[X4U] Why is my DVD Capacity so small?

[John Erdman]

Dennis -
	Thanks to all for your responses.  
The software I'm trying to use is DVD Decrypter 3.5.4 for WinXP. It's supposed to take care of of all the setting for both reading the original and writing the backup copy. The preferred mode is ISO (whatever that means)  One first reads and saves the info on the Hard drive then writes it to the DVD using the ISO write options. And incidentally the instructions specifically say that DVD-R format is not supported.  Only DVD+Rs will work. There's no indication of why they chose to do that.

Perhaps I may be having the "SONY" DVD problems you described. That may be next experiment after I exhaust the suggestions I've gotten from you folks.

I'm also contacting the DVD Decrypt forum for some ideas too. If I learn anything interesting I'll be sure to share it here.

Thanks for your help so far

John


On Feb 6, 2011, at 4:40 PM, Dennis R. Cohen wrote:

> On 2/6/11 at 13:25, John Erdman <jperdman at gmail.com>transmitted the following electronic message:
> 
>> I'm trying to make a video DVD that I can play on my TV with my regular
>> DVD player that is connected directly to the TV.
>> 
>> I've got my files ready to burn. I've never been able to get all the
>> way thru the process. I run into problems in the burning process. It
>> seems to be related to the amount of storage capacity on the new disk. And it don't make no never mind whether I'm working in OS X or
>> Bootcamp.
>> 
>> 
>> I'm using brand new Sony DVD+R disks. They're labelled as having 4.7 GB
>> capacity and 1X-16X speeds. And when I try to burn the disks I get
>> error messages that 1) the disks are already used (sometimes) and
>> 2)That there is not enough space.
>> 
>> Despite the data included with the spindle of unused disks,  Bootcamp
>> says that the amount of space available is 1.57GB, and in OSX  Info
>> shows the available capacity is a whopping 3.32 GB.   Trouble is, I
>> need at least 3.7GB to do this job of writing video files.
>> 
>> What's happening?  Does this mean that the 4.7GB is not really
>> available.  What do I need to do to get this done?
>> 
>> Thanks
>> 
>> 
> 
> Well, the 4.7GB is a slight exaggeration as far as most burning software is concerned...it's talking about 4,700,000,000 bytes while most software uses the traditional (but not Snow Leopard) binary GB, so it's 4.38 of those. It depends upon the software you're using, but that wouldn't account for the discrepancy you're seeing.
> 
> As someone else noted, DVD-R is compatible with more settop DVD players than is DVD+R, but that is also unlikely (in the extreme) to have anything to do with the capacity difficulties you're witnessing.
> 
> Another problem might be the software you're using for the DVD authoring. The video files must be properly encoded (also the audio) and then multiplexed and the support files structure of the VIDEO_TS folder created.
> 
> Also, your references don't tell us what software you were using to get the information. "Bootcamp" just means you were running Windows, not the software that informed you concerning disk capacity. The "info" box in OS X is also notoriously conservative concerning the capacity of a blank optical disc (e.g. it will also state that a 700MB CD only has about 640MB, but that's another issue). Your best shot to see what a blank disc's actual capacity is would be something like Toast Titanium (Mac) or Nero (Windows)--they'll tell you how much you can write to the disc.
> 
> All that having been said, I have had problems with Sony DVD+Rs and -Rs at various times, where the burning software reported that the disc had already been used...one spindle ran almost 40% failures. It should be noted that Sony (and TDK, Maxell, etc) don't manufacture their own media...they buy in bulk from various manufacturers and put their brand on them. My experience with the media manufactured in Singapore, India, and Taiwan has been erratic and I try to stick with media manufactured in Japan (preferably Taiyo Yuden), regardless of who packaged it. You can usually find the manufacturer information impressed in the hub ring.
> 
> -- 
> Dennis R. Cohen
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