HD content, but Poor DVD quality

[Gingernutz]

Hi,

I use a HD camcorder to record shows from 30 mins to 2 hours long.  When I burn the project to DVD using just camcorder audio & video, I only seem to fill at best just half of the disk and the resultant video quality is poor, to the extent that peoples facial features are barely visible.  While I thought that the 2hr lengths may be compressed to fit on the disk, I have recently found the same issue on a 30 minute recording.  If I flip the disk over, less than half has been written.

So what can I do to make use of all of the available space on the disk for an improved end result?

Thanks in advance,

Dave

[borate]

To avoid churning out DVD coasters, instead set VP's options to burn an Image, which will create an ISO file.  That will allow you to assess quality prior to a disk burn.

Opening an ISO in Windows 10 mounts a new drive letter (in the Explorer file manager).  That drive is essentially a DVD, which can be played with MPC-HC media player and the like.  When done, right-click the drive and Eject.  The ISO can be burned to DVD with the appropriate software, such as Express Burn.

You can specify bitrate for your DVD video. Click the Save icon in the toolbar and select the Disc save option and click the Make DVD Movie option. Click the Advanced button to open the DVD Bitrate Settings dialog.  The default option is to calculate the bitrate automatically. To set the bitrate manually, select the manual option and adjust the bitrates.

Share a snippet of your project, as seen on the sequence.  Someone will check it out.  Here's how:  http://nch.invisionzone.com/topic/23659-tips-for-getting-help-on-this-forum/