DV to DVD -- exceeding the 1 hour limit

[KingAdRock]

Please read my post thoroughly, apologies for any items redundant to other posts.

I have a number of TV programs I'm trying to transfer from a ReplayTV to DVD. While I know there are ways to open the Replay, remove the drive, and copy files, I'm doing this the sneakernet way.

1) Show recorded via ReplayTV
2) Show transferred to MiniDV camcorder
3) Show transferred to Mac via iMovie

Now, I have these 5GB files of 25 minute programs which I can author via iDVD (currently using v3) or Toast Titanium (v6.03) -- 2 per DVD.

The program I'm transferring has 26 episodes per season and 13 DVDs is many too many.

Is there a way for me to reduce the quality of these programs and squeeze more than 1 or 2 hours on to a disc?

I'd prefer to use DVD to enable easy playback on a standalone player/TV.

Thanks!

KAR

[ryanreko]

Yeah you can either cut down the bitrate, resize to a smaller resolution, or do both... it takes some messing around to find out exactacly what you want, get and rw and try again and again

[KingAdRock]

Ryan,

In what application?

KAR

[brett]

1. in the future, don't reencode to fit more shows on a dvd, just record at "medium," and you can fit about 2 hours (4 shows) on a dvd; record at "standard" and get 4 hours. after massaging the rtv .mpgs with rtvtoolkit (you can edit out commercials here, too), just author with toast or sizzle. easy.

2. have you considered getting the "untouched" rtv .mpgs to your computer via ethernet? use dvarchive to do so. if you insist on converting them to .dv for entry into imovie, you can always do that on your computer with diva.

3. since you have the .dvs already, you could encode them yourself before authoring, giving you control over filesize. you can use bitvice ($56 for the lite version, iirc, does a great job) or something free, perhaps ffmpegx (i haven't used it to encode .m2v). you can encode at 352x480 or 352x240 with lower bitrates (say, 3.5 mbps and 2.5 mbps, respectively), letting you get more episodes on each dvd. but getting back to point 1, you'll get a better product by simply recording at lower bitrates (medium or standard, depending on your targeted filesize) and using those files -- reencoding is the enemy of quality.

[KingAdRock]

Brett,

Thanks for the input.

Sadly, I'm not working with a Replay with Ethernet. So, I'd have to remove the HDD to extract , which I'd prefer not to do.

I've been spending too much time today goofing off with FCE and iMovie and getting nowhere. I think I'll try the ffmpegx recommendation. I'm hoping there's some documentation/how to on the Web.

Thanks,

KAR

[deadsierra]

. after massaging the rtv .mpgs with rtvtoolkit...

Think you could help me find this rtvtoolkit? Even Google doesn't seem to know.

[KingAdRock]

Here's a help file. I believe this has a link to the tool kit.

http://motogrrl.com/replayTV/replay_to_dvd.html

KAR