# how many hours of video on a DVD? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 19, 2007, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hours-of-video-on-a-dvd/408574 "2007-06-19T11:14:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hours-of-video-on-a-dvd/408574/1 "2007-06-19T11:14:43Z")
I may have to record an in-house training program at my company, and I’ve been given a DVD camcorder to shoot the whole thing. Problem is, they can’t find the manual and they also don’t know how many hours of video can fit into a single DVD. It’s a Sony DCR-DVD91E. It records in 3 modes - high, standard and “long play”. Video quality is of some concern, so I’m going to shoot in standard mode. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hours-of-video-on-a-dvd/408574/2 "2007-06-19T11:23:37Z")
Per disc: HQ gives ~21 minutes of recording time SP gives ~30 minutes of recording time LP gives ~60 minutes of recording time The higher compression you use, the poorer the quality will be - if you have the choice, use multiple discs with HQ - you’re going to have to do some cutting and editing afterwards anyway - then you can output to a normal DVD, which should easily hold an hour or two of video at good quality. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hours-of-video-on-a-dvd/408574/3 "2007-06-19T11:26:27Z")
[Manuals](http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=DCRDVD92&LOC=3). ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hours-of-video-on-a-dvd/408574/4 "2007-06-19T11:58:03Z")
Damn! Just 21 minutes?! I can get more out of my puny digital camera with the 1GB card. Thanks a lot, guys. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hours-of-video-on-a-dvd/408574/5 "2007-06-19T15:25:38Z")
When i saw the title i had to have a look as i’ve been recently very surprised at how much footage you can actually squeeze onto a single, normal (ie not blue-ray), dvd, using a very basic and cheap player. I’m living in China so all copyright discussions are moot. After several requests my local dvd rental place provided all 6 series of ‘24’ for me (probably their best customer as i have zero access to western television) to peruse at my leisure. This was surprising and a joy but, the issue which was shocking was the fact that all 144 episodes took up just 6 (six!) dvds. All the advert breaks and end titles were not included so each episode was actually only 41 - 42.5 minutes, and the quality was only analogue-like, but even so - almost 17 hours of very watchable tv on each dvd must require a certain level storage, plus plenty of ingenuity. I must add i’m not at all a fan of pirate copies and back at home i’d rent from established outlets half a dozen dvds each week, but TIFC so i have to relax my moral codes. ---
**Author:** ![Kokopilau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Kokopilau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kokopilau)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hours-of-video-on-a-dvd/408574/6 "2007-06-19T15:30:34Z")
[QUOTE=gouda] Damn! Just 21 minutes?! I can get more out of my puny digital camera with the 1GB card. [/QUOTE] Of the same quality video? That’s a pretty neat trick, considering the ~3-4 GB difference in storage capacity between a standard DVD disc and a 1GB card. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hours-of-video-on-a-dvd/408574/7 "2007-06-19T21:53:39Z")
[QUOTE=Kokopilau] Of the same quality video? That’s a pretty neat trick, considering the ~3-4 GB difference in storage capacity between a standard DVD disc and a 1GB card. [/QUOTE] The camcorder records not to standard DVDs but to small 8cm ones - these have a capacity of 1.4GB