DVD Record time more then 2 hrs?

[rkruz]

Can a DVD burned with VHS tape data hold more then about 2 hrs of recording?
When I change the recording quality on the ADSTECH DVDExpress DX2 it appears the DVD recording time does not increase over 2 hours.
thanks for any tips.

Im starting a project to convert family old tapes to DVD.

[redwudz]

You can put about as much as you want on there. However the quality will suffer. For VHS, I sometimes use 1/2 D1 format and then 4 hours looks fairly good. For info on 1/2 D1, look to the upper left in 'WHAT IS' DVD. Whether your card will accept that, I don't know.

Personally, I would only put more than 2 hours of video on a DVD if it was material from TV shows that didn't have that great of quality to start with. But 1/2 D1 will maximize the quality at the lower bitrates required to make a 4 - 6 hour DVD in MPEG-2 format. You can use a bitrate calculator from our 'Tools' section to see what bitrate would be required for 4 hours of DVD video.

And welcome to our forums.

[rkruz]

thank you. Thats a great help for me. Im prettysure I didnt see an option on the ASRTech DVDExpress DX2 software for 1/2D1 but Ill look closer tonight. If its there, I think it greys out options that are not supported by my PCs DVD.

Otherwise its not a super big deal just to plan on 2 hours per DVD and be rigorous about the recording process and marking the discs. The software does let me set a time limit so I can play the VHS and then record to hardisk for 2 hours, and then back up the tape to 2hrs by its timer and start a new recording for the next two hours of the VHS tape etc.

thanks again!

[jman98]

Definitely use 1/2 height DVD resolution (this is 352x480 for you) for VHS captures. That resolution is very close to the native resolution of VHS tape. Capturing at full 720x480 may magnify the deficiencies in the source VHS tape. I've done 352x480 captures for VHS tapes and it turns out really good. Because the bit rate is being used over a smaller resolution, you'll be able to get by with a lower bit rate and still have good quality over normal 720x480 resolution captures. This should enable your to get more video at good quality on your DVDs.

[rkruz]

ok. Ill check that out tonight when Im in front of the PC. Seems like whatever I selected, that the total recording available time did not change much. Maybe from 2 10 to 2 20 or something like that.