How to burn more recordings per DVD

[vbharry]

I am trying to figure out the best way to archive recordings to dvds. However, at ~2GB per hour, it looks like I can only get about 2 hours per DVD. I would definitely like to get more than this, even if I have to sacrifice a little quality. I have tried converting my recordings to divx using mencoder, and this cuts the size in half, which looks good. I then tried converting the divx file to dvd using DIKO, but this seems to just increase the size back to the original (actually, it's a little larger, but that's probably just due to the additional dvd stuff). The DIKO website mentions getting 10 hours of good quality video on a single dvd. Has anyone been able to get this kind of output? What am I missing?

Does anyone have any advice or suggestions for getting more than 2 hours of recordings on a dvd (but still being able to play it in a dvd player)?

Thanks!

[capone]

Using Nero, I have gotten two per DVD w/o a problem (three, depending on the size of the films), so it can be done.

[jasiewer]

I use DVD Shrink to make a DVD’s that were 9GB fit onto a 4.7GB DVD. This should work for you if your program can output the disk to an image file. The DVD Shrink lowers the quality but you can get double or even triple the amount of video on a DVD 4.7GB disk. I have even created an image file that was around 12GB fit on to a DVD4.7. You can find it by doing a Google search for “DVD Shrink”. And the greatest part is that it still plays in the DVD player.

[stu8080]

DVD Shrink is great.

I found the best solution to archive probs like this is to look for a DivX DVD player, in the UK ive found them for about £30 - £40 and they play any downloaded films/tv shows in .avi format as well as transcoded GBPVR files.
I stick about 10 half hour episodes onto a DVD which often covers a series, and does away with converting from .avi to DVD.

[groover km]

DVD Shrink is great.

I found the best solution to archive probs like this is to look for a DivX DVD player, in the UK ive found them for about £30 - £40 and they play any downloaded films/tv shows in .avi format as well as transcoded GBPVR files.
I stick about 10 half hour episodes onto a DVD which often covers a series, and does away with converting from .avi to DVD.

Ditto. Fifty bucks from walmart and I don't have to spend hours and hours reencoding.... priceless.

[Pioneer4x4]

Does anyone have any advice or suggestions for getting more than 2 hours of recordings on a dvd (but still being able to play it in a dvd player)?

Thanks!

I agree with the posts about DVDSHRINK, great utility! I use it alot. I frequently shrink 4 shows (about 3 hours total after commercials removed) about 5.6 gig to fit on a dvd. Quality seems unaffected. If you use it, make sure you go in and enable the higher quality settings.
Enable Perform Deep Analysis, and high quality adaptive... (Basically 2-pass)

[AssafR]

I think it's freeware. It works in the compressed-domain, which bring very good results regarding runtime.

[AssafR]

Best of all: Use CVD Resolution.

CVD (352x480 or 352x576) is about half the Full resolution (1/2 D1).
That's still very good quality for most purposes, and if properly compressed can fit 4+ hours into on DVD.
The important thing - it is a "legal" resolution, defined in the DVD standard. Which means it should be compatible and work on any DVD in the world (only problem -not suitable for anamorphic widescreen).