Question about DVD quality.

[proof]

Ok, maybe someone can help dispel something for me.

I have recently purchased a new dual layer recorder. I have also purchased a three pack of Verbatim Double Layer discs that hold 8.5GB.

Now according to the front of the Verbatim disc, it says it will hold 240 minutes of video. On the back it says:Store up to 4 hours of DVD quality video.

Now here is the thing...

I have recorded a football game with an ATI All-In-Wonder at their suggestion of DVD quality which is stated as follows:

Type: MPEG-2
Video: 720x480 NTSC (525)
8.00 M Bit/Second
Audio: 48.000KHz, 16 Bit, Stereo

Well after I cut out the commercials the video is now about 2.5 hours in length but the file size is 9.2GB which would exceed my 8.5 GB disc by about 1GB when all is said and done.

My questions is, is there a "standard" definition of DVD quality and if there is it can't possibly be what I am using, otherwise I would only get about 2 hours of video on one disc.

Any help in this matter is greatly appreciated!

[pete2828]

you can fit 2 hours of video even on a single layer disc, which has capacity of 4.37 Gb. the secret is bitrate.. your bitrate is what they call HQ mode. I would use bitratecalc over here http://<a class="contentlink" href="https://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm" target="_blank"...m/calc.htm</a> . To get 2 hours on a single layer DVDR your bitrate should be 5000kbs. On a double layer disc probably 4 hours with that bitrate. The trick is that regular DVDRs are at most $1.50 for flawless media. DVD DL+R are at least $10. so 2 discs would cost $3. DVD DL are just tooo expensive to be practical now.

I would also go to http://www.digitalfaq.com/ to learn how to capture with ATI ALL in wonder. I would reccomend the following:
720X480
MPEG-2 DVD
encoded interlaced
VBR 5000K average, 6500K Max
Audio at 224Kb/s
48000HZ 16 bit
or

352X480
MPEG-2 DVD
encoded interlaced
VBR 2500K average, 300K Max
Audio at 224Kb/s
48000HZ 16 bit

If your machine can't handle VBR then I would replace AVG as CBR.

[Capmaster]

Ok, maybe someone can help dispel something for me.

I have recently purchased a new dual layer recorder. I have also purchased a three pack of Verbatim Double Layer discs that hold 8.5GB.

Now according to the front of the Verbatim disc, it says it will hold 240 minutes of video. On the back it says:Store up to 4 hours of DVD quality video.

Now here is the thing...

I have recorded a football game with an ATI All-In-Wonder at their suggestion of DVD quality which is stated as follows:

Type: MPEG-2
Video: 720x480 NTSC (525)
8.00 M Bit/Second
Audio: 48.000KHz, 16 Bit, Stereo

Well after I cut out the commercials the video is now about 2.5 hours in length but the file size is 9.2GB which would exceed my 8.5 GB disc by about 1GB when all is said and done.

My questions is, is there a "standard" definition of DVD quality and if there is it can't possibly be what I am using, otherwise I would only get about 2 hours of video on one disc.

Any help in this matter is greatly appreciated!

First of all, forget the time claims on blank media. It's meaningless. The amount of time you can fit on a disc is completely dependent on your bitrate, and bitrates for DVD can be anywhere from about 2 Mbps to 9.8 Mbps(officially) or 15 Mbps (much playback hardware supports this).

The "DVD-Quality" setting is simply a template with a ballpark bitrate to help someone who knows absolutely nothing about bitrates.

I suggest reading the guides (along the left) and read up on DVD and MPEG2. Also, check out the bitrate calculator (in tools) to see what impact various bitrates have on recording time

[jimmalenko]

Simplified, the size a video file takes up is determined by the bitrate of the audio and video streams multiplied by the running time.

Firstly, 8.5GB is marketing speak and assumes that 1KB - 1000 bytes. To work out the true capacity:

(8.5 * 1000 * 1000 * 1000) /(1024 * 1024 * 1024) = 7.916GB


Using the Videohelp.com bitrate calculator, we can calculate that 240 min on a DVD-9 requires an average video bitrate of 4433kbps, assuming audio is 192kbps.