Recording to DVD

[Padawson]

Having recorded the programs I am now filling up the hard disc with 'want to keep' or 'need to watch' programs. I have a DVD writer which I haven't used yet (or when I did it took an absolute age before showing 3% progress (4X, +RW)).
Questions:
1. How do I reduce the quality (& therefore size) of program and test it before writing to DVD?
2. How long does the writing take?
3. Where is there general information on the Internet re. making DVDs?
4. Does anyone else have a routine or hardware that helps them keep on top of storing recorded programs?
Thanks.

[stefan]

I'm an absolute newbie on burning to dvd, but here are my experiences.
1) I got a software with my burner, called dvd authoring tool something. There I can edit out commercials, and reduce the quality to make it fit onto one disc. Or less if I want.
2) Reducing the quality takes more or less as long time as the recording is, on my box. Epia M10k. So, a 2 hour movie would take about 1-2 hours to process. After that it burns the movie, which takes about half an hour to one hour. 4x burner.

[colin]

I suggest you take a trip over to http://www.doom9.org or http://www.videohelp.com . These sites will help you in the process of transferring to DVD with the best results possible.

There are numerous methods and it all depends on how much to want to learn about video material,

Cheers,
Colin.