DVD Author sold short.

[DarkMatter]

In reading posts I have realized that TMPGEnc DVD Author is being sold short. It is known as a low option, unsophisticated ultra-simple authoring tool. Which, it certainly is. Its limited menu templates are somewhat boring and monotonous. However, I believe its main asset is overlooked by more sophisticated video warriors who have never used it and even some that have; that is, it will accept almost ANY MPEG file (1 or 2). There is no tedious transcoding to DVD compliant format prior to authoring. 1 track can be a high bitrate MPEG2 720X480, the next a VCD compliant MPEG 1 (352X240), and the next a non-compliant 480X480 MPEG2. I "collect" a lot of old BBC sitcoms and put them on DVD. If they are .mpg of any species VCD/SVCD, DVD compliant or, somewhere in between you simply drop them into DVD Author and they are good to go. If they are VCD/SVCD compliant which most are, I can easily get 5 or 6 hours of good quality video on a DVD with no transcoding! On my system, the whole process, from adding files, removing commercials, and creating animated menus to output of a ready to burn 4GB Video_TS folder takes less than an hour using 1 simple program. I try to use .mpg files but some are available only in AVI. In this case I batch encode them to more or less arbitrary MPEG1 2200 kbps in TMPGEnc Plus and then drop them in. You don't have to worry if some niggling compliancy detail was overlooked. If TMPGEnc Encoder transcoded them to ANY .mpg format, DVD Author will flawlessly put them on the DVD. I've used Ulead and the like to do this same thing but they are much pickier about accepting files and the separate transcoding step takes hours. Of course, when I want some snazzy disc, DVD Encore can't be beat. But when archiving old VHS or dl files where a utilitarian menu will do it's DVD Author every time.

[Carlos Garcia]

I agree 100%. I am a novice to DVD authoring, and have tried other programs but the only one that doesn't confuse the heck out of me is TMPGEnc DVD Author. Maybe the program is considered too simple by other people, but all I want are simple menus that will allow me to shoose the program I want to watch. Not only does DVD Author offer menus, but they can be animated as well! My only gripe is that you can only author 1 track with DVD Author. I am hoping that they continue to work on this marvelous simplistic wonder, and the next version allows multi-track authoring, as well as 5.1. I would definitely buy the update to this program when it adds those extras!

[DarkMatter]

What do you mean "you can only author 1 track"?

[Red Right Hand]

Originally posted by DarkMatter
...I believe its main asset is overlooked by more sophisticated video warriors who have never used it and even some that have; that is, it will accept almost ANY MPEG file (1 or 2). There is no tedious transcoding to DVD compliant format prior to authoring. 1 track can be a high bitrate MPEG2 720X480, the next a VCD compliant MPEG 1 (352X240), and the next a non-compliant 480X480 MPEG2. I "collect" a lot of old BBC sitcoms and put them on DVD. If they are .mpg of any species VCD/SVCD, DVD compliant or, somewhere in between you simply drop them into DVD Author and they are good to go. If they are VCD/SVCD compliant which most are, I can easily get 5 or 6 hours of good quality video on a DVD with no transcoding!


I'm not totally clear on what you're saying here. Are you saying that some/most/all set-top DVD players will play non-DVD compliant MPEG's "as-is" without transcoding/recoding?

Color me confused.

[Dimmer]

Indeed, not only it's a great authoring program, but it's also a perfect MPEG cutter. I noticed that on the videohelp.com forums probably half of the members use it, though it's not as popular around here.
Originally posted by DarkMatter
What do you mean "you can only author 1 track"? It allows only one 2-channel audio track. Strange thing, it lets you import a 5.1 AC-3 track from a DVD title when using Add DVD Video, but it fails when authoring a DVD with separately added 5.1 AC-3 file even though it recognizes it as such.
Originally posted by Red Right Hand
I'm not totally clear on what you're saying here. Are you saying that some/most/all set-top DVD players will play non-DVD compliant MPEG's "as-is" without transcoding/recoding? Yes, most of the cheapo Apex-like players will, but not the big brand names like Sony.

[DarkMatter]

I have been trying to look at a .VOB it's created to examine whether it's an MPEG1 or 2 but I can't believe it would create an MPEG1 vob.
I have a Toshiba single disc and a Pioneer changer and have had no problems playing the discs I've made. I loaned/given them to friends with no reported problems. I wouldn't think an MPEG1 vob would play on any player. I'm going to reinstall IfoEdit to look at one.

[DarkMatter]

IfoEdit identifies a .VOB created by DVD Author from an MPEG1 352X240 file as an MPEG2 720X480 NTSC 525. So, it does transcode any non-compliant file into a DVD compliant one. Can any other conclusion be made?


