Maximum Length on a single layer DVDr

[acid_burn]

I am backing up DVDs, ripping them to avi files, and then burning them to DVDr disks. I have put 3 hours and 40 minutes onto one disk successfully. Does anyone know the maximum amount of time I can fit onto a single layer DVDr? I am using avi.net to rip, and dvd flick to convert and burn. Should I try 3 movies on one DVDr next (about 5 hours)? Thanks in advance.

[aedipuss]

you can reduce the bitrate(quality) as low as you want. doesn't mean it will be watchable though. they are your eyes. anything under 3000kbps is usually considered poor by the way.

[acid_burn]

I'm not sure of my bitrate. I am ripping a 8 GB purchased movie to a 700 MB AVI file. Then loading the AVI's into DVD Flick and converting/burning. The 3 hour and 40 minute disk has no noticable decrease in quality on my 42 inch television. Thank you for the quick response. I will try 5 hours for the hell of it and see how it looks to me.

[redwudz]

If you are ripping to MPEG, then converting to some sort of AVI, then converting again to MPEG, I see a major problem. Every time you re-encode twice, you are throwing away quality unnecessarily.

Why not just rip to the hard drive, then re-encode to MPEG with a reduced bitrate? It seems you are doing this the hard way.

If you want to know your bitrate, drop one of the files into Gspot and it will tell you.

But ~9500Kbps will give you an hour on a DVD-5.

About 1800Kbps will give you 5 hours. Anything below about 3000Kbps will not look great to most of us in MPEG-2 format. I would use 1/2 D1 MPEG-2 below 3000Kbps. You will get better quality that way.

About 1150Kbps will give you about 7.5 hours, but it will be at VCD quality, so you might as well use MPEG-1.

[AlanHK]

I'm not sure of my bitrate. I am ripping a 8 GB purchased movie to a 700 MB AVI file. Then loading the AVI's into DVD Flick and converting/burning. The 3 hour and 40 minute disk has no noticable decrease in quality on my 42 inch television. Thank you for the quick response. I will try 5 hours for the hell of it and see how it looks to me.

Why convert MPEG (i.e., DVD video) to AVI to MPEG?

Just convert MPEG to MPEG. Faster and less quality loss.
I'm pretty sure DVDflick can accept MPEG.
Or see https://www.videohelp.com/dvdbackup


I've done TV episode compilations, up to 6 50-minute episodes and it looks okay on my 29" CRT. But this might not be acceptable to you. Many say no more than 4. Only way to tell is to see it. Just make a few minutes at different bit rates and compare.

It depends on the kind of show. A sitcom and a BBC wildlife documentary would have different requirements.

[Nilfennasion]

The 3 hour and 40 minute disk has no noticable decrease in quality on my 42 inch television.

I have got to ask this, but are you legally blind? Because that is the only possible way I can ever see that being true.

[lordsmurf]

The 3 hour and 40 minute disk has no noticable decrease in quality on my 42 inch television.

I have got to ask this, but are you legally blind? Because that is the only possible way I can ever see that being true.

When you say things like that, I have to wonder if you know anything about video whatsoever.

If you have good sources (direct from satellite, digital cable, DV, HD/QAM), are using a good encoder (LSI chipsets, Procoder, MainConcept, Ligos/Theatre, Zoran chipsets, Philips MPEG chips), use intelligent settings (Half D1 with appropriate bitrates in the 2000-3000k range VBR), with a good television that assist SD sources (a Sony A3000- or XBR4-series, for example) or is is a good SD set (JVC, for example), then there will be zero quality problems up to 4 hours running time.

The one exception is "busy" sources. Wrestling is the worst, followed by certain types of action scenes (explosions, fire, shaky camera technique). Baseball can get pretty bad too. Other sports, not really an issue (I've seen some recent myths regarding football and auto racing).

You also need to sit at a normal distance. This would even include the THX and SMPTE distances, which are sometimes a bit close. Get your eyeballs off the screen and quit nitpicking the shit out of the image. I can easily nitpick analog sources, 1080i HD broadcasts, Criterion DVDs, 1080p Blu-Ray and pretty much anything else if I simply wanted to a whiny/argumentative *******. Sit the hell and watch the show, not the pixels.