How do I combine DVDs?

[sldvd]

A while ago, I recorded a program on my HDD/DVD recorder that lasted a little over 4 hours. I split the program into 5 pieces and copied it onto 5 DVDs at the highest quality setting.

Now I want to combine those 5 DVDs on the computer, and shrink it so that it all fits onto one DVD.

I just downloaded the free version of DVD Rebuilder (I heard it compresses with better quality than DVD Shrink), but I don't see any way to load more than one DVD in DVD Rebuilder. Is it possible to do that in DVD Rebuilder?

I also found some advice on the internet saying you can do it in DVD Shrink - you have to enter Re-author mode, and in the DVD Browser drag each title you want over to the left side. I tried that, and then clicked the Backup button, but it tells me "The current DVD size is too big! If you continue, you may not be able to burn the resulting files. Please ensure that video is set to 'Automatic' compression, or try disabling some audio streams. Are you sure you want to continue?" I checked and the video is already set to Automatic compression. Then I tried again and clicked "Yes" to the "Are you sure you want to continue?" and it said there would be about 9 GB required, more than a dual layer DVD can handle. So I cancelled and tried changing the Automatic compression setting to Custom Ratio, but it won't let me shrink it any more! It only lets me increase the quality (decrease the compression), which increases the size required!

So first question - can I combine DVDs in DVD Rebuilder, so I can get the best quality by using an encoder instead of a transcoder? If not, then how do I do it in DVD Shrink?

[lordsmurf]

Re-encode it to Half D1 352x480 for DVD-R/DVD+R
Merge it and re-encode it for Full D1 720x480 for DVD+R DL

Don't "shrink" it (transcode it). Transcoding was made for retail/quality sources. It will butcher your homemade videos into blocks, like a video made of Legos.

[t0nee1]

If you can merge/compile them in DVDshrink and backup to DVD-9 > set ' No Compression' do it..It will not compress, then run it through DVDRB for re-encoding to DVD-5 size..