Burning DVD's-Capacities

[Niles]

I am trying to burn DVD's using Sonic MyDVD Plus. When I download a movie from Limewire, the file size usually comes out to be 600-700 MB. Naive Questions:
1. If a DVD had over i GB capacity, why doesn't a 700 MB file fit on it? When burning a 700MB movie, I always have to resort to the "VCR Quality" setting.
2. I downloaded "Star wars-Revenge of the Sith", a long movie. I didn't expect it to fit on an ordinary DVD, so I got some dual-layer 8.5 GB DVD's and it still wouldn't fit at any quality setting
3. Which matters more in burning DVD's, the length of the movie, or the size of the file?
4. Can I somehow tell the Sonic program to divide the movie, so that I can burn it on two DVD's?

 

[Nodsu]

I do hope this is legal, wherever you live..

Your problem is the fact that you are not downloading the movies in DVD format. (And maybe in your DVD-recording program or skills)

You download a - let's say - DivX-encoded file. For a DVD, you have to decode it and then recompress it to DVD format (MPEG2). This recompression makes you lose quality (and takes a lot of time).

Better options would be:
- Download the movies in native DVD format. Your downloads will be in the range of 4GB of course.
- Burn the AVI files as they are (on a CD even). Many newer DVD players can play DIvX and XviD natively and you don't have to recode anything.