[23tex]

I've been using FR mode to turn 4 x 1 hour programs into 4 x ~ 46 min programs (sans commercials). That totals to 3 hours and 4 minutes of finished program material.


When I do a recording, I look at the total MB for the 4 programs and its usually around 4000 MB; meaning I'm wasting 400 MB of disk space (or ~9%)...I want all my bits.


My last recordings I went w/ 2 hr 55 minute FR mode and the final recording ended up being maybe 3 hr 3 minutes and ~4200 MB.


Has anyone else noticed this issue? I assume it is a safety margin built in by Panasonic, but, it really seems pointless.


Let me know your experiences.

thanks.

 

[kacang]

I am assuming you are talking about the panny/


In many threads it is suggested to set the recording mode manually IF you know how long the finished product it going to be. You 'lost' hour is because FR mode does not know it is going to be cut down, Look at the difference 4 x commercial time = +/- 1 hour from your data.


What I do on my pioneer I set the manula recording to what I think the finished product (Sans commercials) is going to be.


On the pioneer 510 for example using manula mode MN24 is around 1:40 minutes. Eventhough before editing the programs the running time would be 2 hours.


hope this helps


Erick

 

[shutterbug]

You won't be able to make an exact correlation between minutes of playing time and Megabytes of data due to variable bit rate compression. Bit rate increases during high motion scenes and decreases during more still-like scenes. Record 60 minutes of a football game, then record 60 mins of blue screen and you'll see the difference in MB's. I understand wanting Max. quality, but you're not going to notice a loss of 400 mb's free space when there's barely a noticeable difference between XP & SP.


If you want the Best resolution for programs over an hour, set FR mode to a couple minutes more than your finished program's length and pause during each commercial break. That's the only way you'll utilize the maximum amount of space on a blank DVD, keep the highest recording rate and still be able to HS dub. Or, just record everything in XP and burn 1 hr programs per disc. You can't get *better* than XP mode with FR.

 

[PatsWonSB]

or just put 3 episodes/disk recorded @ SP and high speed dub them to DVD-R. That may come out a little over the 4411 MB so you may need to trim some of the credits.


Another alternative if you have a PC with a DVD-RAM compatible drive: Record everything @ SP. High speed dub to DVD-RAM (probably only 2 or 3 will fit at a time). Re-author with 4 episodes per disk. Then use DVD Shrink to get the size under the DVD-R limit.

 

[23tex]

yes, I am talking Panny E80...thanks for the input.


Erick, the ~3 hr setting is because that is the final amount of data (4 hours, less 1 hour commercial = 3 hours)...I stop the recording after an hour for each program.


Shutterbug, I think you hit the issue correctly, that it is the VBS at work.


thanks, to all.

 

[kacang]

23tex, you missing the point, when you use FR use the time that is estimated for the END-RESULT, so you records each show with a 3 hour end result in mind, not with a 4 hour end result. SO you get a higher bit rate.


So each show you setup for FR 3 hours (approx) and then stop or pause the recording. Then edit it and that's it. Then you do the same for the next show etc etc. so in the end you end up with 4 recordings edited down to 3 hours (approx) and the bitrate used was for a total of 3 hours so it will fit on one DVD..


hope this helps,


erick