does anyone know how to shrink dvds down to fit on a single cd-r? i know it is somehow possible, because many movies available for download from torrent sites are around 700 MB. any help would be appreciated. i would just like to make my movies smaller than 4.7 GB.
go to the top of the page, click "guides"... then go to "VCD and SVCD"... you will have a significantly lower quality picture when compressing to VCD or SVCD...
well, there might be other and various compression softwares, but they all amount to decreasing the amount of information to the point where it can fit onto a cd, which is approximately 1/6th the size of a dvd. no matter how good the compression program, you are going to lose a lot. it might not be that noticeable if you watch it on a small computer or tv screen... but the larger the screen, the more noticeable the dimished quality. what's amazing to me is how good the image is considering how much compression has to take place.
yeah, that makes sense. do you recommend any compression programs in particular? also, is there a certain compression rate that is considered the best for the size? or should i just stick with dvd quality if i want good looking picture?
i haven't made any video cds or svcds for years... since they started making burnable dvds... so i don't really know exactly what the latest software is, but i'd suggest you start with the guides on this site.
your compression rate will depend on the original size of the dvd... whatever that is, it will have to be reduced to 750-800 MB. by the way, i should have said that the original commercial dvd size is more likely to be around 9 GB since they are dual layer. that total compression rate, unless you do the main movie only (a good idea), would be around 92%! even using DivX or XviD you are going to experience quality loss.
i'd definitely recommend that you just burn to dvd. not sure why you want to burn to cd. not really much of a cost difference, a few pennies each. the quality difference will be large.
also recommend that you use high quality media... taiyo yuden or verbatim.
well, initially i just wanted to make my movie files a lot smaller to save hard drive space. but i guess it relly isn't worth it in the end. thanks for all your help with this! i guess i'll have to go out and buy a dvd burner now, since i don't have one...
didn't know you don't have a dvd burner. why not burn a couple of vcds or svcds and see what you think of the quality? not all standalone players will play those formats, but some will.