PS: DVD Author definitely somehow trancodes files when outputting. I just dropped a MPEG1 352X240 into DVD Author and output it to a Video_TS folder. I checked the VOB in IfoEdit and it said it was 720X480 MPEG2. I then used DVD Decrypter to rip the VOB back to a file. It was still 720X480 MPEG2. It took about 5 minutes to output the 179MBs.

Is it possible it just "re-labels" the files? I can't think of anyway to do that but it would probably take 25 minutes just to transcode that file in TMPGEnc Plus.

[DarkMatter]

OK, here's the deal. I was wrong. After running a test VOB through every video tool on my hard drive I finally found one that recognized it as a 352X240 MPEG1 file (ReMpeg2). So DVD Author does not transcode non-compliant files. But, apparently it does do a good job packaging them in a compliant wrapper. The 3 other programs I have that can read a VOB identified it as, and treated it like, a 720X480 MPEG2. I guess the bottom line for me is a "if it walks like a duck" thing. Prior to Dimmer enlightening me I had no reason to suspect that DVD Author was outputting non-compliant files. I've not had any problems with my players (neither of which was cheap) and my Young Ones anthology DVD made up of files captured on my AIW at 2000kbps 352X240 MPEG1 and authored by TMPGEnc has been passed around to 10 or 12 people, all of who said "It was great!". Even assuming a few of them were lying and hadn't actually watched it, no one said "It wouldn't play" (I used TDK blanks). I am concerned about the player compatability thing. I don't want to find out a couple of years and a couple of DVD players from now that half my collection won't play on my new player. I'm going to take one of these disks down to Circuit City, stick in every player that's plugged in and see if and how many times it gets rejected. I'll post the results.

All in all I still say it's a great program.

[Arky]

Originally posted by DarkMatter
After running a test VOB through every video tool on my hard drive I finally found one that recognized it as a 352X240 MPEG1 file (ReMpeg2). So DVD Author does not transcode non-compliant files. But, apparently it does do a good job packaging them in a compliant wrapper...

...I've not had any problems with my players (neither of which was cheap) and my Young Ones anthology DVD made up of files captured on my AIW at 2000kbps 352X240 MPEG1 and authored by TMPGEnc has been passed around to 10 or 12 people, all of who said "It was great!"




352x240 (NTSC) and 352x288 (PAL) are actually totally legitimate frame sizes for DVD authoring (it's written in black and white in the DVD spec), so you have no worries with compatibility on that count. The only thing to watch out for is that, although the normal bitrate limits apply if it's in MPEG2, if it's in MPEG1, then there is a much lower maximum bitrate imposed (1856 kbps). Also note that these frame sizes are the only legitimate ones for MPEG1-encoded material.

So in your particular case, none of the players your disk has been played on have complained about it, but, strictly speaking (and you are asking about genuine compatibility - i.e. adherance to the DVD spec), you should lower your bitrate just a little to bring it under 1856kbps. Then you can rest easy, knowing your video assets are conforming to DVD spec :)


Arky ;o)

[Dimmer]

I also verified that TDA certainly does not transcode the video. That's why I mentioned earlier it's great for cutting MPEGs - you can easily find the precise start and end frames (or better to say, GOPs) for a required clip. Then m2v can be demuxed out of VOBs without quality loss.
Originally posted by DarkMatter
I am concerned about the player compatability thing. I don't want to find out a couple of years and a couple of DVD players from now that half my collection won't play on my new player. I'm going to take one of these disks down to Circuit City, stick in every player that's plugged in and see if and how many times it gets rejected. I wouldn't worry much about it. Even if this happens in a couple of years then you can re-encode and burn another more compliant copy because you'll still have the untouched original video.

[echooff]

Strange thing, it lets you import a 5.1 AC-3 track from a DVD title when using Add DVD Video, but it fails when authoring a DVD with separately added 5.1 AC-3 file even though it recognizes it as such.

This has only happened to me a couple of times. Every time I passed the file thru BeSliced and It the worked like a charm. It does not like ac3 that has been split. It will accept the first half but not part 2. BeSliced has been the answer for me. Another great app from DSPGuru

[Red Right Hand]

Honestly, I am still happy DarkMatter suggested DVD Author when I posted this thread (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=77767).

I haven't tried it out yet, but I think it's going to be a good solution for what I want to do. I don't care about strict DVD standards compliance, as long as the discs will play in my Pioneer set top box. I'm more concerned with cutting down on the recoding time that other programs eat up before I can even burn anything to DVD-R.

I guess when it comes time to buy my next set top DVD player, I'll just have to bring a couple of these possibly not-quite-compliant discs with me to the store before I buy one to be sure they will play on my new player.

I definitely wouldn't want to have to go to the trouble of re-encoding and re-burning them, though, especially if I accumulate quite a few of them.