Page 1 of making a dvd disk

hope this is in the right place. i am looking to get this done tonight but have got myself in a right muddle. i have got two VHS tapes that i am putting onto DVD/making a DVD. the first thing i did was do a straight copy, as is, but the quality was ok, i know VHS can be hit and miss but  when i played the VHS back it looked a bit better than the DVD. i tried on higher quality, which looked good except i had to do them in 1 hour chunks as the HQ could only tape for an hour a time. i then converted the TS file to mpeg4 i think. but the problem know is each part is 2gb so too big for a dvd. 

i think i may be confusing myself a little and with it being time consuming i don`t want to waste time.  i have imovie, handbrake and burn as well as idvd. can anyone help please. even if it means going back to the VHS again, thats fine, i just want to get it right. cheers

DVD is 4.7gb, why is two 2gb parts too big?

You could also create a dual layer DVD ISO and then open it with DVD Shrink and then reduce it to a single layer disc.


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many thanks for the reply. i think i am getting myself a little confused and maybe going about this the wrong way, complicating things. i have 2 VHS tapes, a 3hour one and a 2hour one. the 3hour one just needs straight copying, as is. but when i did this from VHS player straight to the DVD recorder. the quality wasn`t quite good enough. it was quite blocky. the noise etc isn`t a problem but it didn`t look right. so i raised the quality setting on the DVD recorder but obviously the time went down. so i split it into a few parts with the hope of using say idvd to make the dvd. but each part was 4gb or thereabouts. i might just have to grin and bear it with this one, choose the quality setting on the DVD recorder that is nearest to the VHS length and hope it is acceptable.

the 2hour tape needs a little menu and a few pictures added which is why i put it onto a dvd-rw and then from the DVD recorder onto the mac. but it is still coming in over 4gb. i am going around in circles here and wasting a lot of hours. i just need some simple steps to get this right. i am in for a long night but i need to get it done. thanks.

Quote:
bryanc says...
i am in for a long night but i need to get it doneYes sadly VHS to DVD is a drawn out process.




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Thanks for the reply, the picture, giff is it, made me smile....got the processing, making DVD going on know so not much to do for a few hours.
I don`t mind that so much but what annoys me is you don`t really know for sure if its worked.. Cheers

well i knew it would take a good few hours but this is annoying. i have done some reading and some people are saying this process can take 10 hours. well i am off to bed for a few hours, i don`t want to stop it know as its been going 4 hours and it says 6 hours left. the two files combined are only 4gb/2 hours runtime. with very simple menu. i know i can tweak a few things/get some ram etc..but i doubt they will do that much. as i say i am leaving this to finish but i don`t want to do the second one like this. is there a quicker alternative to idvd? i could have just used the dvd recorder and gone straight from the vhs player but the quality wasn`t as good as i need. so thats why i am importing to the mac then burning/authoring.

as i say 4 or even 5 hours wouldn`t be too bad but i cant have them taking 10 etc..... do i have any other options please? cheers.

Personally I think using a DVD recorder is the best option in these cases. It should be set to the 2hr option (2 hours of video on a DVD-/+R disc). You won`t get better playback quality from a recording from VHS than that. Of course, if you have double layer discs, you can fit the 3 hr tape onto one disc without the need for lowering the quality.

Back in the early days of DVD Recorders, some 10 years ago, LiteOn had a system on their recorders that actually smoothed and improved the image from VHS recordings, but now they are long gone, and no one else is attempting to offer this option as VHS is a dead media.

Very often, the long drawn out process of doing it on a PC hard drive results in terrible lip sync problems, and even, dare I say, a disc error after hours of waiting...

I wish you luck. I transferred about 200 tapes to disc a decade ago. I wouldn`t do it again!

many thanks. i think the problem is the trial and error, usually error!!!! to get a sort of compromise were it doesn`t take too long but still looks good.

the straight copy using the dvd recorder is my preferred choice but there are a few that require a little editing and some credits etc. thankfully its a few tapes at a time which isn`t too bad, and once i have a system, that should help. actually left the computer on over night, something i have only ever done once or twice. cheers.

can i ask about dual layer disks, i have heard about them but never seen or used one. i have done a quick search and they seem a little expensive, but i can see the benefit if they save a few hours and retain quality.

would they be ok on a dvd recorder or do you need a certain player? and how do they actually work? do you turn the disk over etc....? thanks.

You can quickly check the model you have online or look in the manual to see if it records to DVD+R DL. It is still just a one-sided disc but it has double the capacity. A standard DVD+R or DVD-R can store 4.7GB of data, or two hours of video at standard (uncompressed) quality. A DVD+R DL disc can store 8.5GB or 4 hours of uncompressed video.

I`ve been using them for years, both in my DVD recorder and my PC. I generally buy 25 at a time for around £12-£15. You just need to shop around (online).

They`ll probably be useful for what you`re doing at the moment.