Q on burning DVD, fullness of disk

[RickN]

I burn movies on a standalone DVDr. The Panasonic DVDr allows me to set Flexible recording to adjust for varying movie length. Final disks usually have ~4.4 GB of material on them. When you look at the recording side, the DVD looks nearly full.

I have taken a few DVD's and edited out the commercials on VRD. The total file size is reduced to about 3.3 GB. I run them through muxman and burn with IMGBURN or Nero burning rom. The resulting DVD's appear to have slightly lower quality. What is most striking is that it appears that only the first 3/8 inch of the DVD is used to record the movie.

How do I adjust my burning program to ensure that I get the highest picture quality and utilize nearly all of the disk?

Thanks!

Rick

[Anole]

I think there are several issues here.

First, neither VideoReDo nor MuxMan will have any affect on the quality of your recordings.
Neither do a re-encode, so basically, whatever you feed in, is what you get out.

That flexible recording feature is a really bad thing for people wanting to reburn a DVD later.
At the very least, it will record at a lower quality if the disc is nearly full, and there is insufficient room for the next timed recording!
If I understood the instructions correctly, it may actually change recording speeds during a record if you do so without a timer.
(I might not be correct on this last point).

As for the 3/8ths matter, I think we need more info to understand the problem.
I suspect you have put several shows onto a disc, then extracted just one recorded at a low quality, and -that- is the -one- show that takes up 3/8th on a new disc...(?)

But , regardless, it sounds like you've got the bull by the tail and are 99% there with your DVD-making.
Congratulations ;)

[RickN]

Thanks for your reply Anole!

My Panasonic has four set recordings: XP 1h, SP 2h, LP 4h, and EP 8h. Most of my recorded movies were 2.5 hours with commercials. To optimize picture quality, I saved one movie per DVD on FR recording rather than 2.5 h on LP. The original DVD's look excellent on my HDTV with this progressive scan player. BTW, I am using premium TY 8x DVD-r disks.

I have no idea why the edited files burn on such a small portion of the disk. It does look like it is EP recording on the disk (based on only 3/8 inch) yet the file is 3.3 GB in size. Nero burning rom shows that file requires 3/4 of the disk.

Any other possible explanations?

Thanks,

Rick

[RickN]

Follow-up post

When I used Muxman to author a DVD, the progress slider did not traverse the entire scale. Rather, it only traversed about a 1/4 inch of a ~4 inch scale. Does Muxman use the entire scale for others? Is this related to my issue of not using most of the dvd?

The Muxman log from my last run is shown below.

MuxMan version 0.15P
Accepted video C:\Documents and Settings\Rick\My Documents\DVDs from panasonic\A bridge too far\utility output\a bridge too far.mpv size = 3023189424
Accepted audio C:\Documents and Settings\Rick\My Documents\DVDs from panasonic\A bridge too far\utility output\a bridge too far.ac3
expanded database to 300 entries.

