I have some Verbatim DVD+R DL (8x) and I'm trying to record a four-hour SP program to one on my Panny EH75. The problem is twofold:

1) When I put it in the Panny, it says it's unformatted.

2) When I go ahead and format the disc, I "lose" the .5GB of the 8.5GB space on it (it tells me I have 3 hrs., 42 min. available for recording).

I've already successfully recorded one set of programs onto a DL disc after formatting, but I think the total time was a few minutes under four hours. The program I want to record now is 8128MB and the disc, after formatting, has only 8028MB available. I'd rather not divide the title so I can fit it on two discs. If I go for the FR, how much of a reduction in quality do you guys think will occur? I'd hate to tie up my recorder & TV for four hours, but if that's the best option for keeping the program on one disc (it's four hours straight, no commercials), I'll can set it up to record while I sleep. I also told some friends I'd make them copies, so if I do the FR option, I can just high-speed record it back to the HDD and then high-speed again to the DVDR without further loss of quality, correct? Thanks!

It is a common misconception that a +DL disk is 2X the capacity of a single layer disk. It is not; it's less. The 3:40 capacity your recorder reports is about the norm. The other caveat is that since DVD recorders use VBR encoding there is some uncertainty in accurately estimating the available recording time. It will change with the complexity of the source. This is magnified for DL disks due to their higher capacity.

Thanks, Kelson. I'll try the FR option first and if I don't like the quality, I'll divide the title.

Of course, tonight would be the first time I've made DVD-Rs that won't play in my Cyberhome (all the others have so far). At least they play in the Panny & on my computer, so they're not total losses :)