KDVD: Possible overlooked trick to get more footage on a disc?
 

This is very simple and probably used by many. But I have often put 5 movies on to one DVD, equalling around 8 hours, using the full DVD template even. Normally you would only be able to fit a max of 6.5 hours per DVD. Well what I do is author it to around 6gb (or less) in DVD Workshop (or any such thing) but creating a DVD folder instead of disc burning. Then I use DVD2One (or DVD Shrink) to then make it fit on to a 4.7gb DVD. I also notice NO difference. I know you can fit around 10 hours of "half" footage on to DVD, but this way you can encode at full resolution and still fit around 8 hours on to a DVD, a good compromise perhaps ?

This is also useful for when your movies come to a bit more then expected, even if only 10mb or so. With DVD2One you can transode within 20 minutes with no real noticable difference (within 6gb anyway, over that you may notice difference, but you can try).

Theoritcally you can put 9 movies on to 1 disc if you author at 9gb, and then transode to 4.7gb, although quality wise I would doubt would be that good.

Sorry if this is an obvious idea but I have found it mainly useful for when I find the movies are a few MB over the disc space, this allows you to still keep all footage on the disc. DVD2One (http://www.dvd2one.com) is a paid for item of software, but DVD Shrink is free (http://www.dvdshrink.org).

That is an EXCELENT tip Jon Read :) :!:
So basically just do file size prediction at ~6GB, and let DVDShrink do it's job 8)

-kwag

Thanks :)

Yep, that is what I suggest. You may even get away with 7gb or 8gb but I think 6gb file size prediction is a good safe amount, I doubt you will notice any quality difference at 6gb transcoded. Those with 22inch or less 4:3 TVs may wish to go higher then 6gb. This will probably also work for the "half" templates, so imagine fitting 15 hours per DVD with the same quality as 10 hours ?? :) That has yet to be tested though.

I'm missing something. Do you join the movies into one big file? Can you be a liittle clearer on the beginning steps?

-Yoda

Nope, what I do is usually have 4 movies per DVD, which is around 6.5 hours, no problem using the Full-DVD KDVD template. But, if you wish to fit 5 or even 6 movies per disc without much quality difference then encode your DVD movies as normal using the KDVD templates. Wait until you have around 6gb of movie footage. Then use a authoring program like the Uleads, or DVD Lab, Maestro, or any other one that lets you put the files in a ready for DVD VIDEO_TS folder on your hard disk rather then to disc.

Okay, so you now have a authored DVD with around 5 or 6 movies on. But it wont fit on a 4.4gb disc as it is around 6gb. No problem, use either DVD2One, DVD Shrink, Instant Copy, DVD95Copy, or any other DVD9 to DVD5 transcoder to shrink the footage to exactly a DVD-R disc length.

So what you now have, is 6gb of KDVD made footage on to a 4.4gb DVD-R disc with no real quality difference. You can even go as high as 9gb (shrunk down to 4.4gb) but I would advise against it.

I estimate : 6 movies per disc (widescreen) per DVD using KDVD-Full (6.5gb transcoded to 4.4gb)
Or : 9 movies per disc (widescreen) per DVD using KDVD-Half (ditto).

You need to download a transcoder, any of the above mentioned ones will do. All are pay-for except DVD Shrink.

You will then need software to burn a VIDEO_TS folder to disc, most authoring software can do this.

The Steps.........

1. Encode movies using TMPG with KDVD templates (up to around 6.5gb max, higher will mean quality loss)
2. Author DVD using authoring software
3. Author finalised DVD to VIDEO_TS folder on hard disk
4. Use transcoder to transcode 6.5gb VIDEO_TS folder to 4.4gb (around 20 minutes)
5. Burn finished 4.4gb VIDEO_TS folder to DVD disc

Hi Jon Read,
Thanks for your hint. Do you find DVD2ONE is NOT as good as DVDShrink? I did notice some difference after FURTHER transcode by either DVD2ONE or DVDShrink. For DVDShrink, I have use 40% level to bring 6GB down to 4.38GB. What is your settings?

I mainly use DVD2One, but I suggested DVD Shrink due to the fact it is free and does the same job, so I haven't experimented too much with Shrink and KDVD, but on other DVDs I have done it has been fine, although I prefer the quality of DVD2One.

If you can get it or afford it, Instant Copy 7 will give the very best results, but it is a bit slower.

It may depend on your TV size and so on, I have a 22inch TV and I personally can't notice any difference. I guess there is a chance you may if you have a bigger TV.

How much of a difference do you notice ? Is it quite bad ? Be good to hear results from people. If you find 6gb gives you quality problems then maybe try 100mb less and so on until you don't, then you know your quality limit.

You've mentioned that you hardly noticed any difference when using the templates,yet I am curious if there were any "pixelation" distortions during action sequences and rapid camera panning like you normally see in regular 80 minute CDRs.

Thanks Jon

I'm gonna try this out.

Yes, please give it a go, but if you loose quality don't blame me, haha, it may depend on footage, TV size and of course DVD player quality. For me though, 6gb is virtually unchanged from 4.4gb.

ezysk, not that I could see, no pixelisation. Give it a go yourself though, I can only speak for my own findings. I guess there is a chance someone with a 30inch Widescreen TV and surround sound might notice something, but I don't on my stereo 22inch 4:3 TV. I haven't tried it on anything bigger or better.

I tried this idea using DVD2One and IC7. Just did not look good at all for the movies I was doing. Massive blocking in the dark areas that I do not see on a regular encode, and when there was high motion. Sounded like a great idea and hoped it would look good, but oh well.

Hi Jon Read:

It looks loke you are doing exactly what I would like to do, except that I can't start the process due to problems
I have with TOK and my set up. However, I have a couple of questions:
1.- In a different post, I was asking if there was a guide for KDVD, and the answer was negative.
However, you are doing it. Would it be too much if I ask you if you would let us know the steps you take to create
a kdvd file?
Are you using moviestacker? what settings? Are you using TOK?

I am reading that TOK can be used to predict the size of the back up, are you using it?
If I were to guess the steps to create a KDVD, then I would say that the steps to create it are similar to the steps
to create a KVCD, however, I am not absolutely sure if my assumptions are correct, and
that is the reason why I am asking if you would clarify this KDVD situation.

2.- When I use Tmpgenc dvd author to combine 2 videos into one disc using dvdshrink-or dvd2one,
I can only back up the videos with one languaje, is this happening to you as well? That is if you are using
DVD author's software.

Thank you in anticipation to your answers

Totonho03