question about DVD length

[Listener]

I don't ask for much when I want to burn a DVD to watch it on my TV.  I just want it to hold all the files, and to have an understandable menu interface.

My lappy came with WinDVD.  I purchased some generic-brand 4.7GB blank DVDs.  I was trying to burn some anime to DVD.  Now, I own long-ass movies that all fit on one disc, along with special features and multiple audio tracks.  Is it the fault of my software that I can't burn more than 120 minutes of footage onto a single side of one of my blank DVDs?  Or do the big-name studios use special disks?

Thoughts?

[Bishamonten]

The DVDs you buy from movie studios are all in the 8G range, whereas the DVDs you get from Best Buy are all 4G.  If you want the 8G ones you have to have a Dual Layer burner.

[Alice]

I'm sure it's a nice length.

[Beefy]

The DVDs you buy from movie studios are all in the 8G range, whereas the DVDs you get from Best Buy are all 4G.  If you want the 8G ones you have to have a Dual Layer burner.

Or you can compress the living crap out of what you want to burn.

[Mr. Ubiquity]

The DVDs you buy from movie studios are all in the 8G range, whereas the DVDs you get from Best Buy are all 4G.  If you want the 8G ones you have to have a Dual Layer burner.

Or you can compress the living crap out of what you want to burn.

dvdfab is a pretty good program for compressing and burning dvds.  i use it all the time for the larger dvds.  occationally you can tell when its getting grainy, but for the most part it does a good job.  They seem to play well in my dvd player and its a couple years old..

[Listener]

The DVDs you buy from movie studios are all in the 8G range, whereas the DVDs you get from Best Buy are all 4G.  If you want the 8G ones you have to have a Dual Layer burner.

That explains it.

I think my external burner (which I got a couple months before I got the lappy) is Dual-Layer Compatible, but I'd have to buy the DVDs first.

[ReBurn]

LENGTH DOESN'T MATTER!  HOW YOU USE IT DOES!

[BigDun]

Duel Layer DVDs are pretty darned expensive.

[Listener]

Duel Layer DVDs are pretty darned expensive.

Yeah.  I think I'd rather just pay $30 or whatever for 100 generic single-layer ones and get up to change discs halfway through.

[Mr. Ubiquity]

i tell ya, get dvd fab or a similar prog.  compression  isnt that bad with alot of those programs.

[meredith]

standard DVD encoding quality is bad enough, don't make it even worse trying to squeeze more on a disc.  that goes double if it's something you downloaded with absolutely horrible quality.  change discs!

[Listener]

standard DVD encoding quality is bad enough, don't make it even worse trying to squeeze more on a disc.  that goes double if it's something you downloaded with absolutely horrible quality.  change discs!

I don't burn movies... mostly just anime... so five episodes (22 min apiece) on a disc isn't too terrible.

[Alice]

standard DVD encoding quality is bad enough, don't make it even worse trying to squeeze more on a disc.  that goes double if it's something you downloaded with absolutely horrible quality.  change discs!

I don't burn movies... mostly just anime... so five episodes (22 min apiece) on a disc isn't too terrible.

Puni Puni Poemi?

[Listener]

standard DVD encoding quality is bad enough, don't make it even worse trying to squeeze more on a disc.  that goes double if it's something you downloaded with absolutely horrible quality.  change discs!

I don't burn movies... mostly just anime... so five episodes (22 min apiece) on a disc isn't too terrible.

Puni Puni Poemi?

Noir.

[swolt]

when they make the DVDs (or CDs for that matter) at the factoy they use a huge stamp to imprint the information to the disk. This is permenant and can't be changed.

when you burn a disk, you are actually burning it. the laser heats up checimcals on the disk and writes binary to it. with the stamp they can get up to almost 9 gigs, but with the chemicals there is a limit of 4.whatever it is. unless you use dual layer, which is pretty cool how they do that.

[Mr. Ubiquity]

my laptop has dual layer, but i doubt that i will get it.  i should have spent 25 bucks extra for the lightscribe but i dont think id use that too much either.  though it woudl be cool to burn a dvd, turn it over, and burn the pic image to the front for identification.