Squeezing more than 2 hours of video onto a DVD?

I'm using Final Cut Studio 2, which has Final Cut Pro 6, Compressor 3.0.5, and DVD Studio Pro 2.4.1, on a G5 Quad-core 2.5 GHz PowerMac running OS 10.5.8 Leopard

In the past I have created Final Cut projects that completely filled a DVD, which seems to hold about two hours of video when I burn it to a DVD using iDVD.

I have a FCP project in the works now that looks like it may run past two hours, by maybe 15 or 20 minutes.

So my question is, if I were to use Compressor, or DVD Studio Pro, instead of iDVD to create the DVD, is it possible to squeeze those extra 15 or 20 minutes onto the DVD without seriously harming the quality of the video or audio?

Thanks for any advice,

Tom

Posted on Mar 25, 2014 8:17 PM

19 replies

Mar 31, 2014 10:31 AM in response to Tom Baker1

As others have said, making a basic DVD with DVDSP is child's play, however creating menus is very complex if you have only used iDVD previously, and that was what concerned me.

Now I've just discovered your website where you give a brief account of some of your activities, and I take back everything . . . . compared with what you have already achieved, learning DVDSP will be a doddle!

P.S. The variable bit rate and multi-pass encoding of DVDSP/Compressor should take care of the isolated action shots.

Message was edited by: Ian R. Brown

Tom Baker1 Author

Level 3

613 points

Mar 31, 2014 10:36 AM in response to Drew13

Thanks for all that info, Drew. This project is standard def at 4:3. The motion is mostly low, but there are a few lively animations in spots, made with keyframes, plus some video of humans interacting. I'll just have to examine all the motion after the compression and see if it still looks OK.

Distribution will no doubt be low-volume, and I'll be burning these DVDs myself in the old Mac (2006 quad-core G5), unless I see some advantage to burning DVDs in a Mac Pro that I also have here. But I run Studio 2 (FCP 6) and create these video projects on the G5.

I'll check out the links you provided. I just took a look at the one about Photoshop images for menu screens. Looks like some experimentation may be necessary there to get the best background images. That is where I'll miss the simplicity of iDVD. Seems to me that you can dump any old image into iDVD for a menu background and it handles it fine, automatically. At least, I've never had any trouble that way.

Tom

Tom Baker1 Author

Level 3

613 points

Mar 31, 2014 10:53 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

Ian, I'm glad you have confidence in my ability to learn DVD Studio Pro easily, but the truth is that I'm an old dog who doesn't learn new tricks easily. It took me several years to learn FCP, beginning with Final Cut Express in 2005. Then, just as I felt like I was getting the hang of Final Cut, Apple abandoned it and went to a whole new video editor interface. All my years of slowly working up to some competence with FCP suddenly became obsolete knowledge. I give up trying to keep up with progress, and will just slog along trying to get my obsolete computer (G5) with its obsolete apps (Studio 2) to accomplish something for me. I'm stuck in the past, but comfortable there. Even my painting is 19th century.

Tom

Mar 31, 2014 1:13 PM in response to Tom Baker1

Tom Baker1 wrote:

Even my painting is 19th century.

I wouldn't be anywhere near as impressed if it were 20th. century stuff. 😉

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Squeezing more than 2 hours of video onto a DVD?