Thoughts on DVD/CD

[worldturning75]

Originally Posted by WelshWitchPMD

I really liked this DVD. I liked it much better then The Dance which I am sorry but I really don't care for that much.

My biggest complant is that it should have been all on one DVD. I hate switching them. Is there anyone that can put them both all on one DVD?

It can be done. The first DVD is about 3.5gb and the second DVD is a little over 5gb. Should fit on the new dual layer dvd+r discs (holds about 8.5gb but not in full distribution yet) with little or no compression. You'll also need one of the new dual layer dvd burners. I think there would be too much compression if you tried to fit it on a single layer dvd recordable disc (holds about 4.2gb). The only items on the dvd which you could eliminate to save space would be the menu and the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix which would leave you with just the stereo mix.

Here is a couple of links that may help on how to combine the dvd's if you have the required software:

http://users.skynet.be/contra/dvddouble.htm

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread....threadid=85702

[Cour]

Thanks for the info.

Do you know if a DVD burner that came with a computer about 6 months ago would be capable of copying the dual layer dvd?

[worldturning75]

Originally Posted by Cour

Thanks for the info.

Do you know if a DVD burner that came with a computer about 6 months ago would be capable of copying the dual layer dvd?

Most likely not. I think they were just released within the last month and the dual layer (DL) dvd+r discs are not yet widely available.

Best Buy is selling the Sony DRU-700A dual layer burner ($199.00). They are also selling the DL discs, but only in a pack with 9 regular dvd+r's, 1 dvd+rw and 1 DL disc. This pack with only 1 DL disc will cost you $30.

You can pick-up an NEC ND-2510A dual layer burner for under $90.00 at newegg.com:

NEC ND-2510A dual layer burner

Look further down the page of the link. They sell several variations of that model.

[estranged4life]

purchasing a self-contained DVD burner (The new Sony system is $799.00 but a Panasonic caught my eye for $499.00) but is it best to purchase a burner that can burn DVD-R or one that can burn DVD-RAM & DVD+RW???

[worldturning75]

Okay, I had to give it a try. Using Nero Recode 2, I was able to copy both dvd's onto one Verbatim DataLife Plus Dual Layer dvd+r disc. The process was actually very simple. There are no menus, but all chapter markers are preserved (with one little anomaly). The process took about 1hr. 10min. from analysis to encode to burn (excluding one other needed software ). Dual layer dvd+r can only be burned at 2.4x speed at this time.

With both audio streams (stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1) left in, Nero was displaying close to 87% quality. With just stereo as the audio stream, closer to 94% quality. I kept both audio streams in.

Subjectively, the video quality was somewhat more grainy at times and the colors seemed somewhat less vibrant, again at certain times (at least on my widescreen). I saw the 1 hr. PBS HD broadcast the other night, and the picture was incredible (better than the commercial dvd as it should be).

There are some techinical difficulties on playback with the burned dual layer disc mostly on the second layer. On my pc dvd player (ATI v9.0), using the same dvd drive that I used to burn the disc, the dvd would not chapter past I'm So Afraid. I had to use fast forward to get to the next song. I didn't watch the disc all the way on the pc, so there could be more of this.

On my standalone dvd player (Denon DVD-2900), the disc froze after Tusk, Stand Back, the band intros and Goodbye Baby right before the ending credits. Pressing the forward chapter button (sometimes twice) would take you to the start of the next song.

One other little anomaly (and this is because of the way Nero Recode 2 structures the DVD) is that the chapter numbers only apply to the track of the original disc. For instance, if you're watching Dreams (which say is Chapter 3) and want to skip to Tusk (which maybe would be Chapter 21 on a combined disc), you can't skip to it by just entering Chapter 21 on the remote. This is because the chapter numbers go back to chapter 1 beginning with Say Goodbye. You have to chapter through track by track. The same applies if your watching a track on what would have been disc 2 but want to skip to a track that would have been on disc 1. This can probably be fixed in a more advanced program, but would take more time and know-how.

All in all, it was a simple process and the copy is very good.