longest movie possible?

I can get up to 6 hours on a Single Layer DVD when I copy VHS tapes on my consumer DVD/VHS combo machine.

Yep, and it looks like junk.

I'd probably need to get about 4 hours onto a single layer DVD for an upcoming project.

Ratchet down the bits per second to half of what you'd use for a 2 hr project and you can do it. You project also will look like junk.

x

Just curious what Warholesque video you are creating that demands an uninterupted 4 hour stream? And how are you going to ensure people don't get up and walk out after the first hour? At that point, you could have encoded the just the first two hours at a much higher quality and no one would know that you forget the rest of the material as no one would sit through it. Reminds me of the graduate student who wrote his dissertation as a 30 page diatribe, stapled another 170 pages of blank paper behind that then added the endnotes for the last 5 pages. No one noticed.

Have you calculated the cost of a two-disc set? It really isn't that expensive.

-DH

Also bear in mind that FCP may not take well to a 4-hour sequence; long opening times, crashes, etc. are common with sequences of extreme length/complexity.

any other ideas???

Sure! Leave out the really bad performers.

I agree with the other contributors that a 4 hour DVD will look like ordure to most of us.

However, it can be done quite easily in FCP and Compressor.

Though we may not be too happy with the results, 99% of the general public will probably think they are brilliant. (I sometimes wonder whether it is worth bothering with quality when I hear the comments of lay audiences - except I have to view them too!)

From my experience, parents of dancing kids are not bothered about the finer points of video ...... they just want to see a recognizable image of their offspring.

In spite of the comments we have made, a 4 hour video of such a subject should be perfectly fine for its audience.

From my experience, parents of dancing kids are not bothered about the finer points of video ...... they just want to see a recognizable image of their offspring.

True.

Actually, if it was me, I'd want to see my kid in hi-def glory and to heck with everyone else. If you promised mom and pop one of those, I'll bet they would sell like hotcakes, whatever that means.

Make a video in FCP and export it to Compressor where you encode at a lower rate. Then burn it to a DVD.

There are free bitrate calculators on the web, though a quick search suggests many of them have broken links.

If you have any problems, email me and I will send you one - they are less than a megabyte.

This link for a bitrate calculator seems to be working. You will have to register before you can download it.

http://software.techrepublic.com.com/abstract.aspx?docid=535955&promo=100511

Alternatively:
http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/bitbudget.html

Have you tried that link recently?

It has never worked for me, producing +"a file that cannot be opened because it is the wrong type".+

It's done it again!