You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

User profile for user: escape69
escape69 Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Why Is So Little 8.5GB DVD+/-RW Blank Media Available?

Whether searching at local retailers or eBay, there seems to be very litte 8.5GB DVD+/-RW blank media available. It would seem like RW would be prefered, if you wanted to add additional iMovie Projects to a single disc over time. Below is the search link for 8.5GB DVD+/-RW blank discs on eBay. Out of all 500+ offerings there is only one RW.


http://www.ebay.com/sch/CD-DVD-Bluray-Discs-/80135/i.html?Storage%2520Capacity=8 %252E5%2520GB&_sop=15&_from=R40&_nkw=&_dcat=80135&Type=DVD%252BR%2520Dual%2520La yer%7CDVD%252DR%2520Dual%2520Layer%7CDVD%252DRW%2520Dual%2520Layer&LH_PrefLoc=3& _ipg=200&rt=nc


I'm new to burning DVDs, but I would like to use iMovie and iDVD to have three or four edited projects on one 8.5GB DVD+/-RW disc, which are added at different times (reason for RW). Then, when it is placed in a DVD player a menu would come up asking which project we would like to view.


1) Is it possible to add additional video projects to an RW disc at different times or can iDVD put only one video project on a single RW disk?


2) Can an opening menu be made and edited on an RW disc over time pointing to different video projects from which a TV or DVD remote could choose?


3) If multiple video projects cannot be placed on a single RW disc, is there any benefit to RW over R for such a purpose, other than the fact that the disc could be completely erased and reused for a different purpose?


Thanks for your patient consideration.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.8), PPC G5 1.8GHz

Posted on Dec 9, 2013 11:29 AM

Reply
3 replies
User profile for user: escape69
escape69 Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Dec 9, 2013 11:55 AM in response to escape69

This explanation on Wikipedia answers why there are so few 8.5GB RW discs available, but I still hope for answers to the three questions above.


"A specification for dual-layer DVD-/+RW discs with a capacity of 8.5 GB (8,500,000 bytes) was approved by the DVD Forum.[1] However, manufacturing support for rewritable dual-layer discs did not materialize due to costs and expected competition from newer and higher-capacity formats like Blu-ray and HD DVD."

Reply
User profile for user: Klaus1
Klaus1
User level: Level 9
52,811 points

Dec 9, 2013 3:19 PM in response to escape69

Why do you feel you need read/write media? You have to delete them to use them again, you can't just add to them.


Video DVDs do not care about file size, just length:


iDVD encoding settings:


http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1502?viewlocale=en_US


Short version:


Best Performance is for videos of up to 60 minutes


Best Quality is for videos of up to 120 minutes


Professional Quality is also for up to 120 minutes but even higher quality (and takes much longer)


That was for single-layer DVDs. Double these numbers for dual-layer DVDs.


Professional Quality: The Professional Quality option uses advanced two-pass technology to encode your video (The first pass determines which parts of the movie can be given greater compresson without quality loss and which parts can’t. The second pass then encodes those different parts accordingly) , resulting in the best quality of video possible on your burned DVD. You can select this option regardless of your project’s duration (up to 2 hours of video for a single-layer disc and 4 hours for a double-layer disc). Because Professional Quality encoding is time-consuming (requiring about twice as much time to encode a project as the High Quality option, for example) choose it only if you are not concerned about the time taken.


In both cases the maximum length includes titles, transitions and effects etc. Allow about 15 minutes for these.


You can use the amount of video in your project as a rough determination of which method to choose. If your project has an hour or less of video (for a single-layer disc), choose Best Performance. If it has between 1 and 2 hours of video (for a single-layer disc), choose High Quality. If you want the best possible encoding quality for projects that are up to 2 hours (for a single-layer disc), choose Professional Quality. This option takes about twice as long as the High Quality option, so select it only if time is not an issue for you.

Use the Capacity meter in the Project Info window (choose Project > Project Info) to determine how many minutes of video your project contains.

NOTE: With the Best Performance setting, you can turn background encoding off by choosing Advanced > “Encode in Background.” The checkmark is removed to show it’s no longer selected. Turning off background encoding can help performance if your system seems sluggish.


And whilst checking these settings in iDVD Preferences, make sure that the settings for NTSC/PAL and DV/DV Widescreen are also what you want.


http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1502?viewlocale=en_US

Reply

Why Is So Little 8.5GB DVD+/-RW Blank Media Available?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.
Learn more Sign up