Burn Video DVD from list of mpg files

[ipanema]

Is there a simple (probably open source) DVD burning software which can accept a list of pre-encoded MPG files and burn them to a DVD video disk, probably with a simple menu automatically added.

The files are all mpg files whose contents should already be DVD compliant, so I wouldn't want the software to waste time re-encoding them. I guess converting the mpg files to VOB files would be mostly a simple file copy, so I'm hoping that it would compile the DVD folder structure very quickly.

Basically I'm hoping just to be able to pass to the software a list of the mpg files and probably a working folder pathname, either on a command line or in a configuration file, and then leave it to compile the DVD structure and write it to DVD disk.

Can you think of anything that would be able to do something like this?

[ggtop]

E.g. DVD Styler. Here is a guide from their site:
http://www.dvdstyler.org/de/?option=com_content&view=article&id=70&Itemid=55

ggtop

[ipanema]

Thanks, that looks like a good start.

[MilesAhead]

If the .mpg files have navpacks you can use
http://download.videohelp.com/liquid217/dvdauthorgui.pl

It can produce simple menus. Also you can add subtitles in .srt or .sup format

[hello_hello]

Something else to try.....
Simply burn the mpeg files to a DVD disc as a data DVD. I can't speak for every player ever made, but the ones I've tried have been more than happy to display the contents of the disc and play the video. Pretty much the same way a DivX capable DVD player displays and plays AVIs, I guess.
Years ago I even owned a DVD player which couldn't play AVIs at all, but it happily played DVD compliant mpeg video burned as files to a data DVD.

[kalehrl]

Once I recorded some 16:9 .mpg files from satellite and put them on a DVD disc and they played.
The problem was, they were displayed as 4:3 and there was no option to set the right aspect ratio.

[Ghitulescu]

Once I recorded some 16:9 .mpg files from satellite and put them on a DVD disc and they played.
The problem was, they were displayed as 4:3 and there was no option to set the right aspect ratio.

Really?


http://www.dvdr-digest.com/articles/ifoedit_169/ifoedit_169.gif

[kalehrl]

There was no option on my dvd player to make them play properly.
I've never had this problem with dvds or avis. Just with these 16:9 .mpg files.
On my computer, they played fine.

[hello_hello]

There was no option on my dvd player to make them play properly.

If it's any consolation I think it was fairly obvious you referring to your DVD player's options.

I don't actually know from which program the above screenshot was taken. It'd be interesting to know.

[Ghitulescu]

There was no option on my dvd player to make them play properly.
I've never had this problem with dvds or avis. Just with these 16:9 .mpg files.
On my computer, they played fine.

That's why I gave you this info, because the information in IFO is [highly probable] set as 4:3 (rapidly/badly written "authoring" programs assume that consumer files are always 4:3) instead of the correct 16:9; you have to change this with a zillion tools that are able to do this. No need to wrongly set a DVD player to correct a wrongly set attribute. Do the things properly from the beginning!

[kalehrl]

There was no IFO file because these were satellite recordings.
I also tried some tools which change the header of mpg files but none of them worked.

[hello_hello]

Maybe it's just an issue with your particular player, It's a DVD player after-all so maybe for some reason the firmware tells it when playing mpeg files to output them as 4:3. It's not something I've done very often (since I started recording TV programs on the PC I've either played them on the PC or on a Bluray Player via a USB thumb drive), but what type of TV were you using at the time?

It's just a thought, but pretty much all DVD players have a setting for the type of TV they're hooked up to. If you were using a 4:3 TV then maybe the DVD player for some reason assumes 4:3 when playing mpeg files. It'd be kind of silly, but given the files played with the proper aspect ratio on your PC, it's a possibility.

[kalehrl]

Yes, I use a 4:3 CRT TV and there are some setting in the player but none of them worked.
By default it is set to '4:3 letterbox' which means leave 16:9 as it is and it works with avi files and dvds but not with mpg files.
Other setting like '16:9' and pure '4:3' didn't make any change but I didn't bother too much because I had only one dvd with these files.

[Ghitulescu]

Why don't you properly author a real, standard DVD out of your MPGs?

Sometimes those that cut corners end up by running a lil'bit more ...

[hello_hello]

Trying something "once" to see if it works isn't exactly cutting corners.
I'd suspect kalehrl isn't silly and after doing it "once" and finding it didn't work, he probably now does burn them as a real, standard DVDs.... or converts to AVI etc.

