How do I burn to a Double-sided disc ?

[Mau7rice]

I've done all my editing in Premiere, I've exported all necessary MPEG-2s, created the DVD Menu, timelines and buttons, even edited the menu some in Photoshop. Now I'm ready to build/burn; my project is too big for a regular 4.7G disc, so I have a stack of double-sided discs. The only-thing I'm not sure about is how do I tell Encore to write to the other side of the disc after it's exhausted the first side ? Do I physically have to flip it ? Cause Encore is telling me the disc is full. Is there a checkbox, a  button, a menu option I'm missing ? The project looks good, the check finds no problems; can someone inform and explain how do I burn a double sided disc so that it writes and plays correctly ?

I'm already breaking my project up into multi disc since it was quite big; and my second burn will contain more than the first. Anyways please enlighten this DVD novice.

[neil wilkes · Accepted solution]

Are you on a Mac or a PC?

If on a PC, then I cannot recommend highly enough the combination of IMGBurn and Verbatim "Advanced Metal Azo" DVD+R DL blanks - avoid at all costs using DVD-R DL as it is not possible to set a manual layer break in -R DL discs and the break point will be automatically set to the middle of your data. With +R DL, you can set this manually.

How to do this?

If you are not replicating (which is a different animal requiring different tools) then this is now as easy as pie if you follow these rules:

1 - Do not attempt to set the layer break in Encore (you cannot do this until you have compiled the disc anyway)

2 - Output from Encore to a DVD Folder (it should create a Video_TS folder for you), making sure that you have added chapter markers in the main footage because these will be used to determine your layer break if it cannot be placed between timelines/playlists.

3 - Launch IMGBurn.

4 - (first run only) Open the settings and make sure the following options are set:

A - Build, Page 1 - File splitting Auto. Page 2 - Create Audio_TS folder (some players still require this even though it will usually be empty), under "DVD Video" check every box. IFO/BUP padding is critical. Most of the rest can be left as default, although personally I set the buffers to be quite large.

5 - In "EZ-Picker" mode, select either "write files/folders to disc" or if you want an ISO image, select "create image from files/folders".

6 - Point to your newly created "Video_TS" folder from Encore, fill in the ISO & UDF data fields, set the output location if making an image and hit the GO button.

IMGburn will then parse your folder and ask you to select your layer break from a list of all the possible spec legal places it has found. These can be previewed, and the ideal place is on one with a green star (between timelines). If necessary you can use a chapter marker location - preview here is highly recommended - and this will be set for you and the disc will be cooked.

Setting the break point used to be a nightmare - and for replication can still be aggravating - but for burned discs it is simples as long as you use DVD+R DL.

[Richard M Knight]

The Op referred to double sided, as Neil assumed, I expect he meant dual layer.

On thing in addition to Neil's answer when exporting from Encore as a dvd folder I tell it, it is a single layer disc but with the size of a dual layer 8.4 Gb. I find this stops Encore form producing layer break indexes even though ImgBurn will do the final disc production.

[SAFEHARBOR11]

I've been using Encore to create DVDs for many years, and actually have never even attempted to make a dual-layer disc. Why? Because it's complicated, and the blanks cost more and I've heard that burned DL discs do not have the 99.9% playback compatibility that I get with DVD-R discs. So I've just avoided them myself. The online duplication company I use only does DVD-R, so that's another reason.

I'm not telling you not to do it, but I will ask a simple question - what is the total duration of video content going on the disc? I often see posts about DL discs and after consulting with the OP find that they perhaps do not even need to go dual-layer after all and maybe just needed some encoding pointers to make the video fit a standard DVD.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera

Safe Harbor Computers

[Paul Alexx]

The following might be useful for creating longer projects....

I have never used a double sided DVD but have used thousands of dual layer DVDs (Aone Plus DVD+R DL). In fact I only use this disc now as it is very low cost and extremely reliable (very rare do they fail) and I don't need to stock any other DVD. It is slower to burn than a single layer but worth the wait and is compatible with nearly all older players as well as newer ones.

Can burn up to 242 mins of footage (without menus) by tweaking the export settings in Prem Pro CC 2017 (or earlier).

For a project up to about 180 mins export the Sequence from Prem Pro using the Format: MPEG2-DVD and Preset: PAL DVD Wide (gives PCM audio).

Import as a timeline in Encore no transcoding needed.

Title button set to timeline with end action to Stop. Add chapters (can be done in Prem Pro prior to exporting if preferred), check project and burn to ISO image for burning and archiving.

