How much video can I fit onto a DVD?
This depends on the way that you encode your video into MPEG2. There is a trade-off between quality and quantity. As a rule of thumb, you can fit up to 90 minutes of very good quality video onto one DVD, but up to 3 hours is possible. The single layer DVDs that you write to using a computer have a capacity of 4.7GBs, which is about half that of most commercial DVDs - this is why many feature film DVDs have so much material on them. New Dual Layer DVDs are 8.9 GB and we now supply these in our systems. Not all DVD Hardware and Software supports this new format so talk to us before buying.
Will my DVD play in my standard DVD player?
While it cannot be guaranteed that DVDs written on computers will play on every DVD player in existence, independent tests and the experience of DVC and our customers have shown that there are no compatibility problems in the vast majority of cases. If you have any worries, we can supply you with a test DVD made on a DVC system for you to try in your DVD player. The new Dual Layer discs will probably be less compatible, but it is a little to early to give figures on this.
How long does it take to write a DVD?
Writing at 1x speed, it takes about an hour to write a full 4.7GB DVD. The latest DVD writers are able to write at faster speeds (8x for the Pioneer DVR-107, for example), but not all programs that write DVDs are able to take advantage of this yet. Speeds will inevitably increase over the coming months and years, so take an hour as the worst case scenario.
What’s the difference between DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R and DVD+RW?
There is a bit of a format war going on at the moment, and these are the different types of blank DVD media you can write to. Different DVD writers will write to different kinds of media. The DVD Writers we supply can now write all standards except DVD Ram..
Can I duplicate my DVDs?
DVDs written on your PC can be copied in exactly the same way as CDs, using software such as Ahead Nero. For larger scale duplication, DVD duplicators are available which can make up to seven copies of a DVD simultaneously. Note that you can only copy DVDs made on computers - commercial DVDs have copy protection features that prohibit this.
Is it easy to make DVDs?
Yes...and no. Making a basic DVD with chapter points and menus can be very simple indeed. More advanced features, such as subtitles, can be a bit trickier, but a lot is down to the particular authoring program you use. This is why it is a good idea to chat to us about your exact requirements, so that we can suggest the simplest and most appropriate solution for you. And if it all seems just a bit too complex, we offer DVD training courses at our offices in Hove, and have produced DVD training videos - available on DVD, naturally!
What is Dolby Digital?
Dolby Digital sound, also known as AC-3 audio, is a very high quality compressed sound format. It is very versatile, and comes in several flavours, from mono through conventional stereo up to 5.1 surround sound. AC-3 audio takes up less space on a DVD than uncompressed (WAV) audio, and is better quality than standard MPEG audio. As it is has to be licensed from Dolby, programs that can create AC-3 audio tend to be quite expensive. Pinnacle Impression DVD-Pro can work with AC-3 audio, but cannot create it, while Sonic Solutions ReelDVD can create stereo AC-3 audio.
Which is the best program to make the MPEG2?
This is very subjective and also depends how much video you want to fit on disc. Most encoders do a good job if asked to fit up to 90 minutes on disk - over this and some start to suffer. In our own tests the Pinnacle and Matrox cards were better at lower data rates than Canopus, which was about the same quality as the Adobe Premiere and DVD Workshop encoder. The best encoding by far was from Canopus’ ProCoder file conversion software, which works with all the systems available.