19:22:03 Begin multiplex VTS01.
Title Segment List
Segment_1
Maximum audio duration 626924 fields.
Starting scene Segment_1_scn1 at 00:00:00:00
Starting scene Segment_1_scn2 at 00:05:00:01, requested for 00:04:59:21
Starting scene Segment_1_scn3 at 00:09:59:24, requested for 00:09:59:12
Starting scene Segment_1_scn4 at 00:14:59:15, requested for 00:14:59:03
Starting scene Segment_1_scn5 at 00:19:59:06, requested for 00:19:58:24
Starting scene Segment_1_scn6 at 00:24:58:27, requested for 00:24:58:15
Starting scene Segment_1_scn7 at 00:29:58:06
Starting scene Segment_1_scn8 at 00:34:58:04, requested for 00:34:57:27
Starting scene Segment_1_scn9 at 00:39:57:25, requested for 00:39:57:18
Starting scene Segment_1_scn10 at 00:44:57:17, requested for 00:44:57:09
Starting scene Segment_1_scn11 at 00:49:57:12, requested for 00:49:57:00
Starting scene Segment_1_scn12 at 00:54:56:21
Starting scene Segment_1_scn13 at 00:59:56:12
Starting scene Segment_1_scn14 at 01:04:56:06, requested for 01:04:56:03
Starting scene Segment_1_scn15 at 01:09:55:25, requested for 01:09:55:24
Starting scene Segment_1_scn16 at 01:14:55:17, requested for 01:14:55:15
Starting scene Segment_1_scn17 at 01:19:55:12, requested for 01:19:55:06
Starting scene Segment_1_scn18 at 01:24:54:28, requested for 01:24:54:27
Starting scene Segment_1_scn19 at 01:29:54:19, requested for 01:29:54:18
Starting scene Segment_1_scn20 at 01:34:54:22, requested for 01:34:54:09
Starting scene Segment_1_scn21 at 01:39:54:12, requested for 01:39:54:00
Starting scene Segment_1_scn22 at 01:44:53:23, requested for 01:44:53:21
Starting scene Segment_1_scn23 at 01:49:53:19, requested for 01:49:53:12
Starting scene Segment_1_scn24 at 01:54:53:11, requested for 01:54:53:03
Starting scene Segment_1_scn25 at 01:59:53:03, requested for 01:59:52:24
Starting scene Segment_1_scn26 at 02:04:52:26, requested for 02:04:52:15
Starting scene Segment_1_scn27 at 02:09:52:19, requested for 02:09:52:06
Starting scene Segment_1_scn28 at 02:14:52:10, requested for 02:14:51:27
Starting scene Segment_1_scn29 at 02:19:52:01, requested for 02:19:51:18
Starting scene Segment_1_scn30 at 02:24:51:10, requested for 02:24:51:09
Starting scene Segment_1_scn31 at 02:29:51:01, requested for 02:29:51:00
Starting scene Segment_1_scn32 at 02:34:50:21
Starting scene Segment_1_scn33 at 02:39:50:13, requested for 02:39:50:12
Starting scene Segment_1_scn34 at 02:44:50:17, requested for 02:44:50:03
Starting scene Segment_1_scn35 at 02:49:50:07, requested for 02:49:49:24
SeqEnd at B43235AC.
Bytes remaining in buffer = 0.
Bitrate - avg: 2647984, min: 1473086 (lba 27650), max: 6481582 (lba 574419).
Shortest GOP has 2 fields, longest GOP has 30 fields.
Fields: 626922, VOBU: 20912, Sectors: 1690409.

19:41:53 Begin multiplex VMG.
19:41:53 End multiplex.

[RickN]

Lol! I found the answer. I recorded a DVD today on SP. The program was 1h 36 m in duration and the files tallied to 3.3 GB. When I flipped the disk over, I noticed that the recording only went in ~3/8 inch. Apparently, that is how much space is required to store 3.3 GB. All of my previous edited files in VRD were the same size. :rolleyes: Oh, well, learn something new everyday! :D

[Anole]

DVD and CDs record from the inside (hub) toward the outside edge.
If you are saying that there's a 3/8th inch band around the outside of the disc, then that would be about right for 3.3gb :cool:
Meaning, all the disc from the hub out to the 3/8ths band , has been recorded...

Total disc storage is about 4.5gb for single layer media.

[laserfan]

Anole is (of course!) correct about this, the outer edge is THE END of the recording so will be blank & look different from the inner-edge out.

My take on all this Rick is simply that if you are recording direct-to-DVD and editing-out commercials, then of course the next DVD you burn after processing with VRD and MuxMan is going to be smaller-by-commercial length, which is very significant on commercial TV (indeed 26.7% smaller given an hourlong show is only 44min after commercials are removed--I suspect movies are at least as bad)!

I guess your Panasonic records direct-to-DVD only, and does not have a hard disk drive inside? Then you are very limited in your options--you have to pick a recording speed that you're certain will allow the complete recording of the program onto the disc. Then after you edit it the subsequent DVD *has to* be smaller. But in any case VRD/muxman do not degrade the image quality in any way unless you don't have "Don't change" selected in your Save As... options (how many negatives is that?? oops).