How to burn MPEG2 to DVD?

[devdeep]

Hi

Am a newbie. I can capture from my camcorder (via ATI card on the fly) in AVI, MPEG and MPEG2 format.

I think MPEG2 is the best format. Am I right and how easy will it be to burn the MPEG2 file to a DVD to play in a stand alone DVD player please?

[Gil T Pleasure]

You need a DVD authoring program (for example: DVD Movie Factory), to process your MPEG2 files to DVD. Some editing programs (for example: Ulead Video Studio) are also capable of producing DVDs.

Depending on the software you use, the process can be simple to difficult. Of course the simplier the software, the fewer the features it will have. The 2 softwares I mentioned are designed for beginner to intermediate level.

[devdeep]

I am trying to save the rendering time. I have captured in MPEG2 format but need to edit (cut/join) clips. Which of these progs. will do the trick please? I will also need to add simple titles etc.

[padre]

Take a look at Womble's MPEG-VCR. It's awesome for editing, trimming and joining MPEG1/2 clips.

[Gil T Pleasure]

I've used Ulead Video Studio 7 to edit, add titles and transitions, and finally burn to DVD. It's fairly easy to use, but its built-in DVD authoring is not very flexible (you have no control of the thumbnail layout, it does not support animated thumbnail, etc). If you're not too picky about the DVD authoring part, this may be good enough for you. If not, you might want to use a separate DVD authoring program.

[malum]

You're better off capturing in AVI as it is easier to edit, then you can render the edited AVI into mpeg2.

I use Video Vegas to capture and edit and DVD Architect to Author with menus. Both by Sonic Foundry (although I have a feeling they have been bought by someone else now, Sony maybe)

They are excellent if somewhat expensive.

[DonBerg]

Originally posted by devdeep
I am trying to save the rendering time. I have captured in MPEG2 format but need to edit (cut/join) clips. Which of these progs. will do the trick please? I will also need to add simple titles etc.

What you want is TMPGenc-DVD-author. I use it and its perfect for that purpose. I record TV programs to MPEG2 (720x480 DVD format) using an ATI Radeon All-In-Wonder video card and ATI's PVR software to hard disk. TMPGenc takes the MPEG2 file as input and you can edit out the commercial breaks and even add chapters. You can then have a menu with title selections and so on. It will not re-encode if you record in the proper DVD MPEG2 format, so its quite fast to author a DVD with it. You can easily fit 4-5 one-hour shows (with commercials removed) on a DVDR/RW.

[devdeep]

Originally posted by DonBerg
It will not re-encode if you record in the proper DVD MPEG2 format, so its quite fast to author a DVD with it. You can easily fit 4-5 one-hour shows (with commercials removed) on a DVDR/RW.

I only have one DVD MPEG2 format on the ATI. Are there aothers on your card please when you say "if you record in the proper DVD MPEG2" format.

[atreides93]

What kind of camcorder are you using? Does it have a firewire port?

For DVD, your MPEG-2 file has to be compliant with the DVD standard. Otherwise the DVD authoring program will either reject it, or in some cases it will automatically re-encode it for you.

The easiest program to use is TMPG DVD Author. Its easy to use and has all sorts of nice features.

[DonBerg]

Originally posted by devdeep
I only have one DVD MPEG2 format on the ATI. Are there aothers on your card please when you say "if you record in the proper DVD MPEG2" format.

I'm using ATI's MMC v8.5 software and it comes with at least 4 DVD-compatible settings, but you can make a custom one too. The difference between them is the resolution (DVD allows either 720x480 or 352x480 only) and bitrate (maximum 9.5Mbps). I've made my own custom settings with 720x480 resolution and VBR bitrate of 4Mbps to get 2.5 hours video per DVD. You can vary the bitrate for less time but higher quality or vice-versa.