Trim down a 1:05 program to fit on one DVD?

[Hank]

I have a program recorded on my HUMAX DRT800 that due to padding, ended up being 1 hour and 5 minutes long - too long to fit onto one DVD. And somehow the "intelligent" burning software makes "part 1" 50 minutes long, and "part 2" 15 minutes long, instead of actually filling up the first DVD with the first 60 minutes of program, which I had hoped it would do, and then I didn't have to worry about part 2.

So I'm now transferring the program to my Win2000 box via Tivo Desktop. What's the best way (if even possible) to trim this program down to exactly one hour, and then transfer it back to the HUMAX to burn ONE DVD for the program?

I do not have a DVD burner on my computer, so that's not an option.

thanks.

[NewYorkLaw]

Could you use dvdshrink? I have heard that program can compress 2 hour shows to fit on 4.7 gig dvds, with only minimal loss in quality.
Pete

[Hank]

bump - Anyone?

[NewYorkLaw]

Does "bump" mean my answer was stupid?
(Only trying to be helpful).
Pete

[Hokie-Dave]

Does "bump" mean my answer was stupid?
(Only trying to be helpful).
Pete

Nah, I think he was just looking for other options from others as well.

dave

[stevel]

First, do you know for sure that you can burn a DVD on the Humax from a program transferred from the PC? I'm not sure if you can - I know they can't burn shows transferred from other TiVos.

I would suggest asking this in the "Home Media Features" section of the forum.

[Test]

I have the pioneer burner and it doesnt allow transferred shows (from pc or other tivo) to be burned...from what i read its like that on all burning units

I had the same issue, but mine just burned up to the max the dvd could take then told me to enter a second for the 2 minutes i had left to burn...so i stopped it, which is what you want i guess...no help here, but if you REALLY want it on DVD to archive it and are willing to lose quality, copy it to a vcr and then set up your tivo to record from your vcr...this time stop it where you want (and are sure it would fit on the dvd)

nylaw, he doesnt have a burner on his pc...if he did though he could just transfer it over and burn it to fit, wouldnt even need dvd shrink...thats good for the full blown dual layer discs that you have to make fit onto the 4.7 gig discs

[classicsat]

Yuo cannot. You can trim down aprogram on your PC, but you will have to burn it to DVD on your PC, as you cannot burn it on the Humax recorder, as you cannot burn network transferred recordings.

[Dan203]

Like Test said the DVD/TiVo units do not allow you to burn transferred shows, even if they originated on a DVD unit so really there is no way to do what you want given the equipment you have.

Only thing I could suggest is that you look for another airing of the program and re-record it either at a lower quality level or without the padding.

Dan

[Stanley Rohner]

I'm kinda confused with the original issue.

In the past I've had programs that were up to almost 2 hours in length that were recorded at TiVo best setting quality and burned onto a DVD with the PC DVD burning software settings set to highest quality without any problems.

A 1 hour program should fit onto a DVD no problem.

[Dan203]

He's not buring it on a PC, he's using a Humax TiVo with built in DVD burner. On those units the Highest quality setting only allows one hour of video to be put onto a DVD. His recording is 1:05 due to padding.

Dan

[mjitkop]

On those units the Highest quality setting only allows one hour of video to be put onto a DVD

Same thing with my iLo DVDR04 DVD recorder. :) I record everything in "SP" mode which enables me to burn 2 hours worth on 1 DVD+RW and I found out that the bit rate is constant at 4650kbps. Can't tell the difference with the original DirecTV recording from my HDVR2. :) Works for me. :up:

[pdhenry]

I'm kinda confused with the original issue.

In the past I've had programs that were up to almost 2 hours in length that were recorded at TiVo best setting quality and burned onto a DVD with the PC DVD burning software settings set to highest quality without any problems.

A 1 hour program should fit onto a DVD no problem.How do you get a 2 hour program onto one DVD (as a DVD, not a data disk containing the .TiVo file, which is a different issue)? Did you use a 2-layer DVD?

I can only get an hour onto a DVD. Reducing the DVD quality only provides minor savings - nothing close to 2 hours.

PS: Note that the OP has a DVD-burner TiVo and no burner on his PC. He's trying to make it fit using the TiVo directly. But my issue is a PC issue...

