sp, fr combination

[tider]

o.k. this is probably a common sense question, but I am new. I want to put three 1 hour episodes on 1 dvd.

I am recording this season of survivor on dvd, after editing out the commercials ,the first episode came out to be 47 minutes long. I recorded this in sp mode, as you can see three episodes will come out to be 2:21 minutes. ( which is longer than the 2:09 and 2:20 allowable in sp mode) Although this was the first episode of the season, which possibly was longer than the next two will be, what do you think my best option is from here?

I am recording from an antennae source instead of my tivo. I can't get a waiver from my local affiliate to get CBS on satellite, so I can't go in on tivo and time the commercials to know what mode I need to record in.

[donpedro]

what recorder ?

[tider]

Panasonic e-80.

Sorry, I forgot to include that.

[donpedro]

Are you recording to hard drive or to DVD directly ?

[tider]

hardrive. I record to the hd, then I edit out the commercials.

[johns0]

Just use dvdshrink to get the authored files down to the size you need.

[tider]

I don't have a computer, I only have access here at work.
I know, I'm living behind the times.

[donpedro]

If you captured to DVD Recorders Hard Drive first, you can just keep doing what you did. Record all shows, edit out commercials and when you are going to copy it from HD to DVD, you will select FR instead of HighSpeed or SP dubbing. It will automaticaly re-encode to best bittrate so it can fit on one DVD. Make sure that you check result to see if quality is still OK before you delete those episodes from HD.

[houtx67]

Tider,

You will most likely have to follow DonPedro's suggestion for this first disc with the 47 minute episode.

Chances are the subsequent episodes will be closer to 42 or 43 minutes after editing the commercials. You can fit (3) x ~43 minute episodes recorded in SP onto a high speed dubbed DVD-R using the Panasonic (I do it all the time). I delete the portion of the credits that are essentially commercials for the network if needed for time consideration. Otherwise you have to dub using FR for anything above 2:00 if redubbing.

[Roll Tide]

Hey Tider,

One thing I'd add is that if you plan on reencoding in FR, I would record the program to the HDD using XP mode (highest quality). That will give the E80H the maximum amount of data to work with when it reencodes to FR when you dub. This is how I do the Bama games and it works pretty well.

BTW, big day for Bama fans. I've been busy today, so I haven't kept up with what's going on. I hope all of our committments come through. (For those who don't know, today is National College Football Signing Day).

Hope this suggestion helps you. Later & RTR!

[tider]

Hey guys,

I just had a thought, since you can put different recording modes on 1 dvd.

Could I record the next two episodes of survivor with a fr of 88 minutes and stop each recording after 1 hour and then edit them down to 44 minutes each.

Would it be possible then to do a high speed dub of the original sp recording and the two fr recordings??

What is the best way to record these 3 1 hour shows with commercials edited if I can't calculate the time they're going to be with commercials edited out?

Thanks again

[donpedro]

Best is record in XP, edit out and than FR dub.

[Roll Tide]

Could I record the next two episodes of survivor with a fr of 88 minutes and stop each recording after 1 hour and then edit them down to 44 minutes each.

I think that would work, just be sure to be conservative in your estimate of the final edited length so you avoid running over. I would disagree with donpedro's response about using XP then FR in this case. Not that his opinion is invalid or even a bad suggestion- I do what he said a lot when the final length of a program is hard to predict (football). But, if you can accurately predict the final length, it is advantageous to avoid reencoding. I would think that an FR recording of an original broadcast (essentially uncompressed video) would be higher quality than an FR recording dubbed from an XP (compressed) source. This assumes that the FR runtime/bitrate is the same in both instances.

As you suggested, I think you can high speed dub all three programs as long as they fit a DVD-R without compressing them further. Don't forget to put "markers" in where you want chapter points. This is the only way to get chapter marks when you high speed dub to DVD-R on the E80H. When you do a dub that involves reencoding (real-time dub), the E80H puts in chapter marks approx. 5 minutes apart.

[donpedro]

I would disagree with donpedro's response about using XP then FR in this case. Not that his opinion is invalid or even a bad suggestion.

You might be right 8) No arguing there. As I said many times before... Quality is subjective thing. What is good for one can be bad for another person. That's why best is to try it yourself and see what works for you. Never trust 100% to any sugestion.

BTW Roll Tide... Did you read this ? I just thought that it is worth of quoting.

One thing I'd add is that if you plan on reencoding in FR, I would record the program to the HDD using XP mode (highest quality). That will give the E80H the maximum amount of data to work with when it reencodes to FR when you dub. This is how I do the Bama games and it works pretty well.

[tider]

Thanks donpedro and roll tide.

You have been alot of help.