It sounds like you are using DVD-RW correctly. As you know, DVD-RW is nice for checking a project but it has very poor player compatibility.

 

DVD's do not have a set "minute" length. They can hold 4.7GB... period. (I'm referring to single layer media obviously). The bitrate of your video is what will determine how many minutes you get on a disc. Low bitrate (read: low quality) means more minutes, high bitrate (read: high quality) means less minutes.

 

To get 3-4 hours on a single layer media is going to require a fairly low bitrate. At 4 hours the quality will probably be similar to a clean VHS. The other big thing is AUDIO. Unless you encode the audio to AC-3 (192Kbps) you will find that PCM audio will chew up almost half of your DVD capacity, capacity that could otherwise be used for video material.

 

I have gotten close to 2 hrs on a DVD using very high quality source material (VX2000 feed), variable bit rate encoding and AC-3 audio. The quality of the final DVD was pretty close to what you see on a commercial movie DVD. I edited the original material in Adobe Premiere and authored the DVD using Adobe Encore DVD.

 

 

 

 

i want to check the quality of the dvd and if not great i can re burn onto the same dvd