On a number of occasions I have had the need to put small DVD files (less than 700MB) onto disc and find it is irking me to waste 3.5GB on the DVD-R!

I don't want to do them in VCD format, so I was wondering if there is some software that lets you burn DVD files (.IFO .BUP & .VOB) onto CD-R. Nero asks for a blank DVD-R when I try to do this with a blank CD-R.

I realise that the cost difference between blank CD-Rs and DVD-Rs is fairly irrelevant, but wasting all those GBs really pis**s me off.

Any ideas?

David.

AFIK your only option for MPEG2 on CD is SVCD. Problem is the standard res for SVCD is (from dodgy memory) 480x576 or 352x576. You could always give it a go feeding the DVD spec'd file into a SVCD authoring app like VCDEasy and ignore all it's warnings...other problem is the DVD bitrates are way higher than the SVCD spec.

Can read up a bit more at http://www.videohelp.com/svcd

Hmmm found this page while looking at the site http://www.videohelp.com/minidvd.htm

I guess have a read and have a go...

Roxio Easy DVD and Cd creator has this feature, I have pasted the explaination from the help section below, the output format is unchanged from DVD, just smaller.

"DVD (or miniDVD): DVD-Recordable disc, which can be played on almost any set-top DVD player. A DVD holds approximately two hours of video and has the highest video quality.
You can also use this option to burn a CD-Recordable disc in the miniDVD format, which can be played only on a computer using third-party DVD playback software. A miniDVD holds approximately 15-20 minutes of video and also has the highest video quality (equivalent to DVD). "

I dont see why you couldnt...

Make an ISO image with something like imgtool classic

then burn the ISO image to a CD rather than a DVD.

Im just doing one now (300mb) seems to be burnning onto a cd-rw ok

Cheers,
Bitey

you can do the same with NeroVision Express

just click Make CD -> MiniDVD

Thanks guys, I'll try

a) BigBobOz
tulkam
c) mr.bitey
d) DavoNogo
e) all of the above!

David.

Have you tried sourcing 8cm DVD disks?
I have seen them once but cannot remeber where or what their capacity was.
Just a thought.

Yes, I have made some mini-dvds on CD-R with Nero. Some fussy DVD players don't like them but worth a try. For the hell of it, I used 4 passes with DVD Shrink and fit a whole length movie onto 2 CD-Rs. Picture quality was fair. The good thing is the audio quality does not change.
Sway

1.4gb.. and they're designed for Sony Digital Video Cams

I don't know if you can burn on them in Windows

They cost around $7 each.

I copied a couple of songs the misses liked from that eurovision thing that was on sbs the other weekend and authored it in tmpgenc dvd author and burnt to a cdr. When I tried the disc in our dvd player and video was real choppy and had no audio I was under the inpression that it should work the same as a dvd.

Depends if the DVD player is fussy. In theory it's capable, MPEG2 on a CD instead of a DVD but apparently it's different...

Something to do with the DVD player expecting something different and dealing with it well...

not just in theory, but in practice it works...

burning a minDVD on a CDR works perfectly fine when I play it back on my Pioneer 676a

If you only want to play them in your own home, another option is to buy a DivX player, such as a Zensonic. The Zensonic can play Mpeg2 files, without having the need to convert them to the DVD format.

My Nintaus also plays plain old MPEG2 files. I suspect most would these days. Sometimes if I can't be bothered authoring to DVD I just burn the MPEG files.
Sway

Interesting thread - Ive been wondering how to do this myself.

I would have thought that the data transfer rate for the CD standard would be way less that the data transfer rate for the DVD standard, thus the playback of a hacked CD on a DVD player would be choppy. I guess on a computer it might work. With blank DVD-Rs in bulk being as low as 60c now and blank CD-R bulk buys being a few cents cheaper, what's the issue anyway?

I had no problem. In fact, if you don't look too hard for the compression artifacts, you would hardly know it wasn't a DVD. As I said before, you get the same Dolby Digital audio bitrate, so the sound is EXACTLY the same as the DVD. I did Road to Perdition and Big Fat Greek Wedding on 2 CD-Rs each. Have also done a few downloaded video clips and captures from VHS which are pretty bad to start with, so you don't notice the video quality loss at all.

You're probably right about the disk cost. I just had some blank CDs and thought I would try it to see if it actually worked. It did and has its place.

Sway

Which was the whole point of my original post!!!!

Thanks all.

David.