Confused about the length!

[Abbas]

I've just moved from CDs to DVDs and I'm a little confused about the length of a blank DVD Media. Now CDs were 80 minutes and if I tried to make a VCD, I could fit 80 minutes on a VCD. But on a DVD, as far as I know, it's 120 minutes right?

So howcome some programs let you make a backup of DVDs that are over 120 minutes onto a 120 minute DVD? Does the time theory of VCDs work differntly that DVDs? And if it is some kind of compression that lets you add more to a DVD than 120 minutes, then would it be possible to add ripped avi's to a DVD that total more than 120 minutes?

For instance, can I rip two or even three of my "friends season 1" DVDs into AVIs and then put them all on one DVD in a format that can be seen on a standalone DVD player?

Thanks!
Abbas

[REECYCUP]

if you do a search (http://forum.doom9.org/search.php?s=)
youll find it goes by size not time

[TelemachusMH]

When you are making VCDs the video and audio must be exactly the same everytime. (ie video resolution, video bitrate, audio bitrate, audio frequency) So, one minute of video always takes the same about of space, therefore with the size of a cd being the same, the video length is always the same.

This is not true with DVDs however, the audio and video can use variable bitrates, resolution, ... etc. So, the amount your able to put on the DVD is whatever your quality limit is. If you want to put 50 hours of video on it, you probably could. It just would look really bad. :rolleyes: All you need to do is fit your video into 4.37 gbs. (Maybe 4.38 Can't quite remember)

TelemachusMH