How much video should I be able to get on a Blu-ray disc

[kelsey50]

I'm pretty much a novice and I tried to search the forum so I apologize if this issue has already been covered.

My parents had about thirty years of 8 mm film (dating from about 1950) transferred to VHS tapes about 10 years ago. Because the 8 mm films were only about 3 minutes long, the transfer to VHS was accomplished using only 3 VHS tapes (total of 6 hours of tape). Using Pinnacle Ultimate Studio (v.14) I just completed transferring the 3 VHS tapes onto Blu-ray discs. I created 3 discs but just looking at the area of the disc that the video was burned to, it looks like I might have been able to get at least two of the VHS tapes onto one disc.

I'm now starting the daunting task of taking my own 8mm and Mini DV tapes and editing them and placing them onto Blu-ray. The problem is that unlike film, the tapes are on average 90 minutes to 2 hours long and I easily have 40 tapes. Based upon what the pinnacle program seems to indicate it looks like I can only get about get about 3 to 3 1/2 hours onto a single layer Blu-ray disc. I have not purchased double layer discs (not sure if my burner can accommodate it)

I obviously don't want to lose any quality in the transfer, but I was hoping to avoid having to create 30 plus discs. My guess is that other than going to double layer discs, I'm pretty much stuck with having lots of discs. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[jagabo]

You should have no problem putting 6 hours of standard definition video on a single layer Blu-ray disc.

[kelsey50]

Thanks for the response. On the pinnacle program it gives options for "best quality" , "automatic quality" "most video on disc" or "custom"

I've been burning at best quality and the program suggests that it will allow about 200 minutes. At "Most video on disc" it says it will give me 500 minutes. I realize that I'm not copying HD quality video from the original 8 mm and mini dv tapes, but if I were to set it at anything lower than "best quality" I'm concerned that I will lose some of the video quality from the original tapes. Any suggestion?

Thanks again.

[Baldrick]

Try and see how it looks like?

But I guess pinnacle might not be the best blu-ray h264 video converter so it might look like crap. Especially if pinnacle tries convert to 1080p with low bitrates when it's enough with 720x576/480 sizes for SD material. Or maybe you can adjust those settings manually.

[jagabo]

Burn as 720x480 (NTSC) or 720x576 (PAL) MPEG 2 at about 8000 kbps. Each hour will give you about 4 GB. Six hours will fit on a Blu-ray disc.