Use Windows 10 to burn disc image to DVD. Voila!

If the capacity of the disc is exceeded in Encore (8.54GB), try changing the audio in the project settings to Dolby Digital: Go to: File - Project Settings - Default Transcode Settings... Audio Transcoding - Audio Transcoding Scheme: Dolby Digital. This way keeps the audio and video duration the same, sometimes when exporting with Dolby Digital from Prem Pro there is discrepancy between the duration of the two files!

[neil wilkes]

SAFEHARBOR11 wrote:

I've been using Encore to create DVDs for many years, and actually have never even attempted to make a dual-layer disc. Why? Because it's complicated, and the blanks cost more and I've heard that burned DL discs do not have the 99.9% playback compatibility that I get with DVD-R discs. So I've just avoided them myself. The online duplication company I use only does DVD-R, so that's another reason.

I'm not telling you not to do it, but I will ask a simple question - what is the total duration of video content going on the disc? I often see posts about DL discs and after consulting with the OP find that they perhaps do not even need to go dual-layer after all and maybe just needed some encoding pointers to make the video fit a standard DVD.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera

Safe Harbor Computers

Sorry Jeff, but those days of compatibility problems are a thing of the past.

It is important to understand that with DVD-R DL discs there is no way to manually set a layer break, as the form requires the data to be split more or less in the middle. With DVD+R DL you can set a manual break point and as long as you do things in the correct order it really is not the problem it used to be. There are very, very few players these days that will baulk at DVD+R DL media and if you stick to Verbatim Advanced Metal Azo type (I use the inkjet printable) then they will work.

That said if you want to replicate then you cannot submit a DVD+R DL for replication because of the reserved track - this will throw your layer break right out and odds are then high the break point will not be at a valid sector.

Best way to do this in Encore is to grab yourself a copy of PGCEdit.

Compile your project as one single large disc - do not try to set a break point at this stage in the game as it will almost inevitably fail. WHat you can do is work out where it is going to fall, more or less, and set the actual break using PGCedit or even IMGburn which will not only present you with a list of options, it will also grade them & allow you to preview the exact cell location.

The resulting ISO image will get you a .dvd file as well as the ISO file, and simply clicking on the .dvd will set the break where you put it.

Replication is a different story however and will require a correctly formatted DDP set.

[SAFEHARBOR11]

Hi Neil,

I stand corrected on compatibility, however I did just check online and the dual-layer blanks are still about 3-4x as expensive, which makes a difference when doing large quantities. Lots of factors to consider.

We still don't know how much media the OP wants to put on the disc. Don't you love when someone posts a question, then disappears?

Thanks

Jeff

[Mau7rice]

I shot a 3-day event, had to work the first day, but was available day 2 and day 3 of the event, the kind of event I'm talking about is a church event or service. Average church service is 1 and a half sometimes 2hours plus. I'm not looking at the exact time lengths right now, but I would say I have at least 2 hours that I shot each day. Edited down, it's likely more around 1 hour 40 minutes for each day; over 3 hours worth that I'm trying to burn and deliver via DVD.

This particular problem I posted about I later realized I needed Dual-Layer discs and not double-sided. But I did spend a lot of time researching how to compress my video in order to fit more on the disc at a good or decent quality. What I didn't find a solution or good solution to was how to compress my video files in order to fit more onto the disc. I'm open to to any wisdom you can share about these issues and in general editing, creating, and burning for DVD.

[Paul Alexx]

Read my post #4 and substitute NTFS for PAL as appropriate.

Aone DVD+R DL cost about £5.25 for 25 (GBP)!!  www.scan.co.uk

I have just made another 20 individual DVDs today not copies!!

[Paul Alexx]

NTSC rather!!

[SAFEHARBOR11]

A general rule-of-thumb method of figuring DVD bitrate, which I actually got from Adobe years ago, is 560/minutes = bitrate. For 2 hours, that would be 560/120 = 4.66 (I usually round down a little for safety margin for menu overhead, such as 4.5 then). There are online calculators as well, but you have to be careful setting them up, one simple error then the whole formula goes out of whack. Assuming Dolby AC3 audio with this formula, PCM would take a LOT more space.

DVD-HQ : Bitrate & GOP calculator

For anything under 1 hour, no formula needed, just max it out around 8.

You probably would not want to force 3 hours onto one 4.7GB disc, would not look very good, so in that case the dual-layer looks like the better option.

When encoding longer videos, VBR 2-Pass encoding is going to help maximize quality.

Thanks

Jeff