Dual layer DVD Capacity
 

When I use a dual layer DVD in Pinnacle Studio 11, I get a capacity of a little more than 2 hours at 100% quality. Yet this site says that I should be getting about 4 hours (see quote below): http://www.dvdrw.com/why/doublelayer_faq.htm


How much video does a DVD+R DL disc hold?
As with DVD+RW and single layer DVD+R, the amount of video one discs holds depends on the quality setting that was chosen during recording. When recorded in the highest possible DVD-Video quality, a DVD+R DL disc holds about 4 hours of video. When video is recorded at VHS quality level, recording time increases to up to 16 hours per disc.


Am I missing a firmware upgrade for my drive? Is this a Studio limitation? Or is the 4 hour at full quality claim just wrong?

A single layer disk DVD5 holds one hour at close to maximum quality (a little over 9 Mbps), or two hours of video at medium quality (a little under 5Mbps data rate). A double layer disk DVD9 holds twice as much.

So what you get is what you should be getting; the info on that page is plain wrong. Check this bitrate calculator: http://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm. If still in doubt, just Google around for "dvd calculator" - lots of pages will come up with additional info and calculators.

A dual-layer DVD (aka DVD9) holds 8152MB. How much video you squeeze into that is up to you (you know about bit rates, right?) 3Mbps is probably the lowest you want to go with 24P, so that would give you a running time of six hours!

3Mbps: 6 hours
4Mbps: 4.5 hours
5Mbps: 3.6 hours
6Mbps: 3 hours

So there you have it...