Video Compression

[barry_w2]

I have collected TV shows for a number of years on video and have just
switched over to DVD.

I have found out that although DVDs are 4.7GB my DVD Recorders only use
approx 4.0GB of the space.

When I use my PC I can get the full 4.7GB. This means in practice I can get
roughly 2 hrs 16 mins on a DVD via my PC and only 2 hrs via a DVD Recorder.
This is approximately a 12% difference.

For certain shows that are longer than 2 hrs 16 mins this gives me a
problem. I really want to use just one disk and would prefer to avoid using
dual layered disks etc. I would like to degrade the quality as little as
possible by using a slightly slower speed. If I use the flexible recording
mode on my DVD Recorder this does the job but straight away I lose 12% of
the quality because of the above.

In an ideal world I would like a compression routine where I load the file I
want compressed and the routine either automatically compresses it to 4.7GB
or better still asks me what size I would like to compress it to.

I was just about to purchase the Womble software as my editing tool but I
have now come across this compression problem. During my research I have found various editing packages that are either free or considerably cheaper than Womble. Also it seems likely that the compression software I end up getting will have some editing software included so I am holding off on that until the compression problem is solved.

Any info, suggestions particularly on the best video compression software would me much appreciated.

[Baldrick]

latest tmpgenc dvd author 2.0 has both editing and Fit-to-Disc Transcoding, it reconverts the dvd-video so it will fit.

you could also edit and join dvds and author and if it's too big you can output on your hd and then use use dvd shrink, dvd rebuilder to shrink it.

[mats.hogberg]

Also note, that in computer terms, a blank single layer DVD is not 4.7 GB, but 4.37GB

/Mats

[barry_w2]

Thanks for the info.

I thought that DVDShrink and DVD Rebuilder were designed for movies as opposed to TV shows and sport which is what I am after.

Is one better than the other - what are the pros and cons.

If I understand you correctly that tmpgenc dvd author 2.0 will fulfil both my editing and compression requirements is this all I need in otherwords there is no point in buying the expensive Womble software.

Lastly how does these compare as regards editing with each other and VideoDubMOD which I have read is excellent.

On the size angle I am a little confused as I downloaded approx 2 hours 16 mins onto a DVD and the size came up as around 4.7GB. Was my PC deceiving me - it seems about right as my PC reckoned that 2 hrs was 4.0GB.