Hi, as you all know, most HD Movies are MKV files with a size bigger than 4.xx GB (meaning it doesn't fit on a DVD-R) and sometimes, bigger than 8.xx GB (Meaning it doesn't fit on al DVD+R DL), so my questions are these:

1) Is there a simple way to split the movie into pieces so it can fit on 2 or more DVD-R?
2) Is there a simple way to resize it taking away secondary audio tracks, or reducing video quality?
3) How is the quality of a 720p movie of 8 GB (about 120 min.) compare to a 720p movie that fits on a DVD-R)? Meaning that if its possible to resize it, will the quality be reduced noticeably?

Resuming: I want to be able to store my 720p x.264 or whatever HD movies I have on my Hard Drive to Single Layer DVD's. Is it possible or worth it? What is the best (not very difficult) way?

Thanks in advance.

1. Yes, use VirtualDub. Make sure you have the x.264 codec installed. Personally, I use DivX, I'll play around with x.264 once I have my quad core. You can use VirtualDub to set the beginning and end of parts 1 and 2 of the video file. Set everything to direct copy and then save. It will be quick.

2. There is a way to remove secondary audio tracks, I just remember how to do it at the moment. There is no easy way to reduce the file size if you want to retain some level of good quality. I recommend simply doing a full re-encode of the x.264 file where you can reduce the dimensions of the video and/or simply reduce the bit rate. Note: every time you encode a movie file it will always loose some quality compared to the "original".

For example, You encode a Blu-Ray movie to a x.264 movie file. The file will not look as sharp or detailed as the original Blu-Ray movie. If you were to re-encode the x.264 movie file to a smaller size, the newer x.264 movie file will not look as good as the original x.264 movie file.

3. If you are reducing a 8.5GB file down to a 4.7GB file I would say you would see a difference in quality.


I prefer Dual Layer DVDs (only verbatim made in Singapore) to Single Layer DVDs to store movies.

thanks man, i'll be giving that virtualdub a try soon.