[tyssejc]

I'm new to the video business ... I just got started, and am doing sort of amateur stuff with iMovie and iDVD for family and friends.

My mom has requested that I put all of her VHS movies onto DVD. Now, I have no problem getting the VHS movies onto my Mac - I use the Dazzle Hollywood DV Bridge. However, I have one burning question (no pun intended):

iDVD restricts you to a mere 90 minutes of video onto a DVD-R. Our family has maybe 10 times as much home movies (yes, we know, we're geeks). Is there a way to squeeze more than 90 minutes of video onto a DVD-R without sacrificing too much quality? I've seen media at MicroCenter and other computer retailers that hold up to 250 minutes of video. Can I get the same result with my Apple DVD-R in my SuperDrive? What sort of software would I need?
PLEASE HELP!!

<small>[ 06-12-2002, 10:56 AM: Message edited by: tyssejc ]</small>

[dtriska]

I believe the reason for the 90 minute restriction on iDVD-burned DVDs is that iDVD uses a fixed bit rate for its compression. Apps like <a href="http://www.apple.com/dvdstudiopro/" target="_blank">DVD Studio Pro</a> can do variable bit rates to include more than 90 minutes of video on a DVD-R disc. However, DVD Studio Pro is expensive for a home project.

If you're not looking for fancy presentation (motion menus, etc.), you can use <a href="http://www.roxio.com/en/products/toast/index.jhtml" target="_blank">Toast</a> to burn the DVD. Once you have the proper files (you need to compress the video into MPEG-2 format), you can drag and drop the home movies onto Toast to burn a full 4.7 GB of video.

[tyssejc]

Awesome! Thanks so much!