Be true to your video source

[DaMan]

I find that the majority of authoring programs force to re-encode your finished video source (from cce,tmpgenc etc...) and audio to PCM prior
to building .vob and eventual burn to dvd. This, to me has many disadvantages...

The size of the video (.vobs) are now much bigger, possibly due to mp2 to PCM conversion.
Much more time would be needed to complete the re-encoding and conversion
Once the authoring program finished re-encoding your cce/tmpgenc output (what does this do to the integrity of your video source)
The thought of having 2-3 polished mpeg2 in one dvd-r diminished

Questions...

Why go thru the trouble to get your video just right with your favorite Video encoders and you're forced to rely on DVD authoring codec?
Are there any dvd authoring programs out there that would just use your dvd compliant mpeg2 and put menus to them?

BTW, the dvd authoring programs I've tried thus far are...Sonic DVDIt Pro, Dazzle DVD Complete, Ulead DVD Workshop, Pinnacle Studio 8,
IfoEdit (had trouble finding .IFO upon burn), imgtools (output vob jumpy).

Just thought anyone out there shares my aggravation...

Cheers

[slk001]

I used Sonic DVDit-PE 2.5 and it didn't try to re-encode my video or audio (.MPA). I just found it too unstable. Spruceup also had no problem with any video or audio that I fed it.

These programs must have a reason for trying to re-encode. What are the parameters of the files that you are sending to them? Are you sure that your video is DVD complient?

Also, why are they changing your MPEG 1, LAYER 2 audio to LPCM? I know that some of the really low end stuff only supports LPCM, but I haven't heard about these programs converting audio before.

[TRILIGHT]

As slk said, I'd definitely make certain your streams were compliant. Contrary to popular belief, just because a DVD player may be able to play an mpeg audio stream does not mean it is part of the original DVD spec. These programs are probably written such that they convert anything like that. The other main sources of DVD audio are Dolby Digital AC3 and DTS, but you won't find any of the cheaper authoring programs out there supporting either of these.