Is VCD/DVD disc space limited by time, or space?

[pingosimon]

I'm using MAc OS 10.4.9, burning with Toast 8 Titanium.

I have a huge collection of small video files, mostly wmv, lowish quality, so about 25 MB per 5 minutes.

I successfully burned a VCD using some of these files, but VCDs just don't hold enough video to make it worth burning all these files. So I figured I'd try burning DVDs instead of VCDs, so I could fit more video onto the disc.

I found that it takes FOREVER to encode these wmv files to the DVD format (using toast or iDVD, anyway), and in the end I don't get much more, if any, extra video on the disc!

Is there some way around this, that will let me fit more video on a disc to play on my TV's DVD player? Quality is almost a non-issue. I figured I'd be able to fit more VCD-quality video onto a DVD disc, but Toast won't let me do that.

Thanks!

[kush]

Time x bitrate = space used. And in the case of DVD, a small amount for index files, as well as whatever space extra if you need menus.

VCD Mpeg1 is compatible w/ the DVD spec, with the exception of audio. VCD is 44.1kHz, DVD 48kHz. If Toast can't do the audio conversion for you, perhaps you need to find a better software to do it.

[Baldrick]

Moving you to our mac section.

[pingosimon]

ah ok, so it is possible to fit more time on a DVD disc by lowering quality.

So here's what I don't understand, if DVD players can play video encoded in MPEG1 or MPEG 2, and they can obviously play VCD discs (which have audio at 44.1 KHz), why does the audio need to be converted to 48KHz in order to be burned on the DVD disc?

I guess I'll go look around for some mac encoders to make these wmvs the proper audio/video format. Thanks!

[dnix71]

ffmpegX is free/shareware. Some advanced functions are not available unless you have a license ($15).

If you are encoding to dvd drop the file in the main window on the left and one the right click the TO > triangle and choose dvd-ffmpeg as the output format. The resulting folder is burned as a udf-data in Toast to make it tabletop compliant. ffmpegX makes the necessary ifos and bups.

ffmepgX is a bit of a pain to install. You MUST be logged in as admin because it sudos.

Download all the parts first by following the links on the home page. The mpeg2enc.intel file is the correct one even if you use a G4 or G5. It's a universal binary now.

[tomlee59]

So here's what I don't understand, if DVD players can play video encoded in MPEG1 or MPEG 2, and they can obviously play VCD discs (which have audio at 44.1 KHz), why does the audio need to be converted to 48KHz in order to be burned on the DVD disc?

In an ideal world, the DVD spec would've been written that way. But it wasn't. That's the simple answer.

[pingosimon]

Thanks! I actually already have ffmpegx, and I started a thread in the ffmpegx section. I was starting to convert the videos using the VCD mpeg2 encoder, but then switching the audio to 48KHz. I'll try your method first, though, and see if that works well for what I'm doing.