Newbie question: Is it possible to fit 4 hours of MPEG-2 onto a dvdr?

[Dignan]

Hey,

I just got a new machine and am wondering if (or how) I can burn MPEG-2 files of 3 + hours(sporting events like a football game for example) to a dvdr. I was told by the salesperson who sold me the machine that I could but I'm having some trouble figuring out how.


Is this the right forum for this sort of question?

It came with sonic mydvd which I'm now scrapping in favor of nero.

I'm assuming the procedure is similar to that of burning dvd backups but I'm not sure. I'm attempting to record the superbowl (4.26 gigs) which I captured using my ati tv wonder card to dvdr. Do I need to do something to this file (it's listed as ATI file) in order to convert them to vob viles?

Is that even necessary?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

[Dignan]

Also,

Is rempeg 2 the best program to use for reencoding? I've heard it may be a bit inconsistent. Is TMPGEnc/TMPGEnc Plus or CCE a better or more reliable alternative?

[Batman]

CCE is faster and offers better quality when compared to TMPGEnc. However, CCE is also substantially more expensive. You may want to test both softwares. I wouldn't recommend REMPEG2, it is no longer under development and many people report inconsistent results with it.

Depending on what bitrate you select you may be able to squeeze 3 hrs of video on dvd-r. After you have created complaint dvd mpeg-2 video with TMPGEnc/CCE then using any dvd authoring software, be it NERO burnig rom or Sonic MyDVD should create the proper dvd structure and burn to dvd-r/rw.

[Ndb]

Hi,

You can use TMPGenc (not version 2.59 as is buggy) and from the Wizard pick DVD Low Res.

This will give you a giant SVCD (come VCD) for MPEG2 at a res of 352x240 (NTSC) or 352x288 (PAL).

With this method you can get 245min using PCM audio or 495min using MPEG audio.

Only thing to watchout for is that most US NTSC DVD Players don't like MPEG audio (PAL is fine with it), but yours may be ok. If yours is PAL then go for MPEG audio.

For home movies i.e. ones shot with your camcorder you won't notice much quality loss. It will be about as good as VHS (if not better)

I really would recomend using something a little more flexible than MyDVD though.

I hope this helps - Ndb)

[Dignan]

Thanks for replying Batman and Ndb!

I will try a few different methods using your advice and see which works best. Really appreciate the help as I'm kind of lost on this learning curve.

Thanks again,

Dig

[samvado]

tmpgenc say: file cannot exceed 3 hours

... if audio format is linear PCM

but I do not find an option anywhere (in wizzard mode) to change the audio to anything other than PCM (audio is breyed out in wizzard more)

is there a proggy that actually allows me to make a 4 hour SVCD on DVD-R media?


thank you

-sam