iDVD: How many actual minutes of video per DVD?

jp_patchesjp_patches
Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
I just bought a digital camcorder, so I'm using iMovie (2.1.6) and iDVD (2.1) for the first time. My first project, mostly for practice, has been to transfer a favorite movie from VHS to DVD. The box for the movie says that it's 91 minutes long, so I figured I could just edit the credits a little bit.



However, once I got it all into iMovie, I find that it's almost 94 minutes long. I would have to delete both beginning and end credits to get under 90 minutes. I would rather not do that.



So, does anyone know the actual number of minutes of video that I can burn onto a DVD? Is it 90 minutes exactly?



I don't want to waste a blank DVD just by seeing what happens, so I thought I would ask here first. Thanks for your help.



JP

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    tommy_thompsontommy_thompson Posts: 224member
    Hello, I cannot answer that either..my questin is along the same lines. I have a mini DV camera..and for some reason cannot even get it any where NEAR the 90 min. mark. Even if I use my old home videos from VHS to DVD, I get the same message that says: This movie is longer than 60 min. to get it to fit, it will need the video quality to be knocked down. Basically this is what it tells me. Sorry this is no help, but I figured I would throw my question in the ring as well. I am pretty sure this thread will be moved to the genius section..but you never know. If anyone can answer our questions..GREAT!
  • Reply 2 of 9
    wmfwmf Posts: 1,164member
    iDVD probably won't let you start the burn if it's too long, so just try it and if you don't get an error message then you're probably OK.
  • Reply 3 of 9
    gardenofearthlydelightsgardenofearthlydelights Posts: 963member
    I'm far from an expert on this subject, but that's never stopped me before.



    iDVD uses a simple MPEG2 compression (it's a constant rate, not a dynamically changing one), and therefore is limited to the size of the DVD-R. In other words, in can only burn XX minutes on a given size DVD.



    If iDVD says it's 90 minutes, then that's pretty much it. I haven't burned more than 46 minutes, so I can vouch for this, but I think you're out of luck.



    You could try making an VR MPEG2 out of it (using something other than iDVD-- try homepage.mac.com/rnc/), and then using Toast to make the DVD. Making it a variable rate MPEG2 would make the file smaller, theoretically fitting on the DVD.
  • Reply 4 of 9
    tommy_thompsontommy_thompson Posts: 224member
    Well, it says 90- but I can only get 60 on it, why?
  • Reply 5 of 9
    gardenofearthlydelightsgardenofearthlydelights Posts: 963member
    [quote]Originally posted by tommy_thompson:

    <strong>Well, it says 90- but I can only get 60 on it, why?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    hmmm...



    The old version 1.0 could only do 60 minutes.



    I did a quick Google on this, and it seems that iDVD likes to do 60 minutes with good quality. If it goes to 90 minutes, the quality goes down, but it'll do it.



    I don't have v2.x, so maybe there's some magic Big Red Checkbox in the Prefs somewhere that you could check. It should be possible.
  • Reply 6 of 9
    applenutapplenut Posts: 5,768member
    not enough
  • Reply 7 of 9
    gardenofearthlydelightsgardenofearthlydelights Posts: 963member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by applenut

    not enough



    too much?
  • Reply 8 of 9
    tommy_thompsontommy_thompson Posts: 224member
    Well, I have iMovie 3- the latest version with updates. It says it will do 90, but won't do it..it always wants to knock down the quality if it is over 60..and takes FORVER to burn one that way. Can anyone please shed some light on the situation?



    Thanks!
  • Reply 9 of 9
    gk767gk767 Posts: 1member

    That makes windows no restrictions :)

    Better use a virtualized windows and see the benefits.

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