Noob's questions. Patience please

[healy]

Have used DVD-RB to encode DVD back-ups to DVD5 media without problems.

I've recently installed a PVR on a spare PC (Hauppauge PVR USB2). With some effort, I managed to get it to successfully record my fave TV shows.

The Output file format is MPEG2. Using a software called VideoReDo (VRD). I can quite easily remove Adverts, significantly reducing file size. (A recorded 1 hour show at best quality is ~3.5 gig. After advert removal, file size ~ 2.2-2.3 gig)

VRD saves as MPEG2 or something called .mpv. Can I use DVD-RB on these files, or must I convert them to vobs first?

Also I hope to combine 4 - 1 hour shows on a single DVD5 (approx 170 mintes or 8.8 gig as MPEG2 files) Can DVD-RB handle the larger than normal DVD9 size?

Appreciate your patience and any suggestions. TIA.

--Gene

[jdobbs]

DVD Rebuilder requires the input to be in DVD format, so yes, they should be in VOBs. DVD-RB isn't limited in the size of the input -- so if it goes beyond 9GB, no big deal. The way it is authored may put a limit on it, though. In the DVD standard a single VTS is limited to 9GB (VTS_01_1.VOB to VTS_01_9.VOB). So if the source gets really big, you may need to create a separate VTS for each of the four the episodes.

[therat]

@healy

I do what you are saying regularly. Save the output from VRD as "Elementary Streams" then use DVDAuthorGUI (a free download http://www.free-codecs.com/DVDAuthorGUI_download.htm) to create a dvd from the VRD output.

Then use DVD-RB on the dvd output to shrink it to the size you want.

cheers

[healy]

@ jdobbs
Thanks for the quick response. Will keep in mind the size limitation.

@ therat
Thanks. It is always comforting to know that someone has gone before you. :)

Still not clear on how we would handle 3-4 episodes. Need to better understand VRD's interaction with DVDAuthorGUI. Guess I best move this conversation over to the VRD forum

Again thanks to both of you for at least setting me on the proper path.

:thanks:

--Gene

[BigCondor]

Actually all the work can be done with TMPEnc DVD Author, editing, making a simple menu for various episodes and converting to DVD.

[therat]

@ therat
Thanks. It is always comforting to know that someone has gone before you. :)

Still not clear on how we would handle 3-4 episodes. Need to better understand VRD's interaction with DVDAuthorGUI. Guess I best move this conversation over to the VRD forum

Again thanks to both of you for at least setting me on the proper path.

:thanks:

--Gene

I'm a member over there as well. With VRD I take each episode and edit out the ads and save each as an *.mpg. I then use the joiner to create a single file but save as "elementary streams".
I then run DVDAuthorGUI on those streams to create a DVD. If it is oversized I then run it through DVD-RB Pro.

Bear in mind that doing it this way will create one episode after the other. If you want to keep the episodes seperate and accessible from a menu then I suggest you look at DVDLab or Tsunami MPEG DVD Author Pro (they are not freeware but excellent for authoring dvds from video content).

cheers

[o324712]

This thread has helped me a lot to under stand some of the process with pvr, ts, mpeg, and vob's. However I am stuck on the size of vob's. I want to use DVDRB for an archive of a documentary that I recorded with an USB HDTV device. I have a transport stream of approx. 30 GB @ 1920x1080i. I understand the constraint of the vob size, so my question is what is the process I need to do to get from a single 30 GB ts file to 30 - 1 GB vob files ready for processing in DVDRB? Freeware is preferred however purchase is an option. Also does the process change if the capture is 1080p?

I just feel that some material is better to view on a DVD5 vs. an AVI because of the unavailability of viewing AVI's on dvd players. This is the reason I posted here instead of HDTV forum. If this needs moved I'm okay with that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and welcomed by others I'm sure.

Thanks,
Rich

[jdobbs]

You may be able to use AVISYNTH's directshowsource() filter to read the stream. You can then resize to 720x480 (assuming NTSC) and reencode using HC or CCE with the AVS as the source. Then with the output from that exercise, you can feed an standard authoring package.

DVD-RB wouldn't be involved in that process, though.

[archaeo]

Jdobbs - I remember a while back that there was some discussion about possibly enabling DVD-RB to input other file types, such as AVI. I use Vdub mpeg quite a bit and this was where the question originally came up. Is this still something that is floating out there, or is it on the back-back burner?

[jdobbs]

I still intend to add a feature that would create a movie-only DVD from an AVI (or AVS)... but I just haven't gotten around to it.

[archaeo]

Cool. At least it's still out there :)