putting 4.40GB onto a 4.38GB DVD without lossy re-encode?

[_ck_]

I took an old VHS tape I had and captured/encoded it for posterity into Xvid.

The problem is I mis-estimated the encoded size
and it became 4.40GB and can't fit even a DVD-R (with it's extra few megs).

I really don't want to cut anything out of it or re-encode the sound which would reduce already poor quality. Re-encoding the video would be crazy because of the quality loss.

Are there any DVD tricks like we used to have on CD to turn off error correction or maybe dial it down
to fit more onto it? Or maybe some kind of lossless AVI trick that will squeze the .2GB out of it?

Thanks for any ideas!

[guns1inger]

Nope. Your choices are

1. Re-encode audio
2. Re-encode video
3. Split it across two discs
4. Burn it to a DL disk

You haven't said what type of audio you have encoded to. It is mp3 then you probably don't have any room to move there anyway. If it is AC3 you might, depending one what bitrate you used.

Otherwise you appear to be SOOL

[kschang]

Cut something out. You may be able to cut a few bits here and there and save enough space to fit the file on.

If that doesn't work, cut only the tail off and re-encode that, maybe cut out the credits and encode that in a lower bit rate, then join them back as the VOB level or something.

AFAIK, DVD does not support any overburning.

[kschang]

Just thought of something... Did you copy the menus? If it's a menu from an existing movie with animation and all that, you may be able to use MenuShrink on it and replace it with a static menu, saving a LOT of space.

https://www.videohelp.com/~DVDSubEdit/

Then click on Other Tools

EDIT: Oops, that'll teach me NOT to post past midnight. :P Didn't even read your problem properly.

[jimmalenko]

I'd DVDShrink it. I very much doubt you'll notice any loss in video quality, since it will be at 99.3% or some insane figure.

Wait ..... is this a 4.40GB XviD file ?

[ChrissyBoy]

3. Split it across two discs
4. Burn it to a DL disk

These two would get you where you need to be very quickly... All other options would be a pain - giving you hours of grief.

MenuShrink, DVDShrink etc are not the solution when the problem is burning what amounts to data on a DVDR for archiving...

[jimmalenko]

MenuShrink, DVDShrink etc are not the solution when the problem is burning what amounts to data on a DVDR for archiving...

True. It's unclear to me though if this is just a data DVD though. If this is a 4.40GB XviD file, then unless it's at the very least a 3 hour VHS tape on Long Play, it's been encoded with wayyyyyy too much bitrate anyway.

[guns1inger]

I read it as being a big Xvid, not a DVD

[whitejremiah]

encode it to dvd specs and make it either dual layer (if it IS in fact that long) or just encode it to a single layer format......that is if it's in fact an xvid (which, by reading how it was wrote, it appears to be....)

[jagabo]

If it's a big Xvid file and your intention is to archive, just split it into two parts with VirtualDub in Direct Stream Copy Mode and save on two DVDs.

Each part will be viewable and it will be easy to join them back together again if you need to.

[Cornucopia]

If you're worried about splitting/joining problems, and you just want to be able to archive the data. Do this:

Demux to elementary streams (separate audio + video) and burn each to a separate disc.

When you need to, you just remux.

Scott

[_ck_]

I appreciate all the replies and suggestions.
It is two Xvid files and I'd like to not edit them or put onto more than one DVD

But I think I found another idea that might work!

I could buy a plextor px-716a which is one of the very few DVD burners that can overburn DVD's. Using +R media you can get 20-200 megs more storage supposedly (4640MB max on most DVD+R's) and that just might do the trick without any additional editing.

Now to hunt for a deal on one...
(if anyone knows of other DVD drives that can overburn DVDs, please let me know?)

[lordsmurf]

I've never heard of overburning more than like 2MB at most. The discs are already used to peak, you cannot overburn.

I'd like to see something to the contrary, the source of the supposed Plextor 200MB+ extra.

Sounds fake to me.

[_ck_]

There are lots of threads on this on the net.
Search for 716a overburn
Look near the bottom of this page:
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?ArticleId=11953&PageId=11
They got 4612mb without any effort.
(and sorry that's "only" 130megs, not 200 but still...)

Very few drives have this ability. So far I can only find plextor's older (pre DL) 712a and newer 716a seem to have overburn.

[_ck_]

And I just noticed another solution I missed:
BeALL 4.85GB DVD-R extended length DVD
There is also "smart buy" 4.9GB DVD-R
But I think they both use tighter spirals like extended CDR
and might not work in all DVD players.
The overburn supposedly works in most players.
Plextor also use a shorter lead out somehow.

