. You'll be stuck with the join feature of
DTOX.

[sjk]

Thanks for the VHS->Canopus->iMovie->Compressor->DVD-5 explanation, terryj.

[terryj]

Your welcome, sjk.