[kalehrl]

You are right! After seeing that simply burning mpg files on dvds doesn't work for me, I now encode them in xvid avis or h264 mkvs.
I used make properly authored dvds using convertxtodvd but not any more.
My point is that simply burning mpg files on dvds may not be the right choice.

[Ghitulescu]

You are right! After seeing that simply burning mpg files on dvds doesn't work for me, I now encode them in xvid avis or h264 mkvs.
I used make properly authored dvds using convertxtodvd but not any more.
My point is that simply burning mpg files on dvds may not be the right choice.
ConvertXtoDVD is not an authoring SW, it's a converter, id est it takes videos of any type and convert them to a DVD format. On the other hand, an authoring SW takes only DVD compliant files (rejecting those that do not comply) and simply remux them (no time consuming reencodings and so on) with menus and navigation.

Like you wanted.
The files are all mpg files whose contents should already be DVD compliant, so I wouldn't want the software to waste time re-encoding them.?

AFAIK even the simplest menu is not supported by all players, especially on standalones. It's hard nowadays to find a player without Divx or MKV support, but the devils is in the details, and you'll probably need to find all requirements (presets) for reencoding the files to be compliant with the players.

[hello_hello]

You are right! After seeing that simply burning mpg files on dvds doesn't work for me, I now encode them in xvid avis or h264 mkvs.
I used make properly authored dvds using convertxtodvd but not any more.
My point is that simply burning mpg files on dvds may not be the right choice.

Yeah, you're right which is why I said I can't speak for every player, it's just worked with the ones I've tried it on.

ConvertXtoDVD is not an authoring SW, it's a converter, id est it takes videos of any type and convert them to a DVD format. On the other hand, an authoring SW takes only DVD compliant files (rejecting those that do not comply) and simply remux them (no time consuming reencodings and so on) with menus and navigation.

Like you wanted.


You appear to have kalehrl confused with the OP.

Mind you I always found it odd ConvertXtoDVD didn't seem to have an option to not re-encode mpeg video if it's already DVD compliant. Even the old version of Nero Vision I have will convert mpeg files to DVD without re-encoding if possible.

[Ghitulescu]

You appear to have kalehrl confused with the OP.

Mind you I always found it odd ConvertXtoDVD didn't seem to have an option to not re-encode mpeg video if it's already DVD compliant. Even the old version of Nero Vision I have will convert mpeg files to DVD without re-encoding if possible.

Indeed, I confounded them.

Anyway, I knew about ConvertXtoDVD, if one reads carefully my statement understands that CXTD is a converter and not an authoring SW and thus it won't simply demux/remux but reconvert as well.

[hello_hello]

Anyway, I knew about ConvertXtoDVD, if one reads carefully my statement understands that CXTD is a converter and not an authoring SW and thus it won't simply demux/remux but reconvert as well.

Yes, and likewise if one reads carefully my statement they'll understand I was agreeing with you regarding CXTD, although I don't believe all DVD conversion software works the same way (ie. is quite as dumb).
Nero Vision, for example. I'm fairly sure while it'll convert other formats to DVD, if you give it a DVD compliant mpeg file which will already fit on a disc, it'll simply remux it.
The converting software ggtop linked to seems to work the same way. Using VOB and MPEG files without reencoding (http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/dvdstyler/index.php?title=FAQVob)

[Ghitulescu]

The converting software ggtop linked to seems to work the same way. Using VOB and MPEG files without reencoding (http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/dvdstyler/index.php?title=FAQVob)

I use dvdstyler, but I was concerned about the bitrate settings in the project options, so I never tried to use dvdstyler to convert MPEG-2 files to VOBs (I don't know what happens when the bitrate is set to 4000 but my files are 15000 or 8000). I use instead TDA 1.5 because I know for sure that it doesn't touch the video part, even if it's not 100% DVD-compliant (for TDA it suffices only to be MPEG-2 compliant). TDA costs, but not that much, and the creation of menus is quite simple.

[CWR03]

I noticed no one has suggested DVD Flick. IIRC, it won't re-convert an already DVD-compliant MPEG-2 video, and you can throw just about any handful of videos at it and get a DVD disk with menus. And it's freeware.

[hello_hello]

I'd assume if the program doesn't convert the video but only remuxes it, you'd be able to tell by the amount of time it takes to (convert and) author the DVD. That's basically how I worked out ConvertXtoDVD always converts DVD complaint mpeg2 video.

I forgot about DVDFlick myself. I guess as I've probably authored only two DVDs in the past two years, and both of them for someone who couldn't understand the concept of an AVI, I'm a bit out of the DVD software loop.

[JAMESE]

Well
as you know you start is superb.
Thanks for sharing.