Hi have a video to convert to dvd I use the panny, the length of the home movie is 3 hrs But I would also like to leave a little space for authoring purposes. I use the lp 4hr mode but the quality sucks.

Any ideas on how i could improve it and leave a little space to author cheers in advance.

come on someone should know

Apparently you can set the timer to a set amount and request that it uses all the avail space with variable bit rate to maximise the quality.
So what I'd do is record 5 mins on crap you are not going to need, this will give you a bit of space to author the menus etc. then set the timer to begin at x then just as it fires up hit the play button on your source player.
Not ideal but it's probably the best you'll do.

I will give it a whirl 8)
cheers pal i do I get it to use all available space.