[SaSi]

As you mentioned, the 4.4Gb is two xvid videos. Why not burn them on two separate DVDRs? The price of a DVDR is silly now and it will save you future troubles of reading an overburnt DVD. Remember, you archive for posterity and your brand new plextor may become obsolete next year...

[lordsmurf]

BeAll media is craptastic quality.

Overburning is not even remotely safe, and would likely confused most reader/player hardware.

Those shorter lead-ins and lead-outs can be a major headache too, I've seen it before on burners that had flaws in the firmware (Pioneer 109, for example, early firmwares), whcih caused that very effect.

I just cannot understand why people must suddenly cram tons and tons of crap onto a single disc, as if the discs took up a lot of space or something. We're not talking about something the size of a lawnmower, it's a piece of plastic 5 inches round and about a millimeter thick.

[_ck_]

The idea is to reproduce the DVD for many family members and to make two of them increases the time radically as well as mailing issues etc.

From what I have read the (real, non re-labeled) Plextors do alot of tricks that other drives don't do and is well worth the investment, so that will probably be my solution for now.

Again, from what I have read, most drives/players will read overburned DVDs but not all can deal with tigher spirals.

I just found another article on the BeAll that says they do not use tighter spirals and actually stay within DVD spec. They apparently are made by Samsung too:
http://www.emedialive.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=9008

[lordsmurf]

Increase radically? Surely you jest....

You'll have two discs just a little over half full. Burning one full disc, or twohalf-full discs, take about the same time.

Burn at 8x, 12x or 16x. You'll have both discs done in about the same time as it takes to play a hand of solitaire (trust me, I do this).

The readers/players will crap out on you at the end of the disc, even if the burn is good (unlikely).

Not to mention, XVID for family members? Good luck on that one. Most family members have a hard time learning the correct letters are "DVD" and not "CD" or whatever else (BVD?) they want to use. Much less find a way to play XVID on a player (support requried) or computer (codec required).

[RottenFoxBreath]

just put it on 2 dvdrs,no big deal..
it costs the same to post 1 dvd in a case,as it does 2 in a double case..jeez.
get over it ffs,its no biggie,just give it/send it to the family members,and when they complain upon having to get up to change it halfway through,just say its your fault,you misjudged the size,and got it wrong..it wont happen again,make your apoligies and forget it.
and let this topic die.

[manono]

Hi-

The idea is to reproduce the DVD for many family members...

Except for the fact that it's not a DVD. It's XviD burned onto a DVDR. Unless all your family members have DVD/MPEG-4 players, it's not going to work. And even if they do, don't many such players have problems playing AVI over 2 GB in size? I recommend reencoding and making a real DVD out of it.

[Cornucopia]

...and if you actually do re-encode to DVD, make sure your bitrate estimate is on the money so it'll all fit on 1.

Scott

[_ck_]

By the way, I thought I would update/close this thread with the news that I finally found an answer by getting a $35 BenQ dw1650 which can overburn regular DVD+R media to ~4600mb (or more with certain media).

Apparently the BenQ 1640/1650/1655 all have this ability so you don't need to buy a $100 plextor anymore.

Nero doesn't support the overburn (yet) but IMGBURN will, so you just make an ISO and burn away.

Seems to playback on every DVD player I've tried so far!

[lordsmurf]

Interesting. Normal media is about 4475MB (4.38GB), so you can now squeeze on an extra 125MB. But at what cost? One can only wonder how realiable the data quality is at that range, or the compatibility with readers and players. Good luck, thanks for the update.

[_ck_]

Well for "safety", most burners today can do quality scans with tools like CDSPEED that are very reliable, the Benq is no exception, it can even report on things my older NEC 3520a cannot and to single bit precision instead of 8 bit (and it scans faster at 8x).

The overburn area is fairly reliable and generates no errors worse than any part of the disc, unless you go to the very, very, very edge. My verbatim 16x DVD+R's will go to 4620mb so I just burn to 4600mb or so to be "safe".

There is an extensive thread on this overburning subject in the benq area on cdfreaks but I am not sure if I am allowed to link to another forum like that so I won't out of respect. You can see various media being reported and the quality scans to show it.

[rijir2001]

XVID files on a DVD and doing uncomon things like overburning are just going to make a bunch a discs for family members that they probably won't be able to play in their standalone players anyway.

[Almost Human]

I have successfully overburned TDK 16X DVD-R's to 4.54GB at 8X on a NEC-3520a using TMPGEnc DVD Author. Plays perfect on JVC, Samsung, Mintek, Panasonic, and other generic players.