[stevel]

Most DVD burning programs for PCs, and just about all standalone DVD burners, let you select the quality level, sometimes up to six hours.

[retired_guy]

I've got the same frustration with my Pioneer burner. About the only way I've found to get a 1 hour plus a few minutes program in best quality burned on one DVD is to manually record it at one hour in length. Most programs are structured with "junk" either at the beginning or end so one can typically determine in advance which to eliminate when setting the start and end times.

If the program were structured to get the maximum possible on one DVD before asking for another to be loaded, one could just ignore the recording to the second DVD assuming the last few minutes are preview info and ads. But it doesn't work that way. Maybe its to prevent the viewer having to switch DVDs in the middle of the exciting final scene. Don't really know other than I find it a very irritating implementation.

[samo]

The cheapest solution to your problem is to get DVD burner. They are dirt cheap now days. Last time I bought one last summer I paid $56 for 5X dual layer at Micro Center retail location. I'm sure you can do even better if if shop around.

[Stanley Rohner]

How do you get a 2 hour program onto one DVD (as a DVD, not a data disk containing the .TiVo file, which is a different issue)? Did you use a 2-layer DVD?

I can only get an hour onto a DVD. Reducing the DVD quality only provides minor savings - nothing close to 2 hours.

PS: Note that the OP has a DVD-burner TiVo and no burner on his PC. He's trying to make it fit using the TiVo directly. But my issue is a PC issue...

I didn't say I put a 2 hour program onto one DVD, I said - almost 2 hours in length. I think about 1 hour and 50 minutes or so last time I tried - way more than 1 hour anyways. I burn DVDs on my PC with the quality settings all set to highest quality. For example - The movie THE ISLAND was approx. 2 hours and 15 or 20 minutes or so. I had to make one DVD 1 hour and 50 minutes, and the other DVD was about 30 minutes.

[samo]

How do you get a 2 hour program onto one DVD (as a DVD, not a data disk containing the .TiVo file, which is a different issue)? Did you use a 2-layer DVD?

I can only get an hour onto a DVD. Reducing the DVD quality only provides minor savings - nothing close to 2 hours.

PS: Note that the OP has a DVD-burner TiVo and no burner on his PC. He's trying to make it fit using the TiVo directly. But my issue is a PC issue...
I use DVDshrink. It has an automatic setting that reduces bit rate to fit on one DVD. I made copies of several DVDs this way and degradation in quality is very minimal.

[Hank]

I wish I could just burn the first 60 minutes and not burn the second DVD, but there is five minutes of the original program that the HUMAX won't put on the first DVD, EVEN THOUGH, it's only "90%" full. Some stupid algorithm in there cutting it off and wasting the space.

Anyway, I took the cheap option out, and just burned 2 DVDs for the program for the five people who wanted copies. They'll just have to deal.

Thanks for all your suggestions and confirming that I can't transfer back a program from the PC->Humax..

[goony]

Not 100% relevant to the original topic, but useful info:

Some standalone DVD recorders have a variable recording mode; on my Panasonic it is called "Flexible Recording" in which you set the recording duration (1h5m, 2h15m, etc.) and it will adjust the encoding so that it fits on a single disc. Thus, you can avoid spanning discs and have only a slight decrease in quality compared to using the standard fixed XP, SP, EP, etc. modes.

[MasterOfPuppets]

A 65 minute show won't fit onto a DVD???
Yet another reason for me to never...ever...own a non-PC DVD burner...

[Georgia Guy]

A 65 minute show won't fit onto a DVD???
Yet another reason for me to never...ever...own a non-PC DVD burner...

They are talking about Tivo/Dvd units. Many standalone dvd recorders, like Panasonic machines, can burn whatever lengths you tell it to. While I record quite a bit on my pc-based Sony DVD burner, I often use my Panny reorder to burn 3 hours worth of shows onto a single dvd. When not especially concerned with ultimate quality (like recording a tv series for my parents, who really don't care) I often burn 4 hours worth of shows onto a single disk.

[JustAllie]

Hank, when I was faced with a similar situation once, I transferred the show to another TiVo via the network, then hooked that second TiVo to my Humax via RCA cables and recorded the movie manually in a way that allowed it to fit on one DVD. (In my case, this meant recording it at "High" instead of "Best" quality, but in your case, you could record it at "Best" without padding.)

You'd lose some quality in the process... after all, you're putting it back in analog form and re-digitizing it.

