How can I get 2 hours and 6 minutes of VHS tape onto a single DVD?

[John Rofrano]

You need to decrease the a average bit-rate in the render template. Use a bit-rate calculator to figure out what bit-rate to use. There are lots of bit-rate calculators on the web, just Google for it.

Alternately you can render to DV AVI and drop that into DVD Architect and it will automatically calculate the correct bit-rate so that it fits on the disc.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Michael Lester]

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! Mr. Rofrano you have made my day!
That change in bit-rate was just what was needed! It works! Another thing that is amazing is the response time from when the question was posted…….a matter of minutes!
Again, thanks.

[John Rofrano]

You are very welcome. I’m glad that worked for you.

Over a year ago I bought a Canopus ADVC-300 to do the exact same thing as you are but the VHS tapes are still siting in a pile waiting… so you are ahead of me. 😉

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Stephen Mann]

“… but the VHS tapes are still siting in a pile waiting..”
So are mine, as are my pile of LP records.

Too bad that I can’t write an educational syllabus and get a summer college intern.

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com

[Dave Haynie]

Ditto… though I had relatively few VHS tapes.

Over the last year, I did actually import all of my analog 8mm tapes, now on my RAID as DV files. I still have some years of Digital8 and DV tapes to import and archive.. all personal stuff, of course (anything shot for other people was long ago dealt with).

The impetus here is the gear… I have one Digital 8 camcorder that’s semi-functional. When that fails, I have to spend money to get to that older stuff. I actually have two HDV cameras left, but I do intend to sell off the HVR-A1 when I get a round tuit. The Canon HV10, slightly damaged, remains as a deck until I have nothing left that’s not online or on a disc somewhere.

As for those LP records… I have a stack of my Mom’s old disc, including 78s and a couple one-offs she cut back in the 50s and 60s, which I do intend to bring into the digital world sometime before Mother’s Day. I don’t actually have a turntable that does 78rpm, so this should be fun.

-Dave

[Stephen Mann]

“I don’t actually have a turntable that does 78rpm, so this should be fun.”

Record it at 33 1/3 RPM and speed it up in Vegas by 75%.

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com

[Dave Petteruto]

Hi John,

I tried your suggestion:

“Alternately you can render to DV AVI and drop that into DVD Architect and it will automatically calculate the correct bit-rate so that it fits on the disc.”

I had avi files adding up to about two hours and fifeteen minutes. After approx three hours of proccesing my final file size for the DVD was over seven gigs. Do you know what I did wrong? I was using DVD Architect Pro 5.0

Thanks
Dave P.

[John Rofrano]

Do you have the disc size set to 4.7GB? Right-click the Disc Space Used readout in the lower right-hand corner and make sure it’s set to 4.7 or 3.5 GB Disc. That’s the only thing I can think of.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Dave Petteruto]

Hi John,

Thanks for your reply. I checked my DVDA settings and they were set on 4.70 gb disc. When I was processing the file it seemed like it was doing what your instructions stated because DVDA was saying something to the effect of “video too large for disc compressing to fit”. It just didn’t compress it enough. Something else must be set wrong or ???.

Thanks
Dave P.

[Dave Haynie]

The best quality approach is to compress all of your video assets to variable bitrate MPEG-2 that you’ve worked out, using a bitrate calculator, to ensure a proper fit on that DVD. This takes some experience to get working the first time.

The one minuute solution is this. After you have all of your assets in DVDA, select the “File/Optimize Disc..” dialog. Make sure all of your video assets (or at least those you’re willing to compress/recompress) “Use default bit rate” set to “Yes” under “Recompress Settings” (on the Video tab). One this is set up, click on the “Fit to Disc” button. This will calculate a bitrate for you that will ensure everything fits.. or give you an error, if you don’t have enough assets set for recompression.

-Dave