Whats with the DVD size difference???

[ripplefactor]

I just purchased 5 new dvds and all of them have 3 movies on each. Now what surprises me is the size of the dvd... 7.4GB!! Whats with that and how is it possible. Im new at this..lemme know. I ripped most of them except for Sopranos Season 1 which does not give the correct size after rip off :confused: The rest of the dvds have been ripped off good into xvids. Is there any difference in vobs in these DVDs or is it just me? :p

Thanks in advance.....

[Mug Funky]

DVD is variable bitrate... if there's only a single stereo soundtrack you can fit a huge amount on a DVD.

this is not done in commercial DVDs (to my knowledge), but DVD also supports half-D1 (352x480/576) and old VCD as well. these can have very low bitrates.

half D1 on a standard TV will not look much different to 720x480/576.

[edit]

btw, if you're surprised at 7.4 gigs, don't be. you're probably used to seeing recordable media as 4.7Gb (this is wrong. it is closer to 4.5 if you divide by 1024 instead of 1000 to give REAL values). recordable media is only single layered (until a month or so from now), but commercial discs are usually double layered. these can hold 8.5 gigs.

if you ever get a pause in the middle of a movie, it is because the laser is switching to the next layer. sometimes the pause can be very long - it's a matter of how the disc was authored, whether the second layer begins directly underneath the top layer, or whether it begins from the opposite side of the disc, in which case the laser head thingy has to physically move to the right place.

[jggimi]

Clikc on http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html and search for dual layer.