Obviously this only works if you have a second TiVo. :D

[Hank]

Allie, I do have a S1 tivo, and that's a good suggestion. But the people I'm buring this for would most likely prefer to have the tivo program guide info correct on two burnt DVDs , than having something unrelated/incorrect on one. Besides, I've already burned all but one set.

[JustAllie]

Allie, I do have a S1 tivo, and that's a good suggestion. But the people I'm buring this for would most likely prefer to have the tivo program guide info correct on two burnt DVDs , than having something unrelated/incorrect on one. Besides, I've already burned all but one set.Well, the Humax does let you name the burned DVD anything you want to name it. But if your second TiVo is a Series 1, I guess you will lose the guide data when you move it there (the only way to move it there is using those RCA cables, I guess).

FYI, I used MRV and my home network to move the show from the Humax to the 140 hour Series2 TiVo, then hooked the RCA cables back to the Humax. I told the 140 hour TiVo to play the movie using "Record to VCR" feature, which provides the guide data at the beginning. Then I used the "Record from a VCR or DVD Player" feature on the Humax to make a manual recording, which I was able to name "The Seven Per-Cent Solution" -- and the first 15 seconds or so of that recording was a black screen with the guide data from the movie.

So my method only works for Series2 TiVos. :(

[Hank]

Right- I forgot about the naming option on the HUMAX.

[Dan203]

I think TiVo should really work out a way to do this. The reason you can't transfer a program from a regular TiVo to a DVD unit and burn it is viable (i.e. the audio and video resolutions are not DVD compliant) but I see no reason you shouldn't be able to burn a program that originated on a DVD unit even if it was transferred around a little first. The audio and video is still in the proper format, so why wouldn't it work?

Dan

[gastrof]

How do you get a 2 hour program onto one DVD (as a DVD, not a data disk containing the .TiVo file, which is a different issue)? Did you use a 2-layer DVD?

I can only get an hour onto a DVD. Reducing the DVD quality only provides minor savings - nothing close to 2 hours....

Stand alone DVD recorders will allow one hour per disc, two, three, four, or six.

Even the six hour quality isn't outrageously bad. (I don't use it, but you can and it's still completely viewable.)

Some also have a "just fit" setting, which will take your recording, determine the amount of time it involves, and burn it to the disc accordingly, at the best possible quality and still filling the disc.

We're talking good old fashioned one layer discs, here.

Have to assume that if the stand-alone machines can do it, then newer burners and software can too.

[mattack]

I have a program recorded on my HUMAX DRT800 that due to padding, ended up being 1 hour and 5 minutes long - too long to fit onto one DVD.

Some people mentioned standalone recorders, but here's a bit more info.

This kind of thing is exactly why I bought a separate hard drive/DVD recorder to use *along* with my Tivos. I would FAR FAR preferred to have the Tivo UI, but the
inability edit recording before burning to DVD and inability to record to DVD in separate sessions were dealbreakers for me.

I'd still likely get a Tivo DVD recorder if they added this functionality because of the better UI. As it is, I record some stuff directly on the other recorder, but a lot of stuff from the Tivos to it.. (not always to burn to DVD, sometimes to offload stuff from Tivos for space reasons.. sometimes to be able to watch on the other recorder at the first FF speed with sound.)

[tenthplanet]

They are talking about Tivo/Dvd units. Many standalone dvd recorders, like Panasonic machines, can burn whatever lengths you tell it to. While I record quite a bit on my pc-based Sony DVD burner, I often use my Panny reorder to burn 3 hours worth of shows onto a single dvd. When not especially concerned with ultimate quality (like recording a tv series for my parents, who really don't care) I often burn 4 hours worth of shows onto a single disk.

I also have one of the Panasonic machines and can vouch for the flexible record mode. Take a program that's one hour and five minutes and use the FR mode and the results will look very good. The recording will look like it was recorded in the one hour mode at highest quality. I not saying go out and buy a extra DVD recorder but if you know someone who has a Panasonic see if they will bring it over.

[MighTiVo]

DTV mpg is about 1gig/hr and that quality seems pretty good.
What software can I use to take DVDs or TiVo recorded Best quality recordings and encode them to a comparable quality to DTV encoders.
Multi pass long encoding time is ok for a portable reasonable quality small file.