Pioneer 531h, 352x480 in 3 hour mode?

[snek11]

I use to have a lite-on that did a 3 hour mode in 352x480, looked pretty good. I wanted to try 720x480 for 3 hour mode as well as get a hdd unit, and got this pioneer 531h.

I don't like the results too much. I've done some reading and at 720x480, 3 hours is just too much. It seems to be much better to stick with the 352x480, but I can't find a setting for this in the pioneer.

On the manual settings for HDD recording it sticks to 720x480 all the way to 3 and 1/2 hours. For DVD recording on 3 hour mode it does a weird 544x480 mode which seems to be non-standard. When I try to import to my PC to edit in dvd lab-pro it doesn't like 544x480.

I'd really like to be able to set a 3 hour recording to use 352x480. I know I can use MN11 on HDD record, but as that's optimized for 220min and would use a lower bitrate than necessary. Is there a way around this???

[FulciLives]

I have a Pioneer DVR-531H-s and I too have lamented the fact that Pioneer stuck with Full D1 resolution for way too long a time. The cut off should have been around the 2 1/2 hour mark.

Completely stupid.

The good thing is that DVD-R discs are cheap so just use a high bitrate and put one movie per disc or for very long movies split them up across more than one disc.

Also you should use DVD VIDEO mode for creating a compatible DVD Video disc. Do not ever use VR mode unless you only intend to watch it on the Pioneer or another DVD recorder that works the same.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[snek11]

I have a Pioneer DVR-531H-s and I too have lamented the fact that Pioneer stuck with Full D1 resolution for way too long a time. The cut off should have been around the 2 1/2 hour mark.

Completely stupid.

The good thing is that DVD-R discs are cheap so just use a high bitrate and put one movie per disc or for very long movies split them up across more than one disc.

Also you should use DVD VIDEO mode for creating a compatible DVD Video disc. Do not ever use VR mode unless you only intend to watch it on the Pioneer or another DVD recorder that works the same.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

Hm..I guess there's no workaround. How strange.... Now I miss my Lite-on 5006, had a 3 hour lp mode, looked great. I really prefer 1 disc per event/movie.

So I'm stuck with going too high on rez 720x480, or going 352x480 but having the recorder use a bitrate to fight 220mins instead of 180....

John have you tested between the two? Which is the lesser of two evils?

[FulciLives]

Hm..I guess there's no workaround. How strange.... Now I miss my Lite-on 5006, had a 3 hour lp mode, looked great. I really prefer 1 disc per event/movie.

So I'm stuck with going too high on rez 720x480, or going 352x480 but having the recorder use a bitrate to fight 220mins instead of 180....

John have you tested between the two? Which is the lesser of two evils?

I don't like 220 minutes. Just never used it. Can't imagine it looks good. The math does not add up.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Frobozz]

This is interesting to know. I have the Pioneer DVR-510H which (like the 520) stepped down from 720x480 after 140 minutes. Pioneer made a big deal of how the 533/633 has a better encoder allowing up to 10 hours of video on a DVD (compared with 6 on the previous models) and maintains full resolution for a longer time. I pretty much consider 140 minutes as my maximum because of this for anything that's worth keeping. Now, instead of my envying your "improved" encoder you are envying my 352x480 3-hour mode. Guess I was smart to not trade up.

[blinky88]

I have the 530H-s and record everything in SP mode. If the content happens to be 3 hrs. you can goto to edit and split the image into 2 parts. Use 2 DVD-RW discs and copy both sections onto the 2 discs. Use DVD Shrink and copy each disc to HDD in FOLDER FORM. Then import those folders into DVD Shrink and create a single ISO image and then burn that image with DVD Decrypter.

The quality of the end result is equal to the original recording on your HDD.

By choosing the 3 hour mode your are reducing the quality of the recording.