How can I burn 3 hours of video onto a 4.7GB DVD-R?

Question

When I have converted AVI, MPG etc files to DVD format files, I can only manage to burn just over an hour of film onto a blank DVD-R. I have tried to reduce the video quality when burning but this doesn't help much. Surely what I'm trying is not impossible when you can get a 3 hour King Kong hollywood movie onto DVD!?? Please help.

Answer 1

Use DVDShrink. A free program.

It will also allow you to backup ANY copy protected DVD onto a single standard 4.7GB media.

http://www.mrbass.org/dvdshrink/

It uses your resident burning engine, so you must have a program like Nero already installed.

http://www.nero.com/nero7/enu/nero7-demo.php

regards,
Philip T

regards,
Philip

Answer 2

First check that your new blank DVD is actually blank, and has no scratches etc. (I know sounds silly, but it happens a lot) If its not that it is probably because of the encoding, you are trying to make a file on your hard drive play on a DVD player, right? The burning software has to convert it into DVD format which takes up a lot of space. Depending on which software you are using there will be an option under 'encoding' or 'compression' and you will need to set this to a level which will make it fit on your disc. Sometimes there is an 'auto' setting, but some software is easier than others. I use 'dvdFlick' and find it pretty easy, it can take an hour or two, but does most of what you need automatically. An alternative is if your dvd player is decent, it should play '.avi' files and '.mpeg4' files, or 'divX' they should have the little symbols on the top of the actual DVD player. Try burning the file to disc, just as a regular file, 'a data disk' not as DVD, and put it in your dvd player, if that works it is easier and much quicker, but some DVDs don't play those files. If you have a spare couple of blank DVDs its worth a try. Burning movies can be tricky, if none of this works, try searching for help specific to your software.

Answer 3

Try DVD Shrink 3.2 it will compress your video and allow for it to be placed on a single layer DVD. Just google the name and you should pull up download sites. This is free software by the way.

Answer 4

You need DVD shrink. Free software on the web which is easy to use, do not pay for it! It compresses your video, ie lowers the quality slighty, but means you can fit it on 1 disc.

Answer 5

try Power Video Converter

Answer 6

Use Shrinkto5basic - it's free
http://www.filehippo.com/download_shrinkto5/

or if you want top quality and have the money, use clonedvd; I have found the results to be excellent
http://www.slysoft.com/en/clonedvd.html

Answer 7

compress using a codec; like divx, xvid, etc...