1. Are dual-layer disks the 2-sided kind where you flip it over to play/record the other side?

2. What is DVD-9?

I ask about DVD-9 because I often have a problem of a movie I want to create as a DVD, being too big to fit on anything but a DVD-9 disk (according to the editing software, anyway).

I will already have a version of a movie, or some other programs on a DVD-RW, which I recorded directly from the TV. I set the recorder to start earlier and end later than the program I wished to record. This means there will be some 'leftovers' before/after the show I actually want.

I load the DVD-RW version onto my PC, and after having edited my movie to remove the garbage before/after the show I want to keep on a DVD, I will try to write the single movie now left from my editing session to a standard DVD disk.

When I try to write the movie I am given the message that it is too big to fit on a standard DVD and will only fit on a DVD-9 disk.

Or else I can drastically reduce the quality of the recording in order to get it onto the standard disk, which is what I have ended up doing since I don't know what a DVD-9 disk is.

The movie quality I end up with seems to me to be noticeably lesser than the quality of the original recording I made on the DVD-RW, and that contained even MORE minutes of movies than the DVD I have just written.

Can anybody explain this to me in a relatively simple way?

Thanks in advance for any info about these questions of mine.

Dual-layer means there are two layers on one side of a disc so that it can record twice as much information. Most commercial DVDs are dual layer. I believe DVD-9 simply means dual-layer, single-single sided.

I do know dual-layer is single sided, and you can get double the info on it, than single layered. Most bank DVDs are singled layered, and only compression can get more than two hours of video.
You have to have the blank duel-layered DVD, and a duel-layered recorder to take avantage of the format.
I use a program called DVD Shrink, and with it you can put a dist with more than two hours of videos on a single layered disc.I use the program to make copies of movies I watch alot, but don't want to mess up the original. It should work for your problem. Also the quality does not suffer.

Here is the link.http://www.mrbass.org/dvdshrink/, and it is FREE!

Thanks!

So what type of DVD are the ones you flip over to watch the other side?

Thanks!

So what type of DVD are the ones you flip over to watch the other side?

Two-Sided. :jest:

James ;)

DVD-5 is the common single sided, single layer disc.

DVD-9 is a single sided, dual layer disc.

DVD-10 is a double sided sided disc with a single layer on each side.

DVD-14 is a double sided disc with a dual layer on one side and a single layer on the other side.

DVD-18 is a double sided disc with dual layers on each side.

The numbering theory is that the number represents the approximate capacity in gigabytes...though I don't know if the theory has been tested.

I knew a Canadian would know. Except James who blew it! LOL

Thanks for the info. I had no idea there were so many types of disks.

Nobody has yet explained one thing to me, which had me ask the question about DVD-9 in the first place. Here's some more detail in case it makes the problem clearer. Can one of you guys explain this?

The program I recorded first (with before/after bits of other programs), is on the 4.7 Gig single side type DVD+RW at the 1 hour recording quality from a non-pc DVD recorder (works just like a VHR), and the smaller-sized version (after editing away unwanted content) is going onto another 4.7 Gig single side DVD+R using a PC DVD recorder/writer, set to use the normal 'best quality' setting.

While this example was the most recent time I have had this problem, I have had the same problem, with 1.5 and 2.0 hour movies, but recorded on DVD+RW 4.7 Gig disks at 2 hour, 4 hour and 6 settings before I edited them to be put on a DVD+R 4.7 Gig disk .

I don't understand how more minutes of program was able to be recorded on the +RW without any problem, but the shorter minute count version is suddenly too big to fit on a DVD which has the same maximum size as the original recording.

Does a PC best-quality recording contain more data than the best-quality of the stand-alone DVD TV recorder? Maybe the original PC setup of my software is defaulting to the maximum best-quality disk it knows exists, rather than the maximum best-quality of the disk in the drive to be written?

This seems to be the only explanation to me that makes sense, but I don't know if this is correct.

Anybody have knowledge of this, or are more detailed specifics needed to be sure?

Thanks for the help!

I've burned all kinds of DVD on my computer but I don't own a DVD standalone recorder so I can't really compare. I also burn stuff on +RW. The only thing I can see is that MAYBE the video gets more compress from a computer burner then from a DVD Standalone Recorder. You know you are comparing two different kind of DVD blanks, one that is Burned once (also burned at faster speed) and one that's erasable. What about if you do the test with the same type of blanks, is the same thing happening?
I started using DVD-9 dual Layers blanks. You can record 8.1G max on them versus 3.7G max for the DVD-5 (4.7G). I really like them, I now can make a perfect backup of a DVD without removing a thing with DVD Shrink. As for the others DVD format like the Dual Layers- Dual sided blanks, they were talking about them when the DVD format was in it's ealier stage of floading the customer market. We will not see them because of the Blue Ray & DVD-HD are simply blowing away the DVD-10. And can you see lots of Dual Layers blanks on selfs? Nope, we are just starting to see them at a reasonable price even if I'm using a dual layer burner on my computer for more then 1 year. Oh also don't go for the Blue-Ray format. Why? You won't be able to play your current DVD collection on that player. Again Sony is going their own way. I just hope that they will loose. Lets hope that the consumers won't fall in that gamick.....

Check the settings in your editing software. Depending on the resolution the original was and the res the software is trying to save the new version as, it may be trying to expand the original res up to the new res, resulting in a bigger file.

Or, to put it in simplistic numbers...

Original is recorded at 320x240, 5 meg file. Edit program is trying to save it at 640x480. That means that it's trying to save it at 4X the size of the original - twice the width times twice the height - which means that the new file would be, in theory, 20 meg.

I don't know the exact numbers of the different resolutions and file sizes off the top of my head, but that's the general logic. Check your "save" settings to make sure it's keeping the edited version at the same resolution as the original.

Thanks for the additional information. I guess it's probably the new coding trying to write a higher resolution than the original. Or else all the conversions back and forth are somewhere adding a lot of additional information.

I did check, and see that the original recording (+RW) looks to my eyes to be better resolution than the edited version, both on my PC and on our old-style TV sets when using a DVD player.

I have also recorded some programs directly onto the +R disks with the stand-alone recorder, and they also look to be better resolution than I get when I have edited other programs and had to lower the quality settings.

One of these days I will record something first on a +R disk and then convert it with the PC and see if it still fits on another +R disk from the same batch of DVD+R disks.