Getting Max time on DVD without compressing?

[NitroStar]

Okay, my question: I can backup a DVD with DVD Toolbox and make a perfect copy of "The Fast and the Furious" for example, which is a 2 hour movie, without having to split it onto 2 DVD-Rs (it doesn't even ask becaue it says it is only 4.0 GB, and it looks just as good as the original.

I use neoDVD standard and an Avermedia capture card to get only about 65 to 69 minutes max of 8mm tape capture onto a DVD. I use Studio 8 and can't get any more on there than that either, and this program even makes menu errors and the quality is not as good as the neoDVD standard. DVDs say "120 minutes video" on them. Am I supposed to be able to get 120 minutes of video on one, without compressing it and making it not look as good as the 8mm tape? When I make them with neoDVD they turn out great looking. I was just wishing to get up to 120 minutes on them and still look the same.

Here is the way that I capture and then burn:
I capture at the highest setting and of course burn it at the highest setting. Am I supposed to capture at the medium setting and then burn at the highest setting to get more minutes on the DVD or will I loose quality.

This resolution thing is confusing. I think I've read in these forums that if I am starting out with 8mm that capturing at less than 720x480 is okay. Is this right? Will I lose quality if I capture at less resolution and then burn at a high resolution on the DVD??

Or do I have to use all of these different programs and follow the guides that are talked about on this site to be able to do this? Or will I still not get more than 60 something minutes of captured 8mm on them?

Thanks for any help.

[FulciLives]

You bring up many issues.

If you want to get 2 hours on a DVD disc and your source is 8mm or even Hi8 then try Half D1 resolution which is 352x480 NTSC

So you can capture at that resolution or capture at Full D1 (720x480) and then resize to Half D1 (352x480)

Some people think the end result is slightly sharper if you capture Full D1 then resize to Half D1 rather than capture at Half D1 to begin with. In part this has to do with how your capture card works and interacts with it's drivers.

Anyways Half D1 looks very nearly as good as Full D1 from 8mm video, VHS video, even S-VHS, LD and Hi8 but the trick here is that it takes a lot less bitrate to look good than Full D1. Half D1 at around 5000kbps video bitrate is about the MAX you really need to go. Full D1 requires more generally unless it is very clean or has been filtered.

Anyways ...

120 minutes on a DVD is a bitrate of about 4800kbps if you use 256kbps MP2 or AC-3 audio. Using Half D1 you can do a straight CBR encode (might want to use 4700kbps so you have room for a menu and all that fancy stuff) and be done with it. Not only will you get 2 hours on a single disc but the quality will be damn good.

Please note this all requires, for the most part, that you use seperate tools like TMPGEnc or CCE for encoding and maybe BeSweet for AC-3 encoding etc.

As a side note ... About your capture card ...

If you are using the AverTV Stereo or AverTV Studio you should be using the BTwincap drivers and should then capture at 712x480 which you can then either crop to 704x480 or pad to 720x480

If you have another AverMedia product then that might not apply.

I have an AverTV Stereo and found that the AverMedia drivers were utter crap but the BTwincap drivers work very well.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[NitroStar]

Thanks for the info. I have downloaded the TMPGEnc and BeSweet. But what about all the Half D1 and "Using Half D1 you can do a straight CBR encode (might want to use 4700kbps so you have room for a menu and all that fancy stuff) and be done with it." What program do I use to capture that has these options?

[NitroStar]

Okay, I figured out how to capture with VirtualVCR and encod with TMPGEnc. But when I use neoDVD or Studio 8 to burn it on a disc, this is where I am hitting my 69 minute limit on a DVD-R. What am I supposed to be using to make a Video TS folder so I can put it on a DVD-R to watch it on a set top box?

[FulciLives]

You need a "real" DVD authoring program. Those two are monkey ass worthless.

Try DVD-Lab or my favorite TMPGEnc DVD Author

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[NitroStar]

Hey FulciLives,
#1 I've done some capturing and some encoding. Clear this up for me though. In your first reply, are you telling me to capture at (352x480) and then encode with TMPGEnc to (720x480)? Or capture at 720x480 then resize to 352x480 before I encode with TMPGEnc? If the later is true then what utility do I "resize" it with before I encode?

#2 Then at the end of reply you said to capture at (712x480) then pad to (720x480 for NTSC_M I assume?) if I have the AverTV Stereo or AverTV Studio. I don't have this but I have the Avermedia DVD EZMaker card. But I would ignore this if I am going to capture at 352x480 then encode to 720x480, right?

Please clear up #1 for me most importantly. Thanks a million! You've helped me already. I've burned a 1:45 minute DVD off of 8mm already but I'm wondering if question #1 is degrading my quality just a tad. If you think answering #2 will confuse me too much just skip it and I'll experiment with that later. Thanks

[FulciLives]

Hey FulciLives,
#1 I've done some capturing and some encoding. Clear this up for me though. In your first reply, are you telling me to capture at (352x480) and then encode with TMPGEnc to (720x480)? Or capture at 720x480 then resize to 352x480 before I encode with TMPGEnc? If the later is true then what utility do I "resize" it with before I encode?

You have two options. Capture 720x480 then resize to 352x480 so you encode at 352x480 or capture at 352x480 and encode at 352x480.

In TMPGEnc you can select 352x480 as the output and if you are inputting something otherthan that size it will be resized to 352x480.

#2 Then at the end of reply you said to capture at (712x480) then pad to (720x480 for NTSC_M I assume?) if I have the AverTV Stereo or AverTV Studio. I don't have this but I have the Avermedia DVD EZMaker card. But I would ignore this if I am going to capture at 352x480 then encode to 720x480, right?

I do that if you are using the BTwincap drivers with one of those two capture cards. I don't know how much the version you have differes from the other two. This is something you will have to test for yourself.

Please clear up #1 for me most importantly. Thanks a million! You've helped me already. I've burned a 1:45 minute DVD off of 8mm already but I'm wondering if question #1 is degrading my quality just a tad. If you think answering #2 will confuse me too much just skip it and I'll experiment with that later. Thanks

Glad I can help you

- John "FulciLives" Coleman