Is there a way to convert something on a VCD to DVD if you have a DVD burner. Also if the VCD is on a 800 mb disc and the DVD-r has 4.7 gb could you store that much more on the DVD-r or is it a matter of time restraint, meaning the VCD has 80 mins and the DVD-r says 120 mins. Thanks, Sean

-- Sean (smonahan@edinboro.edu), April 10, 2003

Answers

http://www.vcdhelp.com has a guide on converting VCD to DVD. Basically, it involves demuxing the VCD, converting the audio to 48 Khz, and buring a DVD format disc. You are correct, DVD will store probably 5 or 6 times as much MPEG-1 video at VCD bit rates as a CD-R. I wish that DVD-R didn't always say 120 minutes, because this is totally dependant on the bit rate of the video on the disc. 120 minutes is a bit rate of about 5000 (roughly) Kbps. Since VCD has a bit rate of 1150 Kbps, you could fit a lot more, maybe over 400 minutes on a DVD. I'm too lazy to do the calculations :-) If you used a bit rate of 8000, you might only get about 70 minutes on a "120 minute" DVD disc. So you see that "120 minutes" is a bit deceptive and can be more or less depending on your bit rate.

-- Root (root@yahoo.moc), April 10, 2003.

Giving what Root just said, then prfessional DVD movies are recorded at a bit rate less than 5000kbps in order for a 2hr 20min movie, lets say, to fit in a dvd disk. i always thought because the video looks so clean it must be 8000kbps video stream but now i know it could be 4000kbps... which is getting low. There are probably other things involved in making proffesional DVDs that i dont know about. Thanks for the info. I'm gonna do more research. (research i don't like that term sounds like i'm in school same for term) hehe

-- Daniel (00@00.COM), April 14, 2003.

Proffesional DVDs are usually dual layer, which is, they have two physical layers or data, so twice as much data can fit than a regulalr DVD-R (8.5GB). Current DVD Burners are unable burn Dual Layer Discs, they must be pressed. So a bitrate at or above 8000kbps is very valid and is why they do in fact look so nice:)

-- Astaroth` (the_revolution0@hotmail.com), November 10, 2003.