[Kermit]

We were using DLT and we had no problems, but to cut costs and through the advice of our replicators we had moved to DVDRs…

…I know DLTs are probably better but can anyone suggest a solution to our current problem with DVDRs?

[Kermit]

I’m working on a PC so I’m not sure if this will work on a MAC.

I’ve had good experiences interghanging the extension of most large files, i.e. I often use Encore to author DVD’s and Nero Pro for copying and replication, however I will often change the file extension to an ISO as I’ve found that most programs can recognize this regardless of the native extension the program wants to give it.

It shouldn’t matter too much if it is a single or dual-layer DVD project as a prgram like Nero will only allow you to burn to media that can contain the file sizes.

The most important fact is to make ABSOLUTELY sure that you burn the file as an image not as a Data file. Unfortunately I’m not certain whether Roxio has image burning capabilities though I would surprised if it didn’t.

[Kermit]

Dave,

Thanks your suggestion worked a charm as I didn’t have any CSS protection on the original project…saved me many hours of work.

Cheers,

Kermit

[Kermit]

The DDP data was made in Gear….but because the they were made from a Dual Layer disc they are stored as Layer 0 and Layer 1 DDP images (DAT files).

Do you have any idea how I might go about putting these layers back onto a single DL disc using PC?

[Kermit]

Make sure you have a chapter points at the end of all your timelines…place them as far to the end as possible.

If you have already done this try deleting the end chapter points and putting them back in…

I know this sounds stupidly easy but it will fix most Encore problems…

[Kermit]

Absolutely…there is the DVD 9 which hold about 8.5 Gig (don’t ask why it’s called a DVD 9), but you do need a burner that can burn to these disks

Otherwise sometimes you can get double sided disks…

[Kermit]

I’ve recently been doing some DVD authouring with Encore for a large company and we use a program called Cinema Craft Encoder (CCE) which allows us to encode video with any number of settings…mostly it alllows us to set a variable bitrate.

I’m pretty sure variable bit rates allow you to store video at a higher quality at a lower cost to storage by calculating the information (colour, gamma, luminance, chroma) contained in each frame.

If you set a variable bit rate of roughly 3000 or 3500 to 8000ish, with an average of 4000-5000ish with 8-10 passes; this should allow you to store about 135minutes safely on a DVD 5.

Otherwise if you can get DVD 9 you can store more and amp up your bit rate quit a bit, say 4000-4500 to 8000-8500 with an average of 6000-7500 (as you turn up your average bit rate you can turn down your passes – say 5-7 passes – this won’t save you much space but will save you a lot of time), these setings should allow you to store about 150minutes if not more (of course you can always turn down your bit rate if you wanna store more).

CCE might be a bit expensive…I do know that Premiere has some encode settings, but their a little basic and not worth much…you can probably find relevent program somewhere online.

Of course these settings are in PAL, but I doubt there will be much difference