iu'm looking for some help in finding out what way i can fit the most amount of video on to a dvd. i am using convertx2dvd just now but i cant seem to fit as much as i think i should. mostly its divx and avi stuff like tv episodes or movies i've downloaded.
Normally you can put about 2 hours of video on DVD5. You want to have about 4-5000kbs for bitrate to get decent picture. If it is TV episodes, you can go with less bitrate and see what you will accept as a good picture. In that case you may be able to put about 2.5-3 hours of video which will result at about 3000kbs for bitrate, also using variable bitrate will give you better result as this will increase bitrate for fast action and lower one for slow motion, but encoding will take longer time.
Thanks for the info mate. I'll do a bit of experimenting to see what quality would be acceptable. what about any other programs that would let me fit more on ? or is there such a thing. i've heard of dvdshrink but does that not reduce the quality even more? and how would i go about making the bitrate variable ? as the numbers you mentioned don't seem 2 b applying to me. eg: i am trying to burn 4 tv episodes in avi format, the smallest is 123mb and the largest is 349mb and the 4 add up to under 950mb. yet when i am encoding them i am only getting around 1800 bitrate. is this normal ?
By the size of your AVI file it looks like it is Mpeg4(DivX, Xvid).
Check them with GSpot (free)
http://www.headbands.com/gspot/v26x/index.htm That is why you get such a small bitrate for four of them.
The bitrate and VBR encoding is set in encoder.
You are using ConvertX2dvd see if you can change the bitrate and VBR or CBR type encoding in there.
I use TMPGEnc Xpress. It is quite flexible and will take DivX as input.
If you want to put more on one DVD than use DVD9(dual layer).
Other than that, there is no way to put more on DVD with higher bitrate. But you will end up in the same boat, because file size is Time(length of file) x bitrate.
Thanks for the info mate, thats cleared it up a bit. i had noticed when i had tried to put too much on a dvd it was telling me to put in a dual layer disc so i understand now what it meant. will the dual layer discs play on most machines compared to the dvd+r and dvd-r's i've been using ?
All commercial DVD are dual layer. There should be no problem if you make one.
For dual layer DVD I recommend to use ImgBurn to burn it. other progs have sometime problem to find proper layer brake and DVD will pause or jump when switching layers.
Also use good quality DVD media like Verbatim.
Good Luck
