- What DVD burners are
supported?
Pretty much any drive that can burn a DVD should work with Beyond TV's
DVD Burning & H.264 Plug-in. The plug-in
uses burning technology from Sonic Solutions, the same burning technology
used
by Microsoft
(in Windows XP and Vista), Adobe and many other companies. So this technology
is well-proven.
- How many hours of shows can
I fit on a single DVD?
If you use one of Beyond TV's pre-defined MPEG-2 qualities, Good (DVD
Ready) or Best (DVD Ready), and are burning a video DVD,
use the charts below.
MPEG-2 "Good (DVD Ready)" quality
level:
| DVD Type |
Capacity |
| Mini DVD |
40 minutes |
| Regular DVD |
2 hours |
| Dual-layer DVD |
4 hours |
MPEG-2 "Best (DVD Ready)" quality
level:
| DVD Type |
Capacity |
| Mini DVD |
20 minutes |
| Regular DVD |
1 hour, 20 minutes |
| Dual-layer DVD |
2 hours, 20 minutes |
If you are burning a video DVD with any other MPEG-2 format, the DVD
Burning & H.264 Plug-in's DiscSqueeze™ technology will
compress whatever you select so that it fits on the DVD media you are
burning
to.
Finally, if you are burning a data DVD, it's simply a matter of the
file size of the shows you are trying to burn and the space available
on the
DVD.
- Will my SmartSkip chapters get
burned to DVD?
Yes, if SmartSkip has run on your recordings, they will be burned to
DVD. With a video DVD, SmartSkip chapters are created as DVD chapters
within
a particular show so you can press "next chapter" on your
DVD player to skip commercials. With a data DVD, the SmartSkip data
file is
simply copied along with the show to the DVD.
- Which file types are supported?
Can I burn my over-the-air digital TV recordings?
See table below:
| File type |
Description of support |
| MPEG-2 (.mpg) |
Burning directly to video DVDs and data DVDs is
supported. It's recommended to use one of the "DVD Ready" quality
levels (Good or Best). |
| MPEG-2 Transport Stream (.ts) |
Burning directly to data DVDs is supported.
Burning to video DVD is supported, but it's a two-step process.
You first have to ShowSqueeze to WMV or DivX and then you can burn
to video DVD.
|
| Windows Media Video (.wmv) |
Burning directly to video and data DVDs is supported. |
| DivX (.avi) |
Burning directly to video and data DVDs is supported. |
- Can I burn DVDs over the network
with Beyond TV Link?
You can burn DVDs over the network using Beyond TV Link, but you must
use the Beyond TV Link
DVD Burning Plug-in.
- How long will it take to burn
a single video DVD?
DVDs get burned in the background so you can continue using Beyond TV
to watch live TV, record shows and perform other functions while a DVD
is being burned.
That said, burning a video DVD requires two potentially time consuming
steps: transcoding and burning.
Transcoding
The time required to transcode depends on the quality and file format
of the shows you are burning.
If your recordings are made in MPEG-2 in one of the pre-defined DVD-ready
MPEG-2 formats, Good (DVD Ready) and Best (DVD Ready),
then no transcoding is required. If you'll be frequently burning DVDs,
we highly recommend recording shows to one of these formats.
If your recordings are in any other MPEG-2 format or in the Windows
Media or DivX format, transcoding could take up to a couple of
hours.
Burning
And, finally, the time required to burn a DVD depends entirely on the
speed of your DVD writer -- the faster the writer (ie 8x is faster than
4x, 4x is faster than 2x, etc), the less time it will take.
- What will the DVD menus look
like?
The DVD menus look similar to the Beyond TV menu. Here's a screenshot:
There is a 10-second preview of each video on the menu. Also, the show's
name and episode name are included under each video.
- Can I burn Video CDs or data
CDs with the plug-in?
No, the DVD Burning & H.264 Plug-in only supports burning to DVDs.
- Am I able to control the speed at which a video or videos are burned
to DVD?
Yes, you are able to choose a burn speed from
the DVD Burning Settings screen from within Beyond TV.
