Fitting 2+ hours on a DVD

[rkgibbons]

This subject comes up all the time, and I thought I'd mention a method that I'm currently using (although it may not be new to all of you, it might help those who haven't heard about it).

When I capture video (using a DC1000 card), I typically encode my video at 8 Mbps -- which is fairly high quality as far as MPEG is concerned. The problem: I can't fit very much video onto a disc at that quality.

My solution:

I author my dvd's (using Adobe Encore), leaving the high-quality footage in place. When I go to build my disc, I opt to save it to a folder rather than burn it to a disc. Encore will warn me that the project won't fit on a single disc. Ignore this warning.

Once Encore has completed the build, I load up DVDShrink -- and then just let DVDShrink work it's magic. It'll shrink the project down to exactly the capacity of the disk. No need to calculate bit rates or worry about anything. It's literally a one-button solution to maximizing the quality of the video while completely filling the available space on the DVD.

The results have been fantastic!

Give it a try!

Keith.

[guns1inger]

I'm glad you are happy with a solution, as that's what counts the most.

Personally, I don't believe you can maximise quality by encoding too high, then transcoding to fit. In my opinion, you will only maximise quality by encoding at the correct bitrate to begin with.

But like I said - if it works for you, and you are happy with the results, go for it.

[rkgibbons]

Yes, obviously this method introduces a second stage of compression -- but the final results have been fantastic -- and the trade off between effort and result is favourable indeed.

I've been unable to visually detect many differences between my 8mbps stream and my final dvd (apart from the occasional "fade to black" clips -- which are still very acceptable, and unnoticeable to any casual viewer).

If your end goal is to have a high-quality DVD but not spend a lot of time fiddling, then this is an approach to consider.

If you're worried about video-quality above and beyond what a casual observer (99% of people) would ever likely notice (and you can't sleep at night thinking that you might have been able to improve things just a little more) then no, perhaps this isn't the best method.

[jimmalenko]

I'll echo guns1inger's first statement by saying well done, and I'm also happy you've found a method that gives you the results you desire.

I'm afraid that I'm going to have to go all purist on you though, as I also believe that encoders do better jobs than transcoders, all things considered. I'd suggest that when you start dealing with a range of different sources (DV, VHS caps, downloaded clips for example) and ranging from good, bad to downright ugly quality, you may find your method coming up short. Also, on different playback devices such as rear-projection TVs, or projectors, even the quality of a DVD run through DVDShrink can produce subpar results when any compression is applied by DVDShrink. If I were to point out just one thing lacking - the ability to use filters.

Once again, I'll end on a positive note by saying congrats, and good luck enjoying the fruits of your labour

[rkgibbons]

Sure, you can spend time and money fiddling with bit-rates, filters, proc amps, enhancers, encoding -- but if your end result is simply to archive footage -- and end up with a DVD that looks nearly indistinguishable from the original footage -- why waste time with all that stuff?

I'm not speaking to the "purists" here. I'm talking to the large percent of people with far simpler needs -- and with far less patience for learning-curves and lengthy experimentation.

Besides, purists already know better methods of stuffing lengthy footage onto DVD.

Keith.

[jrisch]

I can only echo Keiths views.

For 90% of my use, I capture straight to MPEG2 from a Hauppauge 150 card, use NeroVision to convert to DVD, and if the result is going to be too big for a standard DVDR, then output to a hard disk folder and use DVDShrink to create the DVD.

Of course, that's essentially using the system as a VCR. Beyond that I currently use Studio 9, tho' I'm trying out other tools, DVD-Lab and DvdRemakePro . My problem is not so much the output quality, but more the combination of ease of use but being able to produce a flexible menu system. However this is for standard PAL domestic DVD and TV.

Quality vs ease of production produces a graph on which you decide where you want/need to be. I guess I'm down more towards the ease of production end. But the graph is not linear. You have to be really serious and prepared to commit a lot of time and learning to progress much further. IMHO

Regards, jrisch