Hi Eric,

The default settings of MPEG-2 give a bitrate of about 8Mb/s which corresponds to around 1 hour on a 4.7GB DVD. This will give you the highest practical quality for a standard-definition DVD. Regards,
Mike

Home-build system:
Intel Core i5 Quad Core 3.3GHz, 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333MHz,
Asus Nvidia GT440 1GB, 2 x Western Digital WD10EARS 1TB, 1 x Seagate ST1000DM010 1TB,
Windows 7 Prof 64-bit, PD 9 Ultra 64, PD 13 Ultimate 64

Hi Mike
Thanks for that information, very much appreciated. Seems like I have been doing the recommended thing without realising it ☺
Have a great day
Regards
Eric

Hi, Eric!

For the purposes of content on disc, I've retained PD8 on my computer alongside PD14, the reason is because I can burn(author) a 4.7 GB DVD at DVD-SP and can accommodate close to 2 hours and 25(or slightly more) minutes on the disc. I found, to my dismay, that PD14 only offers DVD-HQ or "Smart Fit", the latter, I suspect, may "chop out" bits of my clips..... thoroughly undersirable! So, even though I'll edit in PD14, when it comes to authoring the disc, it's PD8 for me!

Cheers!

Neil

P.S. Picture quality's okay on a standard player and I don't get stutter and freezing either.

The ability to choose a bitrate (within upper and lower limits) should be put back in, maybe too many people didn't know how to use it correctly, CL does occasionally remove a feature and we never find out why. HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

Thanks Neil and Barry for your comments. I have loaded all my clips which unedited came to 2.25 hrs. On occasions during editing it down CyberLink hesitate and sometimes CL/Windows 7 would briefly display CL not responding but it would recover OK and I haven't lost any editing yet.

Quote: Hi, Eric!

For the purposes of content on disc, I've retained PD8 on my computer alongside PD14, the reason is because I can burn(author) a 4.7 GB DVD at DVD-SP and can accommodate close to 2 hours and 25(or slightly more) minutes on the disc. I found, to my dismay, that PD14 only offers DVD-HQ or "Smart Fit", the latter, I suspect, may "chop out" bits of my clips..... thoroughly undersirable! So, even though I'll edit in PD14, when it comes to authoring the disc, it's PD8 for me!

Cheers!

Neil

P.S. Picture quality's okay on a standard player and I don't get stutter and freezing either.

What happens if you Produce the timeline to a MPEG-2 file then import that into the Create Disc module? Produce still offers a choice of bitrate (on PD13 anyway).

I don't encounter the problem because I use a third-party authoring program for standard DVDs. Regards,
Mike

Home-build system:
Intel Core i5 Quad Core 3.3GHz, 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333MHz,
Asus Nvidia GT440 1GB, 2 x Western Digital WD10EARS 1TB, 1 x Seagate ST1000DM010 1TB,
Windows 7 Prof 64-bit, PD 9 Ultra 64, PD 13 Ultimate 64

Quote: Thanks Neil and Barry for your comments. I have loaded all my clips which unedited came to 2.25 hrs. On occasions during editing it down CyberLink hesitate and sometimes CL/Windows 7 would briefly display CL not responding but it would recover OK and I haven't lost any editing yet.

Hi, Eric!

Just a cautionary note here when dealing with lengths of time. If you type 2.25 hrs, I assume you're referring to 2 and a quarter hours, which translates to 2 hours, 15 minutes, it would have been better to write the time thus(2 hours, 15 minutes), as in calculating time, the dot is NOT a decimal point! Too often I see that dot misused in situations such as this. We're not dealing with decimal fractions here(sorry to seem pedantic, but it's a point[sorry, pun not intended] I need to get across). A minute is 60 seconds, not 100; an hour is 60 minutes, not 100. So to write(type) 2.25 is to say either 2 hours, 25 minutes, or 2 minutes, 25 seconds.

Cheers!

Neil.

Your 'point' is well made Neil. Yes it should be 2 hours 25 minutes

Eric

Hi, Eric!

I did not mean to sound pedantic on the subject, but I've come to value the ability of being able to hold the cursor over any video or MP3 music file and see its playing time, so that I can calculate how much I can squeeze onto a DVD or a music CD. To that end, I write down the playing times on a sheet of paper, then add them up. Counting the seconds, if you add 45 to 33, for instance, instead of 78(which is adding figures normally) what you end up with in counting time, is 1 minute, 18 seconds. likewise 45 + 33 minutes = 1 hour, 18 minutes. The trick in adding time is NOT to go by normal convention. Adding time goes from 1 to 59, the next number up, shifts from second to minute, or from minute to hour.

That should help when next you calculate how much video you "shoehorn" onto your next DVD. If you're using an earlier version of Power Director for the authoring, set the burn profile to DVD-SP and you can squeeze 2 hours, 25 minutes quite easily onto the disc.

Cheers!

Neil.

Great information, thanks Neil. I am using version 12 but I have still have some more editing to do to eliminate unwanted clips which should reduce the time quite a bit.

Eric

Quote: Great information, thanks Neil. I am using version 12 but I have still have some more editing to do to eliminate unwanted clips which should reduce the time quite a bit.

Eric

No, worries, Eric! Glad to help!

By the way, whereabouts in NSW are you? I'm in Port Stephens, just forty-or-so minutes drive north of Newcastle.

Cheers!

Neil.

I am in the Shellharbour area, 30 minutes south of Wollongong

Regards

Eric

Hi, Eric!

Yeah, I'm actually planning a trip to Sydney today(it's 12.56am, Wednesday, 20th January as I write.) I hit the sack last night just before 9.00pm but woke up at quarter-to-one, so I put in a bit of time answering posts, then a bit more snoozing, then at 4.30, I'll head off, drive down to Broadmeadow and catch the train from there. I've been planning a visit to the Tramway Museum at Loftus for some time, I've got my video camera battery juiced up for the day, so today's the day! As I finish this, it's now 1.03am.

Cheers!

Neil.