[owenhbrown]

I've had a single layer burner for a couple of years and have mainly used it for making data discs.

However when doing this I found myself limited to using only 3 gigabytes of it's space otherwise the DVD burning program would tell me that there's not enough disc space.

Am I doing something wrong? Do I need to alter some settings to make it use the full 4.7 GB?

Also, when using Sony DVD Architect should I use the full 4.7 GB of the disc? Or should I stick to 3 GB? I really want my vids to be the best possible quality.

[Badger0-0]

Can't really answer that one properly.
It does sound as though you have got a setting wrong somewhere though.
If the programme is compressing film to fit into the space, then yes, you need to sort it to get best quality.
You should be able to fill the disc, full stop.

[redsox_mark]

DVD Architect (DVDA) will be configured to use 4.7 GB DVDs by default. And yes you can use the entire disc*. I think it is unlikely you've changed this, but you can check by looking at "file properties" and checking the "target media size".

From your posts in another thread, you are getting the space issue at the "prepare" stage. At this stage DVDA is writing folders to your hard drive, not to DVD (that comes in the burning stage). And at this stage, DVDA will let you create DVD folders which are bigger than the configured media size - as long as there is hard disc space. (Now if you try and burn a folder which is > 4.7 GB it will fail at the burn stage).

I know you said you checked it, but the only reason I know that DVDA would complain if you try and prepare a DVD > 3 GB is if either the "prepare folder" or the "temporary files folder" didn't have enough space.

* Footnote: I have seen evidence that if discs fail they fail from the outer edge, so if you actually fill a disc 100% it may be more likely to fail in future. If the software is calculating (fit to disc) it generally allows a little bit of "buffer" anyway... and if you calculate manually you'll never fill it exactly 100%. Leaving 2% or so free seems good practice.

It is possibly also worth pointing out that you are never going to get a *true* 4.7 Gb on a DVD - the actual file size will always have to be less than 4.37 Gb - because of the way DVD sizes are quoted.

[senu]

Originally Posted by Beejaycee

It is possibly also worth pointing out that you are never going to get a *true* 4.7 Gb on a DVD - the actual file size will always have to be less than 4.37 Gb - because of the way DVD sizes are quoted.

Very true,
However good DVD authoring software should resize ( or give you options) to make your video file fit. .DVD-Architect allows you to alter the bitrates of indiviual aspects of video in the menu structure and gives you the option of using ac3, DD5.1 or PCM in order to manipulate space to keep within allowed limits.

[redsox_mark]

Originally Posted by Beejaycee

It is possibly also worth pointing out that you are never going to get a *true* 4.7 Gb on a DVD - the actual file size will always have to be less than 4.37 Gb - because of the way DVD sizes are quoted.

Yes, with true GB the size is 4.37. It is 4.7 where "base 10" is used (i.e. 4,700,000,000 bytes). As long as you stick with one it doesn't matter which you use. DVDA quotes sizes the base 10 method - so the way DVDA calculates it is 4.7. But if you look at the file sizes in windows they will be less than 4.37.

Reference on various definitions of GB
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabyte

[owenhbrown]

OK...

The original problem I had was when making data disc using Ulead Burn Now.

The burner would not allow more than 3gig to be burnt to a DVD. I suspect that this might be because I never had the "close disc" box checked, could that be the reason?

I find Ulead a great burning program, I just don't understand why it is limited. I'd test my "close disc" theory now but I have no blank discs left.

[redsox_mark]

I wouldn't think that "close disc" is the problem... you want the disc to be closed (finalised) if you want to play it on any DVD player.

I suggest you get some RW discs to experiment on... try and see if you can burn with DVDA.