here's what I'm doing, but I doubt it's right

[cochese]

I'm trying to make a mixed DVD, with all my favorite movie scenes. This would be easy enough, if I didn't want to add fades to the video & audio and add titles...but keep original quality of the footage.

Here is a rundown of what I'm doing to complete this. Is there an easier way?

1) rip chapters from DVD (using smartripper)
2) use mpeg-vcr to cut the ripped VOBs down to the exact scene I want
3) demux with TMPGEnc Plus (or mpeg-vcr) to get .m2v and .ac3 files
4) use mpeg-vcr to cut about 15 seconds off the .m2v file (that will be used for the fade)
5) use mpeg-vcr to fade in the 15 second clip I made from step 4
6) merge the faded clip made in step 5 to the edit clip from step 4 to give me a new .m2v file. I used TMPGEnc Plus to merge the two .m2v files using TYPE: MPEG-2 Program (VBR), and just saved it as <filename>.m2v
7) multiplex new .m2v file with the original .ac3 file to get a new .vob

Hopefully everyone can see why I'm going through all these steps. ...I wanted to add the fades without having to re-encode the entire .m2v file & end up losing quality throughout.

And for thos mpeg-vcr users out there, maybe you can explain why I can't multiplex this new .m2v file (but can in TMPGEnc Plus). I get a "This file is NOT an mpeg video ES file" error message. Are the steps that I am taking above creating a non compliant video? The only thing I can figure is during step 5, the video isn't getting re-encoded right? (I'm not doing anything to it when I save, just saving it).

I have tried using products that have Smart Rendering technology but the hell if I can get it working... Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[oddyseus]

Your error lies in cutting and merging back the fadein. U r loosing the valuable header of the file.

I would use a nle program such as Premiere and create a new audio/video to work with. U will loose a bit in quality but it wouldn't be much if u use a good encoder.

[cochese]

you can't cut a mpeg, and rejoin it?

or is it because i'm putting a fade in & then rejoining it?

I was trying to make the compilation without any video quality lose.

I'm starting to think that is impossible. I read that I could convert the vob clip into a hufyuv avi (supposed to be lossless?), edit, then re-encode to to mpeg with a good encoder, and lose hardly any quality.

Are there any tricks or tips for encoding to mpeg that I should know?

[oddyseus]

There r some post about how to reenter the mpeg header that is lost after u cut the initial 4 secs of the stream and reestablishing the 4cc code should it has been lost too. Fixing these two problems and u will get away from saving an uncompressed avi of 1gb/min.