More than 2 hours on a DVD?

I always thought you could only get 2 hours of video on a DVD in DVD Studio Pro but now am hearing you can get up to four hours on a single DVD. Is this right?

Shelley
MacBoo Pro 2015
16 GB Ram
OS X 10.13
Premiere Pro CC

If you mean a dual layer SD DVD, then most likely yes. But not on a single 4.37 GB layer DVD.

In my experience, I have had to encode 4:3 at or below 4 Mbps to get two hours on one layer.

You do understand that a faster bit-rate of decode means a bigger file size - right?

So DVDs that have over 2 hours are most likely on dual layer DVDs? The Mac Pro doesn't have a dual layer DVD burner though, right?

Shelley
MacBoo Pro 2015
16 GB Ram
OS X 10.13
Premiere Pro CC

I just checked my system profiler and under disc burning it says SONY DVD RW DW-D150A. Next to DVD-write it says -R, -RW, +R, +RW, +R DL


So does this mean I can buy +R DL DVD stock and burn more than two hours on one single +R DL DVD?

Shelley
MacBoo Pro 2015
16 GB Ram
OS X 10.13
Premiere Pro CC

All DVD+-RW writers today are dual layer burners.

Now it is interesting that Apple started out supporting DVD-R media and did so until about 3 years ago.

Today in my Quad G5, my MacBook Pro and my older G4 with an external DVD-+RW burner, I can not use dual layer DVD-R media but DVD+R dual layer media works fine?

So, yes a dual layer 7.95 GB DL DVD will accomodate 4 hours encoded media. Just encode at the lowest possible bit-rate to maintain quality and use AC3 Dolby audio.

I used to make a self contained movie and then bring that into compressor and do a + or - 90 minutes two pass variable bit rate (one of the DVD presets in compressor)
The material is around 3 hours long. Do you think any of the presets in Compressor will suffice if I use the dual layer +-DVD media?

I have actually started skipping the Compressor step and just making a self contained QT file and bringing that directly into Studio Pro and having DVD SP do the encoding. That process has worked just fine for anything under 2 hours. So far I haven't had to manually manipulate any data rate settings.

Is it better to do this in Compressor or can I do it right in DVD Studio Pro?

One other thing. Even though our machines say it burns to +-R you're saying you've only had luck burning to +R. I have heard that not all DVD players can read +R. This DVD is a Family Reunion video and Christmas gift for a large family who own all various kinds of DVD players. I'm concerned some of them may have problems playing the +R in their older players?

I'm trying to decide if it's even worth doing this on one DVD. I'm trying to save my client duplication costs but if there is a potential problem with family members being able to play might not be worth it?

Shelley
MacBoo Pro 2015
16 GB Ram
OS X 10.13
Premiere Pro CC

Bringing a self contained QT movie directly into DVDSP is doing the same thing as Compressor, but you are not getiing the control during the background encode process as doing it in Compressor.

Encoding anything about one hour is best using CBR - Constant Bit Rate, but when going into 1.5 -2+ hours, I use VBR - Variable Bit Rate -2 Pass.

Compressor is just a GUI on top of Quicktime. It gives us more options for encoding than just using the QT interface.

My comments about DVD-R were strictly about my experience with DVD-R Dual layer discs. I have tried two varieties of dual layer -R discs and neither would stay in the DVD burner when inserted.
All my burners are Pioneer except the one in the macBook Pro which is a Sony.

+R media works just fine in all my burners. If you look around the internet you will find that -R DL discs are getting harder and harder to find while +R discs are everywhere.

Hopefully, we are at the end of SD DVD's and BluRay is the future!

I have found that bringing in the self contained XDCAM into DVD Studio Pro
gives you better encode quality than compressor; but take longer; so I concur!



John Foley Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Bringing a self contained QT movie directly into
> DVDSP is doing the same thing as Compressor, but
> you are not getiing the control during the
> background encode process as doing it in
> Compressor.
>
> Encoding anything about one hour is best using CBR
> - Constant Bit Rate, but when going into 1.5 -2+
> hours, I use VBR - Variable Bit Rate -2 Pass.
>
> Compressor is just a GUI on top of Quicktime. It
> gives us more options for encoding than just using
> the QT interface.
>
> My comments about DVD-R were strictly about my
> experience with DVD-R Dual layer discs. I have
> tried two varieties of dual layer -R discs and
> neither would stay in the DVD burner when
> inserted.
> All my burners are Pioneer except the one in the
> macBook Pro which is a Sony.
>
> +R media works just fine in all my burners. If
> you look around the internet you will find that -R
> DL discs are getting harder and harder to find
> while +R discs are everywhere.
>
> Hopefully, we are at the end of SD DVD's and
> BluRay is the future!