Which authoring software to use-free / retail?

[sparkie67]

Hi everyone

I recently purchased a DVD-RW and then a TV card.

I have been using the PC as PVR, and now want to copy the files to rewritables to watch on the big telly.
The software that came with the writer was Power Producer 2 by Cyberlink.
The captured video is in mpeg-2 format.

What happens at the moment is, if try to author a disc from the files the aspect ratio alters and halfway through the audio loses sync. Also it wouldn't let me author a file above 1.5Gb as it then wouldn't fit on a 4.7Gb disc.I have played with the settings but stll the same.

Next thing i tried was writing the mpeg 2 file straight to a disc, this worked well maintaining aspect and audio sync when played back,my player has mpeg-2 support, but without chapters making it a pain to move forward. The only problem encountered was that i couldn't write a file larger than 2Gb in standard iso mode. And a 1.5 hour program exceeds 2 Gb i dn't know what to do for the best.

Any ideas / advice would be most appreciated

Thanks
Sparkie

[setarip_old]

Hi!

One set of procedures (other posters may/probably will suggest alternative methods) would be:

1) If not already DVD-compliant, use "TMPGEnc" (or "TMPGEncPlus") to convert the MPEG to compliant MPEG2-for-DVD format - Use "TMPGEnc's" DVD wizard/template to accomplish this (This step may not be necessary, if your MPEG-2 files are already in DVD compliant format)

2) Use "TMPGEnc DVD Author" (a different program than "TMPGEnc") to easily create the required additional DVD files and structure (and chapters and a menu, if you wish)
You can obtain a FULLY functional free 30 day trial version of this commercial program at:

www.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/tda.html

**If the combined filesize of the DVD "package" written to your hard drive is greater than 4.37Gb, use DVD Shrink (or similar) to compress


If your O/S is either Win2000 or WinXP, TMPGEnc DVD Author can also burn your DVD. Otherwise, use NERO to burn in "DVD-Video" mode
(As an alternative to "TMPGEnc DVD Author", you could use "DVDLab")


Let us know of your success ;>}

[Rockas]

just my two cents... when I need to capture something from my TV Card... I use "Intervideo WinDVD Creator"... it also captures in MPEG2 (the quality is better that Cyberlink's Power Director - on my system) and it authors just fine... I don't use the Author feature often, I prefer DVD lab, but sometimes I use it and it works just fine.

[nix0]

You would need to split the files rather than recording to a single file. There should be a setting in your TV recording software.

[sparkie67]

Hi
What is the difference between mpeg-2 and mpeg-2 dvd compliant?

Thanks for the info everyoone. Will give it a go and let you know what happens.

Regards
Sparkie

[CWR03]

They're both MPEG-2 of course, except DVD compliant is usually a setting selectable within the software which captures in a format that meets all the requirements to drop right into a DVD authoring application.

[charleski]

You would need to split the files rather than recording to a single file. There should be a setting in your TV recording software.or you can write a UDF DVD, there should be a setting for that in your burning software.

[sparkie67]

Hi Charleski

Tried the udf format, which let me burn a file bigger than 2Gb, the only problem was the dvd player couldn't read the disc.

I have also tried the Tmpengc program that setarip_old suggested, but i still get the same result as before, a small 1gb file still fills a 4gb disc, unless i am doing something wrong.

Will keep trying and look forward to any more comments.

Thanks all
Sparkie

[Stone Knife]

So far as I know, The DVD specification limits each individual VOB file to maximum length of 1GByte. So if you're trying to burn VOB files larger than that, it would not fit the DVD spec...

[CWR03]

sparkie67, how long (play length) is your 1GB file?

[setarip_old]

@sparkie67
I have also tried the Tmpengc program that setarip_old suggested, but i still get the same result as before, a small 1gb file still fills a 4gb disc, unless i am doing something wrong.
That's only PART of what I suggested. You can then use DVD Shrink to compress your DVD "package"...

[sparkie67]

sparkie67, how long (play length) is your 1GB file?

Hi

A 1gig file is about 45 mins of playtime. A 90 min program gives me a 2.5gig file. Its this i need to get onto dvd to play back on dvd player.

I have used dvd shrink before to make a backup so i know how to use that. I was just looking for a way to get these 2 and 3 gig files onto a 4.7 gig disc to play on the dvd player.

I have also got my video coupled to the comoposite input now and looking at backing all my old videos onto dvd, this looks like it could be more fun than trying to get recorded mpeg onto dvd. :confused:

Thanks for the info, will keep trying and look forward to more posts.

[setarip_old]

I have used dvd shrink before to make a backup so i know how to use that. I was just looking for a way to get these 2 and 3 gig files onto a 4.7 gig disc to play on the dvd player.
Then, by using DVD Shrink after you've created your DVD-compliant files, you should be able to compress them to fit on a single-side, single layer DVD...

[gary_hendricks]

Hi sparkie67,

Here's my recommended approach. Get DVD Shrink, then burn your movie to an ISO file. Next open your favorite DVD authoring program and burn that DVD (I prefer NERO).

Step 1: Download DVD Shrink
Ok, the first thing to do is to download and install DVD Shrink, which is absolutely free. You can learn more about the utility and download it from here: http://www.dvdshrink.org/where.html

I think the current stable version at this time is 3.2.

Step 2: Install DVD Shrink and Reauthor
Installing the program is a simple and quick procedure. For convenience, you may want to choose to have a desktop shortcut created during install.

Once DVD Shrink is installed, follow these steps:
Place your first dvd in your dvd-rom drive.
Open DVD Shrink and click the REAUTHOR button.
Use the drop down list on the top right-hand side to select your dvd-rom drive. The DVD you inserted will then be auto detected and you will see the contents of it in the window below. Now simply select the title you wish to add and just drag and drop it to the left side pane. If you are not sure which title is which, select it and click Play on the Preview player to view and identify the title.

You should now see on the left hand pane the title you selected. You may be able to control the compression of title by clicking the Compression button. For best quality, remove any unnecessary features such as subtitles and unneeded audio.

Normally, you can fit about two hours on a standard 4.7 gb DVD without having to compress so if your episodes are half hour long each, you can fit all four without any loss of quality. You can also edit the start and end points of any title you added. For example, you might want to remove the intro and the ending credits to help increase quality if less than 100%. It's incredibly simple to do:

Select the title you wish to edit.
Slide the Start Frame slider to where you want the show to begin.
Slide the End Frame slider to where you want the show to end.
Click OK.

Step 3: Backup the DVD
Once done, hit the BACKUP button. Doing so will give you the option to save your video files to your hard drive (as an ISO file for burning to DVD later) or you can burn them directly to dvd since you have Nero installed.

If you who don't use Nero, save the video files to your hard drive. Or you can even have them saved as a single ISO image file. Then use your preferred dvd authoring software and select the files or iso image from where you saved them on your hard drive and burn away!

The resulting dvd should play automatically on your set top DVD player without any need for a menu and you should be able to advance to the next title by clicking Next on your remote.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you've any questions.


Gary Hendricks
Desktop-Video-Guide.com (http://www.desktop-video-guide.com)