recoding 6 hours onto a DVD

[Anonymous]

and still having the ability to skip
to the begining of any 22 min segment I want

let's call DVD quality, 2 hours pr DVD, M2
and what I want, 6 hours on the DVD
analogous to a VHS tape at SLP, M6

Is it possible to use VideoReDo
to resample my 22 min segments
so that they'll fit?

How do other people do this?

Thanks

[DanR]

No, we don't resample. I suggest you consider using DVDShrink or Nero Recode.

[phd]

I do it by capturing at the lower level and burning stright to DVD. I fit 5 hours unedited and 6 X 1 hours episodes edited on one DVD.

Much quicker than waiting for reencoding.

[Harry]

I do it by capturing at the lower level and burning stright to DVD. I fit 5 hours unedited and 6 X 1 hours episodes edited on one DVD.

Much quicker than waiting for reencoding.

indeed, but maybe you want to try this: i've learned that quality is much better if you record in higher quality and recode it afterwards.

[Lester Burnham]

I do it by capturing at the lower level and burning stright to DVD. I fit 5 hours unedited and 6 X 1 hours episodes edited on one DVD.

Much quicker than waiting for reencoding.

indeed, but maybe you want to try this: i've learned that quality is much better if you record in higher quality and recode it afterwards.

Well I can't argue if that's the results you've found from your efforts.

But as a generalism, the reverse is true - it's better to capture / record at your target bitrate, rather than re-encode later.

With the best will in the world, down-converting an already compressed format is always a compromise.

[phd]

I agree with Lester. The other benefits I enjoy is not waiting for a reencode and the disk space saving from initially recording in a lower format. This is just for TV shows which require a simple cuts edit

For analog capture of home movies, I record through a Canopus ADVC100 which records in DV. Perform all my editing, transitions, etc. and output a DV file. I then convert to MPEG and burn DVD at a higher bit rate.

[Anole]

I wonder what the quality is of your pre-edited, 22-minute segments (shows)?
How much could you lose and still be happy?
As I see it, the only option is to re-encode your shows so they take less room.
That'll take time and processor horsepower.

Of course, I suppose you could burn onto double-layer DVDs and be done with it! ... :)

I have used WinAVI to do some experimental re-encoding.
It's low cost and for what I've tried, it seems to do a surprisingly good job.
(and doesn't take all day - 14 minutes per show for examples below)

You can feed your video into it, and tell it to re-encode to DVD standard (that's what I do).
And you can set the output quality level to five different settings.
Lowest, Low, Middle, Better, Best
I use the "low" setting (or whatever they actually call it) to make my files the size I need.
Middle made 'em too big, and Better didn't seem to look any better.

The old saying, "garbage in, garbage out" applies to some extent.
I feed in highly compressed DivX video, and output DVD "low" quality mpeg.
Some of the DivX artifacts remain (how could they not?) but the output quality is surprisingly sharp and watchable.

And, since it's now in a DVD compliant format, it's no problem pouring it into your favorite authoring program and making real DVDs.

So, if I can make a silk purse out of DivX source material, you can surely make a lot of your 22-minute videos fit onto one DVD.
I'd say a dozen. Let us know how many.

[Peter]

I was under the assumption that re-encoding using software was actually better.

I thought that there is software that was capable of reducing the file size by varying the bitrate where it wasn't necessary. (And does a far better job than hardware)

It would detect low motion scenes, such as a conversation, so just 'talking heads' and set the bitrate lower for these scenes. Then it gets bumped up for a fast scene (car chase?).

The hardware encodes everything at the high bitrate doesn't it?

Then again, there are settings for low & high rates in the config menu for the PVR, so I guess it does adjust too.

Has anyone done any tests, using a ridiculously low bitrate as the low setting?

[phd]

I guess I might qualify for ridiculously low using PVR250.

1.6 average and 2.0 peak. 1/2D1 (352X480)

5 hours = 4.2 GB

[wwjd]

My two cents worth;

Capture the lowest bitrate and resolution that results in video quality that
YOU feel is acceptable.

Keep in mind that you may not always be viewing your video on a small screen TV. What I am getting at is that what looks good on a 20" regular TV may look like garbage on a 42" wide screen TV.

Quality DVD discs can be had for less than $0.50 a piece so why cram 5 or hours of video on a single disc?

[Anonymous]

My two cents worth;
Quality DVD discs can be had for less than $0.50 a piece so why cram 5 or hours of video on a single disc?
Which is why i have never used and against any compression on any video and rather keep them as raw as possible after editing. IE. the format they were captured or streamed in.

DivX and all types of shrinking softwares are pointless as media is so cheap now £0.20p a disk for good quality dvd5. You cannot get back once you have shrunk or converted. Keeping a backup of the original makes it pointless also converting in the first place. If you don't mind having lower picture quality movies, convert away.

I have many big films much to big for a single dvd5 but would fit two dvd5 disks. I have now decided to wait for dvd9 prices to reduce in price, if they ever do as they are taking the time to do so. :cry: