Can a dual layer DVD hold 4 hours?

HI all! Can a DVD DL hold four hours of DV NTSC video? I have a 4 hour long sequence and a client who wants it on one disc. But I couldnt remember if Dual layers hold 3 or 4 hours. Thanks! Jen

any thoughts? Please help! Thanks! jen

You can get >2 hrs on a single layer 4.37 Gb DVD, so I would imagine a 4hr file would fit on a DVD-9.

The secret is, of course, the encoding speed. Slower encodes are smaller while faster encodes are LARGER in file size.

Yeah you can put lots of hours on a DVD but the trade-off is quality. If your encoder and footage is ok with low bitrates then fine. If your footage needs more bits then you'll see blocking etc.

When you start to get too low sometimes using half-D1 is a better option.

For 4hrs on a +R DL you're looking at about 4.3 Mbps avg bitrate with 192 Dolby Audio. Its your call if thats ok for your footage. For 3hrs you can use 5.9 Mbps approx with the same audio.

John - The speed shouldn't impact filesize much! just how the bits are allocated.

Thanks for the info! Luckily my sequence ended up being 3 hours, I always forget how it starts at 1 hour. I think you can change that in the preferences somehow to start at 0 on the timelone, that would help me! I made the DVD on a DL and the three hours fit fine with compressor DVD two pass setting at 150 minutes. Do you know what is the max a DVD DL can hold at the highest quality for future reference? Thank you, Jennifer

Hi Jennifer,

The encode bit-rate (I mentioned as speed) can take a 3 hour Quicktime .mov file and compress it down to just about any size depending on the bit-rate.

I have gotten 2 hours-40 minutes onto a 4.37 GB single layer disc when using a 2 pass encode of 3.5 Mbps average with 4.5 peak setting.

The art of encodeing MPEG-2 is about making the file size the smallest with the most practical encode bit-rate that does the job well. Videos that have very little light to dark or quick lighting changes are the easiest to encode.

The max file size for a dual-layer disk is 8.45 GB just as it is 4.37 GB for a single layer disc.
You need to plan for menus and audio content as well in the total. it is wise to use Dolby AC3 for the audio as it greatly reduces the audio file size but not the quality of the audio.

Hi John,

I think you're mixing up your bits & bytes a bit

Its 4.7GB/4.37GB and 8.54GB/7.95GB,

Cheers